Very Good Recipes

How about this? Big Food Big Garden Big Life is listed on page 102 of Very Good Recipes dot com.

There's only so much one man can take.

Kabobs

served over rice with golden raisins and the last of the Texas pecans.

And Mr. Big Food hit the end of the line yesterday. Time to do some Friday night grillin'! He called it "a harbinger of things to come." Indeed.

But wait! Didn't we have grilled steak last Friday? Indeed we did. (But we didn't listen to The Redneck Collection last Friday night.)

So that's two gillin' Fridays in a row. It's a foreshadowing-- although you wouldn't know it today. It's cold as the dickens out there.

I'll post the recipes later today.

My day

Indulge me.

After a couple of cups of coffee, and some short trips outside, and breakfast, it's now time to take them on a run in the pasture.

There's an hour and one half of my day. 

We do it twice a day.

How to reinforce a stereotype?

Do something stereotypically stupid, like proposing to rename the Gulf of Mexico: Mississippi House Bill 150. I commented on this yesterday. And now I'm seeing it All over the World Wide Web. From Jazz Shaw (read the whole thing) at Hot Air:

I’m not entirely sure where one state legislature comes up with the power to start renaming international bodies of water, but I still find this idea really exciting. Imagine the possibilities! In a tit for tat move, Mexico could rename the Gulf of California. (Take a look at the map… the Gulf of California doesn’t even touch California. It’s entirely bounded by Mexico.) And for those of you who never really trusted out neighbors to the north, we could rename Lake Huron to something like… Lake Ted Nugent. (Suck it, Canada!)

One more reason folks should stay away from Mississippi.

Cruisin' along

as if all is right with the world.

This is just wrong. 

First of all, I do have a name. You'd think the all-stars at NR could hire someone capable of inserting my name in the salutation.

From the text of the email:

You could spend the week of November 11th raking leaves and cleaning gutters while you Monday morning quarterback the election results. Or, if you took the wiser course, you’ll be spending that week enjoying seven sunny days and cool nights sailing the balmy tropics, mixing and mingling... .

Blah blah.

Here's a news flash for Rich, Kathryn, Jonah and the gang. You put your pants on the same way I do. 

Furthermore, I don't think the tenses agree in that quote. Could. Will. Shouldn't it be "You'd" as in "You would?"

[UPDATE: I don't think "tenses" is correct on my part. Maybe if I have some time today, I get out a crappy old grammar book and look this up.]

My Big Life does not include shelling out two grand to be on a boat with a bunch of all stars. 

Good thing this isn't a political blog!

Suzy

As Readers Who Are Family may have noticed, I have talked (blogged) very little about Suzy, our Walker Hound who will turn 17½ years old in just a couple of days. I'm not superstitious, but I thought the less I tempted fate, the better.

That's silly!

Mr. Big Food and I were just chatting about how Rocky and Missy have affected Suzy's life. It's all good.

One of my motivations for getting a dog-- now known as Missy-- was ultimately Suzy. 

Mr. Big Food and I had a dog plan. When Suzy passed over, I would get a German Shepherd mutt, and he would get a hound dog. But then, Rocky came to live with us. 

Rocky's first day on the Farm

Suzy's a great old girl, and thanks to Rocky, she learned how to bark again. 

30 Uninterrupted Minutes

0:29 (twenty-nine seconds)

are screeching to a halt as I type.

And the point of this is... ?

From North Mississippi Commentor. 

Here’s the full and complete text of [Mississippi] House Bill 150, whose sponsor is representative Holland

HB 150 seeks to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico, and ignores the existence of the Mississippi Sound.

The session's barely begun. Why are there already 150 bills? These people need to go find something productive to keep themselves busy. 

Read the whole thing. View the map.

Recipe: Easy Carrot Casserole

We used French fried onion rings rather than chips.

~~

EASY CARROT CASSEROLE

Serves 6-8

4 C carrots, peeled and cut into lengthwise slices

2 C medium White Sauce (see recipes in Basics section)

2 C potato chips, crushed

Preheat oven to 375^o. Place layers of carrots, White Sauce, and chips in a greased baking dish, ending with chips. Bake 45 minutes.

Recipe: Southern Pork Chop Casserole

Lunch

SOUTHERN PORK CHOP CASSEROLE

Serves 6-8

2 Tbsp shortening or oil

6-8 pork chops

1 C uncooked long-grain rice

1 envelope (1 oz) dry onion soup mix

10 ¾ oz can mushroom soup plus water to cover chops OR homemade Cream of Mushroom soup (see recipe in Basics section, enough to cover chops

Preheat oven to 375^o. Heat shortening or oil in a large skillet and brown chops on both sides. Sprinkle uncooked rice in bottom of a large baking pan, and sprinkle dry onion soup mix over rice. Place pork chops on top. If using canned soup, cover chops with undiluted soup and add enough water to pan to cover chops. If using homemade mushroom soup, pour over shops to cover. Bake uncovered for 1 hour.

Would anyone care for some

rutabagas?

Yesterday Rocky and I dug some from the ground. I'm not kidding!

Coming right up!

• Photos of and the recipes for Southern Pork Chop Casserole and Easy Carrot Casserole
• An offer you'll have a hard time refusing
• Thoughts on Kentucky Senate Bill SB 47

Just as soon as I have 30 uninterrupted minutes!

No favorites

I posted a video of Miss Missy getting some exercise yesterday. And because I have no favorite dog, except of course for Suzy, I shot a short video of Rocky this morning, and thought I might find a few minutes today to post it. He is a real powerhouse, with a smile like a acre of sunshine. (I stole that acre of sunshine line. I can't remember where it's from.)

Unfortunately, I continue to have video upload problems. If I had 30 uninterrupted minutes I could probably figure things out (it's a google thing) and upload a 29 second video of Rocky responding to my command, "C'mer Boy!" But I rarely have 30 uninterrupted minutes. And when I do, uploading videos is not at the top of my "what to do with 30 uninterrupted minutes" list of things to do. 

So I'll just post a few recently taken still photographs of Rocky.

That dog can run!

And he looks so Happy!

Recipe: Sportsman's Lodge Lentil Soup

After review and consideration, it is unanimous. This is the current winner in our Fall/Winter Soup Contest. Mind you, they are all delicious. 

I see that Mr. Big Food's opening remarks give the joke away.

Recipe below

The Fall/Winter Soup Contest is almost finished

and we have a new possible leader.

Sportman's Lodge Lentil Soup

This soup was renamed to something more appropriate, given the soup. It's original name was "California Lentil Soup." The new name captures the essence of the soup. Plus, it's a joke.

What I need to do is describe this soup. And then, given the conversation Mr. Big Food, C, and I had while we were enjoying the soup, go back and read about the other soups. 

~~

I love lentils. If I had to eat them every day, I wouldn't love them. But since I don't, I do.

From nutrientfacts.com . Take a look at it. There's 1C of lentils in the 1/2  soup recipe. We'll get six servings from the 1/2 recipe. So divide the %'s by 6 and one serving is still packed with some good stuff.

The hot dogs were put in at the last minute. The bacon was put in at the beginning. I'll post the recipe tomorrow, but I'll tell you now that one thing that made this soup really really good was substituting veggie stock for water. 

It was rich-- in a non-fat way, filling and flavorful.

Comparisons to follow.

Hope and Sadness

I'm a bit behind in all things that pertain to the garden. (I must quit watching soap operas.) I just today placed my orders at Victory Seeds (my review here) and New Hope Seed Company (my review here). I'd done the prep work, which included taking stock of the seeds I have on hand, and working my way through the seed catalogs (on the World Wide Web) noting what I planned to order, but hadn't gotten around to actually placing order until today.

New Hope was my first stop. There was an announcement on the home page that the owner's sister had died, and so things were paused. I didn't take a screen shot of that message, but I checked just now and found this:

Life goes on.

I also checked Heirloom Seeds today. There's a family crisis going on there as well-- cancer, I believe. They've backed up their "we'll be back" date. When I reviewed Heirloom Seed nearly one month ago, they were hoping to begin taking new orders again as of 1/29. Now it's 2/26.

Check out New Hope and Heirloom Seeds. It'd be sad for everyone if they bought the farm.

"If your dog is fat...

you aren't getting enough exercise," said Unknown, in a multi-forwarded email full of dog-related quips and photos sent to us by Mr. Big Food's Dad. Neither Missy nor Rocky are fat, therefore I must be getting enough exercise.

But enough's enough, already!

 

 I figured out how to upload videos reasonably quickly. Time = 1.1 min.

Back to work.

For the Birds

Strollin'

On our morning walk Missy and I shot a 1:44min video. I've been trying off & on all morning to get it to upload. (I need to change my camera settings.) I finally decided it was for the birds and quit trying. Too bad. It perfectly captured what was on the wind this noisy morning.

Goldfinches, at maximum zoom

Recipe: Homemade Pennsylvania Dutch Sausage

Photo documentary of sausage making Sunday here.

There was some adjustment to this recipe as well. We prepared the meat and spices as instructed, but then measured out 1 pound logs to cure 24 hours and freeze. 

~~

“Strongly spiced pure pork sausage to eat fresh, freeze, smoke, or store in lard.”

HOMEMADE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH SAUSAGE

4 lbs fresh pork sides

2 lbs boneless fresh pork (Boston or picnic shoulder)

2 Tbsp cloves

3 Tbsp coriander seeds

1 tsp ground nutmeg

3 Tbsp salt

2 tsp pepper

Handful finely chopped fresh sage OR 6 Tbsp dry rubbed sage

Pig casings (if using)

Cut skin and rib bones from pork sides. Chop all meat roughly, then grind medium fine. Pound all spices to a powder, then add to meat with salt, pepper, and fresh or dried sage. If using casings, prepare and stuff short fat links (about 4 inches long). Hang sausages in a cool place overnight to develop the flavor. Cook and eat fresh, or freeze. For smoking, leave sausages to dry in cool airy place for 2-3 days, then smoke at 70^o for 5 hours.

Recipe: Italian Sausage (Sweet or Hot)

Tips and photos of sausage making here. I love the brevity of the instructions. Combine, mix, stuff, eat!

~~

Using Hungarian paprika makes Hungarian sausage.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE (SWEET OR HOT)

5 lb pork butt, coarsely ground

1 1/3 Tbsp salt

1 1/3 Tbsp ground coriander

1 tsp black pepper

5 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

2 Tbsp paprika

1 C cold water

2 tsp crushed red pepper (for hot)

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Stuff into casings or make patties. Use or freeze.