From my Farm to my Kitchen.: January 2013

My ministry of cooking, canning, growing, and sharing!

My ministry of cooking, canning, growing, and sharing!

Three years ago we bought a small farm with ten acres. The property had a mucky creek on the South side that was covered in raspberry brambles and poison ivy. The back six acres were so overgrown that I couldn't make it half way through the first pasture. There was mud, 10 foot tall weeds, about ten million ground hogs, and a house with "fabulous" 80's wall paper on EVERY surface. I looked at this property and my mind was spinning with possibilities of what I could grow, raise, and even forage off this little plot of land. My husbands mind, who was standing in nearly the exact same spot, was spinning with the thought of how much work he had ahead of him.

From my Farm to my Kitchen is a way for me to share my stories, recipes, failures, and successes. It is a way for me to tell you how sharing with others has opened the flood gates for abundant blessings, new friendships, and great lessons.

We have fought to "take back" parts of our property that had been swallowed by willows and scrub trees. My husband has suffered the wrath of the evil wood emperor, Sir Poison Ivy and our five children have worked tirelessly to help with chores like, "go get Mommy some basil" or I KNOW there's a Morel out there, GO FIND IT!

Please enjoy this glorious adventure with our family. Learn the lessons that I stumbled over, take the great recipes that I share and leave the miserable ones. I am hoping to write each day but you never know if the kitchen or the laundry monster will get me!!

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Vanilla Maple Cream

My daughters and I are addicted to coffee. Not that strong, manly, black coffee. We are addicted to that sweet, creamy, really high calorie, covered in Cool Whip kind of coffee. We simply love the fake french vanilla coffee creamer and I buy it in bulk.

Is this odd? Only when you have a dairy cow out back and try really hard not to eat any processed food, AND, eat mostly organic. So I decided to try my hand at making a sweet vanilla cream from our home products.

I have to say that it's pretty good so here's the recipe~

1 Pint of cream

1/4 cup of Maple syrup

1Tbs of vanilla.

Delicious!!!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Smoking the kitchen

I'm a really good cook. No, really! Today, not so much.

I woke up this morning and my son asked me to warm some pork for him. You see yesterday, when I could still cook, I braised this beautiful piece of pork. It was delicious, mouthwatering, and all the things that pork should be. Because my microwave decided to go on strike I pulled out a sauce pan and tossed the meat in, stove top. This is when my skills as a farm cook when downhill. I walked away. Not for a second, or even a minute, but for several minutes. Tra la la....

I happened back to the kitchen just in time to witness the nightmare of burned meat destroying my lovely pan. I ran it to the sink and managed to create a really awesome cloud of smoke. Thankfully the weather was beautiful today and I popped the windows open and kind of laughed it off.

Until....

I make maple syrup every year. When I put it up, I make it a little thin so the syrup doesn't crystallize. When I'm ready to use it, I simply put it on the stove and bring it to a boil for about five minutes. It's warm, sweet, and sticky. I LOVE it. So a mere 45 minutes after ruining my pan, I put the syrup on the stove. Again, I walked away. Far far far away. Ok, I was in the garage for about 20 minutes which was long enough to not only boil the syrup over but turn it to candy as well. My stove top was COVERED in Maple sap candy. What wasn't covered in candy was covered in maple charcoal. It took me nearly an hour to clean it up. UGH!

And then...

Same son asked me for Ramen noodles. Ha! I can't screw THAT up...right?

Boiled those silly noodles, poured that silly packet, served that silly bowl. Finally feeling accomplished, my son pulled a piece of paper towel out of his bowl and asked me what it was. I told him it was my white flag of surrender.

NO MORE COOKING FOR ME TODAY!