Orange Rice (Rice Cooker)

Ingredients:
(fits 4 cup rice cooker)

4 scoops rice (I used jasmine)
4 TBS beef gelatin
1 tsp cream of tartar
1-2 TBS sea salt

2-4 cups orange juice
4 TBS coconut oil
water to 4 cup line, as needed
Black pepper (optional)

1. Add dry ingredients in order and stir to blend. 
2. Add liquids in order to fill line, stir and cook. 
3. When done cooking, grind a light dusting of freshly ground pepper to individual servings.

Great for a snack or a side dish.  If you have a larger cooker, add an additional TBS of gelatin and oil plus 1/4 tsp salt and cream of tartar per scoop of rice.

Frugal Food Thursday
Savory Sunday

Pineapple Clam Chowder - GF

Enjoy this light, yet hearty meal anytime of year by changing the ratios of the ingredients.

Ingredients:
Homemade Smoked Turkey Broth
Sierra Mist (optional)
Sea Salt
Potatoes, peeled and diced
Cream of tartar
Coconut Oil
Beef gelatin
Baby Clams (with Juice)
Pineapple (with Juice)
Hot Pepper Oil (optional)

Bring about 6 cups liquid (broth, juice from clams and pineapple and soda or water as needed) to boil and add peeled, diced potatoes and salt.  I used 4-5 large russets.  Turn heat down and simmer 40 minutes.

Add as much gelatin and cream of tartar as desired. Cream of tartar = potassium.  Clams are the "whole" animal so don't need gelatin, but I always sneak in extra where I can and find the gelatin adds richness and balances the sweet/tart of the pineapple well.  I used a little over half a cup.

I added about a cup or so of Sierra Mist because it had been sitting in the fridge a while, flat.  I don't know that it necessarily added anything "special."  A little cane sugar would work just fine too. Add the clams and the pineapple at the end. Correct seasoning (add more salt, of course) and serve.
I like a dash of hot pepper oil too.

Friday Food

Quick Review of 2011

Most Viewed Post:
Homemade Laundry Soap

Most Viewed Recipe:
Slow Roasted Goat Ribs with Black Raspberry BBQ Sauce
   
Most Requested (at our house) Recipe:
Caramel Corn with Gelatin 

And the "Yes, it was worth the effort" Award goes to.... 
First Taste....Milk Fed Ossabaw 


Happy New Year Everyone!

Baked Potato with Nacho Sauce

We made some homemade Nachos the other day.  Our eyes were bigger than our stomach, so we had quite a bit of leftover sauce.  We never have leftover homemade tortilla chips.

This particular version of nacho sauce is as follows:

1 lb grass fed ground beef
4-8 TBS beef gelatin
1 can diced tomatoes and chilis
coconut oil (for cooking the beef)
sour cream
sea salt to taste


Hearth and Soul Hop
Fat Tuesday
See Ya in the Gumbo
Melt in Your Mouth Monday
Ingredient Spotlight : Tomatoes

Beef Borscht (Slow Cooker)

Layer in the cooker, in order:

Ingredients:
slathering of coconut oil on sides and bottom
2 lbs homegrown grass fed beef, cubed (mine was still frozen)
1/2-1 cup beef gelatin
1 onion, sliced
3-4 cups sliced beets (fresh, canned or pickled)
3-4 cups bite sized potatoes (fresh or canned, drained)
a lot of sea salt...a few TBS
1/2-1 cup homemade broth, water or juice from canned/pickled beets
fresh ground pepper to taste

Cook for about 8 hours on low or overnight, correct seasoning before serving.
Add a dollop of sour cream per bowl, if desired.

P.S. This is NOT a purple soup, but a dark, savory brown.

See Ya In The Gumbo
Weekend Gourmet Carnival
Your Recipe, My Kitchen
Monday Mania
Melt In Your Mouth Monday
Savory Sunday
Patchwork Living Blogging Bee
Hearth and Soul Hop 
Fat Tuesday 
Pennywise Platter Thursday
Real Food Wednesday
Gluten Free Wednesday
What's Cooking Wednesday
Simply Delish
Saturday Evening Pot : Star Recipe Collection

Kidding Season has ARRIVED!

Born Monday December 12th, 2011

Opal is licking her lips after slurping up a bucket of hot molasses water with salt and ACV added.  Her daughter was looking for the spigot, but got distracted by a chicken.

Queen of the Pallet!  This doeling knows she's "ALL THAT"  and is stomping her foot at the chicken.


Simple Lives Thursday
Barn Hop

Cheeseburger Macaroni - GF

I found this recipe on-line and modified it to my dietary needs and what I actually had in the house. ;)


Ingredients: (to the best of my recollection)
1/4 cup (4 TBS) coconut oil
1 onion, diced
3/4-1 lb grass fed ground beef

Paste Mix:
4 TBS Beef gelatin
1 TBS mustard
2 oz tomato paste
2 oz ACV
4 TBS cane sugar/cream of tartar mix
Salt to taste...I think I used a tsp... or maybe 2?

2.5 cups water
2 cups rice pasta (elbow, penne, etc)

8 oz Munster or other white cheese, cubed

1. In a LARGE skillet (I over flowed mine a few times due to the slope in my stove top), brown the onions and burger in the coconut oil.
2. Mix the paste ingredients together and add to skillet.
3. Add water and bring to boil.
4. Add pasta of choice.
5. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until desired tenderness.
6. Turn off burner and add small chunks of cheese of choice. I chose Munster because it's a semi-soft cheese that dissolves easily.  It was either that or pepper jack.  I just broke pieces off.
7. Serve when cheese is thoroughly blended.

P.S.  I just read the instructions of the original recipe again.  I didn't drain the meat juices or cover while cooking the noodles. I don't know if the out come would be any different or not.

Friday Potluck
Hunk of Meat Monday
See Ya In The Gumbo

Boiled Potatoes with Ham Hock Broth

We had some fencing work to do lately.  Seems to be a never ending project on a farm.......


I knew we were going to be exhausted and SORE....well, I was anyway. I threw a .60 lb homegrown, smoked hock in the slow cooker, added potatoes, salt, gelatin, caraway and water and turned it on low for the day. 

Ingredients:
1 Hock, milk fed Ossabaw Hog
Potatoes to fill (about 10-15 medium), peeled, whole
Salt (not sure, a lot...but we still ended up adding more to our bowls)
Gelatin (about 10 TBS)
Caraway (about 5-8 individual seeds)

We came back in the evening after we got one section cleared, 5 posts, one line of wire and the concrete poured. No, we're not done yet...but the end is visible. ;)

This was PERFECT!  We were too tired to eat, but too hungry (and thirsty) not to eat. It was simple faire, but very satisfying and the only effort after a long day was adding the extra salt.  

Piggy Spanish Rice

A yummy twist on Rice Cooker Spanish Rice....

BACON! 
Well, actually, cured jowls...you know....pig cheeks. ;)
Pork jowl is shorter than bacon anyway, but I still cut them up smaller before cooking.  I pan fried the bite sized pieces in their own fat at about "egg" temperature for about 20 minutes, stirring once or twice. We like our bacon with most of the fat rendered out but still meaty, on the chewy side, not crumbly.

I left out the additional fat and backed off the salt...the milk fed, homegrown, sugar cured jowls provide plenty of both.  Everything else is the same.  I did use a fruit based salsa instead of a cilantro based salsa, just for fun.  A huge hit!


Ingredients: Makes about 8 servings
2 cups Broth
4 TBS Beef gelatin
1 tsp Cream of tartar
.5 tsp Salt
a few dashes liquid minerals (optional)
1 cup Salsa
4 scoops Rice (rice cooker scoop is about 3/4 of a cup of actual rice)
Water to 4 cup fill line
.5-1 lb cooked bacon or jowl with grease

1. Put broth in pot of rice cooker and sprinkle with powdered ingredients, so gelatin can soak up some liquid.
2. When soaked, put rice and salsa into pot and stir.
3. Fill to 4 cup line marked on pot with water (or add extra broth).  
4. Add cooked jowl and corresponding grease.
5. Set to Cook.
6. When rice switches to "keep warm" setting, fluff and serve.

Friday Potluck

Fight Back Friday
Hunk of Meat Monday
See Ya In The Gumbo
Barn Hop
Melt in Your Mouth Monday 
Full Plate Thursday 
Simple Lives Thursday 
Your Recipe, My Kitchen
Ingredient Spotlight :Bacon
Ingredient Spotlight : Tomatoes