Rustic Cabbage Soup

We Love It

I found this recipe HERE a few years ago. I dont measure my ingredients out, just go with what looked good. I used 6 cups of chicken broth. I use Great Northern Beans, I do not drain the cans. I also add carrots. A great side with this soup is stuffed cornbread.

*** Rustic Cabbage Soup modified from 101 Cookbooks

1 Tbsp olive oil

Big pinch of salt

1/2 pound potatoes, skin on, 1/4" dice

a few carrots, sliced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 large onion, thinly sliced

5 C chicken stock

1 1/2 C white beans (canned is great, rinse well and just use what's in one can for a whole batch)

1/2 medium cabbage, cored and sliced into 1/4" ribbons

For serving:

EVOO for drizzling

1/2 C Parmesan for topping

Heat pot, add EVOO, potatoes, carrots and salt. Cover pot and cook till slightly tender approx 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add onion and garlic, stir and cook about 2 minutes. Add stock and cabbage bring to simmer,until just starting to get soft. Add beans allow to heat through.

Granola

Homemade Granola...

You can eat it as a cereal or as trail mix

Granola 

Makes about 14 cups

Ingredients:
* 8 cups rolled oats
* 1 1/2 cups wheat germ

* 1 1/2 cups millet

* 1 cups slivered almonds

* 1 cup finely chopped pecans

* 1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut

* 1 cup sunflower seeds

* 1 T. cinnamon

* 1 1/2 t. salt

* 1/3 cup dark brown sugar

* 1 cup maple syrup or raw honey

* 1 cup coconut oil

* 2 t. vanilla

* 2 cups dried cranberries or whatever dried fruit you want

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Set aside two large ungreased baking sheets.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, wheat germ, millet, almonds, pecans, shredded coconut, sunflower seeds, cinnamon and salt. In another small mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, maple syrup, oil and vanilla until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing to evenly distribute. Spread the granola on the baking sheets and bake until golden, about 20-22 minutes, rotating the pans half-way through and running a metal spatula beneath the granola to evenly brown. Allow the granola to cool completely on the pans, then toss with the dried fruit and store in an airtight container.

Hamburger Veggie Soup

Simple yummy soup on a cold day... 

 Hamburger Veggie Soup: Tomato juice, diced tomatoes, mushroom broth, cooked hamburger, carrots, potatoes, corn, green beans, cabbage, turnips, mushrooms.

Hamburger Tater Tot Casserole

A Family favorite... 

Hamburger tater tot casserole, sauteed onions cabbage, carrots & cream cheese corn

Hamburger Tater Tot Casserole

2 lbs. hamburger and 1/2 a onion (brown and drained)
2 lb. bag of tater tots
2 cans cream of chicken
1/2 container sour cream
1-2 handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese 

* Preheat oven to 350.
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, add seasoning (I use salt, pepper & garlic powder), pour into bakin dish (9x13, sprayed with cookin spray), bake for about 45 mins. or crispy on top.

Family Supper. Lasagna Salad Bread

Spent time with some of my family today... My husband, my mom, dad, brother, three of my sisters, three of my nieces and one of my nephews.  I cooked them all supper: Lasagna, fresh bread and salad. Links to recipes at the bottom of this post.

My favorite bread recipe: Easy Simple Fresh Bread

I went kinda by this Classic Lasagna recipe today... I made a huge 3 layered lasagna, I used 2 containers of ricotta, 2 boxes of frozen spinach thawed, 2 bags of cheese.  I dont boil my noodles... I also layer mine different... noodles, meat mixture, ricotta mixture, shredded cheese. I end with a layer of noodles, meat mixture and shredded cheese. 

Stuffed Peppers

Made with garden fresh peppers.

We ate leftover sauteed kale, onions, garlic w/roasted walnuts with them

Stuffed Green Peppers...
7-8 green pepper, washed, cut in half and deseed 
1 lb. sausage, cooked 
3 cups of cooked rice
1 quart of canned tomatoes, drained
1 can of corn, drained
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed off
16 oz. of shredded mozzarella cheese, save some to melt on top  
Seasonings (kosher salt, fresh black pepper, Italian... whatever you like)
1 cup of chicken broth or water

Preheat oven to 400. 
In a large bowl mix together, cooked sausage, rice, tomatoes, corn, black beans, cheese and seasonings. Now stuff your pepper halves, put them in a huge baking pan or pans, add chicken broth or water to the pans (enough to cover the bottom). Cover with foil, cook about 30 mins. Uncover and top with alittle more cheese, bake until melted. Let cool for a few minutes. Then dig in.........

* I add hot sauce to the stuffed peppers on my own plate.
** Last night I used, 2 lbs of sausage, 10-12 green peppers and I had leftover mixture to make 6 tonight

Strawberries, Jam, Salad

Bought 8 quarts of local strawberries from some Amish Yesterday... 

So today I made Strawberry Jam for the first time.

 They smell so good

 Yummy Strawberry Jam... 

I'll be making more next week

 First picking of the season from the garden

~ Brian and I enjoyed this wonderful salad with dinner... Garden fresh leaf lettuce, real bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, green onions, chopped walnuts, fresh sliced strawberries & dressing all mixed in a bowl together. This will be a keeper recipe in my kitchen while the lettuce is growing in our garden, makes me happy, happy. So easy, fresh and good for you!

Salad Dressing: (original dressing recipe H-E-R-E)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. dijon-style mustard
2-3 Tbsp. honey
salt
freshly ground black pepper
Preparation:

In a small bowl whisk all ingredients to combine or put all ingredients in a jar and shake to combine. Use immediately or keep, covered and chilled, up to one week.

*** Dont forget to stop by Our Little Farm to see whats new, click H-E-R-E

Homemade Brownies...

Found this yummy brownie recipe a year or so ago and have been makin em since...

Homemade Brownies
2 sticks real butter
5 1/2  Tablespoons of baking cocoa
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350

Grease a 8x11 baking pan. In a medium saucepan, melt together margarine and cocoa. Cool Slightly. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour and sugar. Start beating and add the 4 eggs, one at a time, blending well after each egg, until dough is smooth and silky.  Fold in vanilla and nuts. Bake at 350 for 30 mins. Do not over bake the brownies they can be slightly sticky to the touch. Cool on baking rack, if ya want just sprinkle alittle powder sugar on top. Cool completely & enjoy.

Hope you enjoy them they are really easy to make.

Buttermilk Biscuits & Pear Butter

I had a batch of hm pear butter goin in the crock today and seen a Buttermilk Biscuit recipe on the Lazy J Bar C Farm blog and knew I had to make and try em ... Oooo my goodness they are sooo good, the whole family loved em.  We all want some buttermilk biscuits, sausage/gravy soon! I love the "baking mix" she uses, its gonna be used a lot in my kitchen.   Check out her blog and type in Baking Mix in the search bar... she has lots of yummy recipes she using it in.  I didnt have any buttermilk but I did have goat milk so I made my own buttermilk with this recipe Buttermilk Substitute 

 Heres how I make my Pear Butter... I just wash, peel, slice my pears. Fill my crock with pear slices, sugar, cinnamon, (to taste) then let cook for hours on high til the pears are soft or low overnight. Then take lid off, blend in crock with blender stick, let simmer til thick, then process.  Heres a good canning recipe to follow  for Pear or Apple Butter.  

I processed 6 jelly jars of pear butter today

Summer Cookin

Heres some foods I've been eating lately since I'm back to milkin my dairy does & the garden is bursting with goodies.  I love having a garden & I really love when it produces so great! We are very blessed this year.  (pics. of my dairy does & garden on  Our Little Farm)

 Iced Coffee. HM Toast, Jam, Goat Cheese

Veggie Frittata. Snow Peas

Squash/Zucchini Patties. Snow Peas

Hot Dog w/ Slaw, Jalapeno. Squash/Zucchini Patties. Snow Peas

Leftover Zucchini Lasagna, SZ Patties, Sauteed Veggies (cabbage, squash, zucchini, green onion, snow peas).  Cherry/Orange Tomatoes.  

~ I Love My Garden ~

Linkin up to Homestead Revival:

Barn Hop #68

... Iced Coffee ...

Yesterday I made & tasted my very 1st Iced Coffee... I love it!  Now that its summer & hot already in the mornings I dont want to come in after I've been out sweating doin my barnyard chores and drink  hot coffee thats just gonna make me sweat more.  Now I can make myself a nice cool iced coffee. 

This bad boy makes 40 cups of coffee... we usually brew 30 to make sure everyone gets their share & then we have leftover coffee for smoothies and iced coffee.  

 Fill your cup with crushed ice or you could use frozen coffee ice cubes (if you thought ahead & froze some, I did not, lol)

 Add your cold leftover coffee... I wouldnt add hot, it will melt the ice but if you had those coffee cube then it might be ok?

 Now add some milk (whole, 2 %, skim, goat whatever you like), half n half is pretty yummy (thats what I used), some people use flavored liquid coffee creamers.

 Now add your sugar & anything else you would like... I add 3 tsp. of sugar to my cup & 1 tsp. of cocoa power, its really good. Cinnamon would be yummy too. Chocolate syrup. Caramel ice cream syrup... skies the limit. 

 Good Stuff :)

Cranberry Almond Scones...

These are my very 1st scones ever... I like em.  

They remind me of a pop-tart... only better & healthier for ya too

I used this Basic Scone recipe, then added chopped frozen cranberries, almond extract instead of the vanilla & almond slivers.  I also added more flour, my dough was sticky from using frozen cranberries. 

The Family Likes Em Too ;)

Soup & Indian Fry Bread

I threw all this in the crock this morning for a soup...  HM canned beef broth, frozen mixed veggies, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, seasoning, barley chopped collard greens & cooked sausage. Its a good thing I did, cause about an hour before dinner the electricity went off, lol I had wanted to make some bread to go with but hadnt yet... then I remembered a recipe I had looked up earlier Indian Fry Bread. I was gonna have my honey start a fire & I cook over it with one of my cast iron skillets but he thought of this instead...

 Our camp stove.  So I cooked outside, which was kinda nice... then that make me think I need an outside kitchen area, lol.  Maybe one day ;)

Soup and Fry Bread Was Good.  

Some of us even ate our fry bread with hm jam ;)

Indian Fry Bread

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup warm water

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add warm water in small amounts and knead dough until soft but not sticky. Adjust flour or water as needed. Cover bowl and let stand about 15 minutes.

Pull off large egg-sized balls of dough and roll out into fairly thin rounds. Fry rounds in hot oil until bubbles appear on the dough, turn over and fry on the other side until golden.

Serve hot. Try brushing on honey, or making into an Indian Taco.

Banana Jam

 I got this recipe from a friend a few weeks ago. I made 9 1/2 pints of jam.

Put ‎5 cups of mushed bananas, 6 cups sugar, 1 box sure jell in a pot cook till dissolved, can in water bath for 15 min....done!

‎

Sausage, Bacon, Cheese Roll Up

Made this for dinner today by request of my daughter... I've made it a lot through the years & then forget about it til one of the family members reminds me. Its super easy to make.  You need bread dough, cooked sausage, shredded cheese & cooked crumbled bacon...  I dont measure my ingredients I just make it.  Cook, drain crumble your sausage & bacon. Set aside to cool, make your bread dough, roll into a rectangle, add cheese, cooked sausage & bacon, roll up, place on a olive oil bakin sheet, place in a preheated oven 350 & bake for 25 minutes.  

Go here if you want to use the bread recipe I use:  Plantin Flowers & Bakin Bread... I picked some fresh spinach to go with it.  Then I remembered I still have a few cubes of frozen basil pesto from last summer, so I thawed myself out 2 (only 4 cubes left!), we also  topped it off with some chopped tomatoes with green chilies, good stuff. 

You can even cube it up & eat it like a salad ;)