Author: wyranchwife

Lamb Gyros! My New go to Meal!

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We have been buying a lamb at our local 4H sale for quite a few years. If you haven’t had lamb, you are missing out. If you had lamb and didn’t enjoy it, the chef or restaurant had no idea how to cook it properly.  Lamb is absolutely delicious.

The other day my cowboy cooked up a lamb roast on the traeger. It was delicious. The next day we were going to be heading to town and would be  in and out from the ranch. I knew we would not have a chance to eat up the leftovers. I remembered the Gyros I had eaten in New York at the Sheep and Wool festival. I sliced the meat very thinly and froze it in baggies. That way each biggie was enough for Gyros for our family of four.

Today I grabbed the rest of the ingredients from the store and made our meal. They were everything I remembered. The taztziki sauce was simply delicious.

Head out this week and buy yourself a lamb roast. Look for one that is grown in America.(It’s important to support our farmers and ranchers!)
Lamb Gyros

Start with a lamb roast. Generously sprinkle with salt and pepper. Nothing fancy. Place on a rack in a roasting pan. Cook on your traeger or in the oven until done to your liking. Serve with mashed potatoes, green beans, and mint jelly.

The next day slice the meat very thinly.

Gyros

Taztziki sauce

1/2 cup cucumber peeled, seeded, and shredded. Then squeezed through a towel to remove excess water

2 cups Greek yogurt

1 clove garlic minced

1/2 tsp salt

1tbsp olive oil

Mix all together and let sit in the fridge for several hours
In a pan or griddle sauté the sliced lamb with a little olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. I also add a little garlic powder.  In another pan or at the end of the griddle heat up one piece of pita bread turn it occasionally to keep it from burning.


When all is cooked and warm build your pita. Add a good amount of the sauce to the pita, then pile with meat and your favorite fixings.

Sliced olives, lettuce, tomato, sliced red onion, oregano, mint, and the sauce all combine to make a great gyro.
Enjoy

Leftover Yummies

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We all have a few foods that we enjoy as leftovers. Some are not as good as others, but there are a few that stand out. 

When I make mashed potatoes I always think about the leftovers. We of course have to heat them up for whatever meal they went with, steak, pork chops, fried chicken, etc. However sometimes the only thing left is the potatoes. In that case, I look forward to transforming this morning staple into something wonderful. 


Potatoes cakes are truly fabulous. They are whipped up in no time at all and are great alone or with the next days dinner. Growing up we had these quite often. 

Make these the next time you have leftovers. They are great with a meal, breakfast, or as a snack.  

Potatoes Cakes

Leftover mashed potatoes

1 egg

Chopped onion 

Flour

Salt/pepper

Oil
Mix mashed potatoes with egg. Add enough flour to be able to handle the potatoes. Stir in the onion. (Sometimes I add garlic salt and cheddar cheese). Make into patties and fry in a nonstick skillet with a little oil. Cook until brown on both sides and heated through. 


Enjoy!

Trees and Snow

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I came across this pattern on Ravelry and just had  to make it. It is called the Snowfall Hat. 

My mom is drawn to anything with cables and I am drawn to colorowork. I just love it.


When I started this one my mom instantly said it was hers. Of course I agreed. It looks great!


My mom and dad modeling hats. Mom made my nephew a simple beanie and dad was trying it on for size. They look great. 

Of course I couldn’t leave out my little sister. She loves having her picture taken. The Pom Pom on the hat really finishes it off. 

Chicken Soup on a Cold Day!

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If you have read many of my posts you know that I love soup. It is my go to meal when I’m unsure what to cook. It is my go to meal when it’s cold. Let’s face it, it is my go to meal anytime!!

It has been overly cold here in Wyoming, and finally I found chicken on sale. Chicken in Wyoming is outrageously overpriced. At home in Tennessee, it is so cheap!!

When I have chicken I usually make chicken noodle soup. However this time I mixed it up and made chicken and rice. 

All of my chicken soups start with a great broth or base. You can do this lots of ways. However I love Watkins Chicken Base.  It adds the perfect mixture of seasonings without salt.  

I mix several cups of water with the seasoning according to the directions. Bring this to a slow boil. Toss in chopped chicken or you can toss in cooked shredding chicken. Let this cook until the chicken is done or until warm. 

I then add my onions and carrots. These are freeze dried and will plump back up. I toss in whatever amount to my liking. Thrive is an awesome company! I use so many of their products. The veggies never go bad and I don’t have to worry I always have them on hand!

Let this cook until the veggies are plump and tender. At that point I add in the frozen noodles or in this case uncooked rice. If you use noodles it really tastes much better with homemade or frozen. Regular pasta just doesn’t do it. 

Let it cook until tender at a slow boil.  If you like throw in some frozen peas and 1 tsp or so of celery powder. 

If you would like your soup a little thicker, mix together water and cornstarch until blended. Pour a little at a time into the soup until it reaches your desired consistency. 

Check taste. You will need to add salt and pepper. Sometimes it needs more chicken flavoring and I will mix in a little water and more Watkins seasoning. 


Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

Peas, carrots, onions

Frozen Noodles or rice

Watkins chicken soup base

 In an instant Everything Changes!

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Life is so busy, is it not?  We run from one thing to the next. Jump from the car to our homes only to return again. We rotate friends often dependent upon new interests and drifting apart, or disagreements that cause the friendship to shatter. Activities come and go. Life just spins constantly. We seem to plow through the years so quickly that we don’t even realize how much we are missing or how fast things are happening. 
However sometimes, hopefully rarely we receive news that causes us to almost halt. We see everything different. We watch everything fly by and we seem to be in slow motion. We savor the looks on our children’s faces a little longer. The hugs from family seem to last a little longer and tighter. 

We reach for our phones a little slower. We read texts a little more intensely. Life has been altered, never to be the same. For a time we go back to enjoying time instead of bustling through it. 


My advice do it everyday. Slow down! Enjoy! It’s going fast and it can change in a moment. 

Quick, Easy, and Oh, So Yummy!

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I recently returned from a visit to my family in Tennessee. I always enjoy my visit and come back with lots of great memories. I also usually have lots of stuff from taking advantage of stores we do not have here in Wyoming. This year I also came home with a great recipe. 

Now recipes are swapped back and forth between my mother and I all the time. The significance of this recipe is it came from my little sister. She is not a cook. By that I mean she doesn’t try new recipes very often. She keeps it simple. She does basics! She could cook very well if she wanted but as she says cooking is not her thing. 

Well she shared this recipe and at first I was reluctant. The ingredients, all three of them, just didn’t seem to be a good mix to me. Then she popped over to mom’s and proceeded to whip this up. 

I was wrong it’s wonderful. Not only does it only have three ingredients but it is done in about 10 minutes, Maybe less! It is also addicting. 

The other reason I love it, is that it makes just enough. You don’t end up with a huge pot of dip. It is a rather small amount compared to my regular sausage dip with velvetta. So if making for a crowd you will need to double or triple. 

Here it is. You must make this! Chances are you have everything you need in your fridge right now!

Easy Sausage Dip

1lb sausage- swaggerty

1 pkg of cream cheese

1 can of original rotel
Brown the sausage and drain the grease. 

Then add the cream cheese and rotel. Mix throughly. 
Serve warm with tortilla chips or crackers. 

You will thank me for this one. I couldn’t resist. Had a bite immediately!

And I’m Back!

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It has been close to four years since I hurt my knee working cattle. I climbed over at fence when the cattle were coming back toward me and when I landed I twisted my knee with all my weight on it. At the time it just seemed like it was just partially injured. Little did I know, and soon I would find out that this would be a game changer. 

As the weeks went on I realized my knee was not healing. I have always been an avid horseman, and I enjoy riding horses. I don’t enjoy riding a four wheeler together cattle. I don’t enjoy riding a four wheeler down mountain valleys gathering cattle. They know you can’t get to them in certain spots, and they know you will have to get off that four wheeler. That makes me walk down the hills and walk down little drops, putting more strain on my injured knee. So over the years it grew worse and worse. 

To top it all off I bought a new dog and I decided I was going to go to some clinics to learn to train her. At a training this jeep came into me I locked my knees and they took out the other knee. So this left me with two injured Knees!  I know what you’re saying it’s just over, you’re just gonna have to rest. When I stopped teaching and became my husband’s right-hand man there was no stopping. There was going lighter, and there was going easier. But the work had to get done. 

Over the years the right knee was progressively worse off than the left. And I knew I was going to have to do something. After several different dr visits and injections, I finally had knee surgery in March of this year on my right knee. It feels the best it has felt in years. As a bonus the other knee no longer hurts at all. And in September I can say, I finally got back on a horse. You don’t know how exciting that was. To want to ride but being able to ride is a very hard thing to deal with. So I continue hoping it heals even better and I am able to do all the things that I want including running and jumping. 

Here are a few pictures of my horse ride and my pup Boo. She is the daughter of the dog I bought train. 

How’s the Water!

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What a rancher does for his livestock. No he’s not drinking. He is blowing down the overflow to unplug it. I couldn’t resist a great photo opportunity. I’m sure he will thank me later, or sooner. Lol


When it’s hot out, checking water is crucial to the health and well being of all livestock. Keeping everything open and flowing correctly takes staying on top of how the tanks are working.