Cooking in Chaos

I love to cook and amid the chaos of our lives, I actually spend a lot of time in the kitchen making meals for my family and for when we are working cattle.

What a Ham!

wyranchwife2 Comments

IMG_00000522

This summer at the local county fair market sale, we bought a 4-H pig from one of the kids. It is a great sale and the kids get a wonderful price for their animals. Most kids use this money for college. Our kids have sold steers the last couple of years and it is a great learning experience. Sometimes the buyers will donate the animal back to 4-H and they sale it at actual market price for buy backs. This is when most people can actually afford to buy one of the animals. The businesses will pay way above average to help the kids out.

Some animals are taken right away to be processed, However some go on to enter the Wyoming State fair. If they go to state then the processing plant will contact us when it is ready.

We had bought a lamb the year before and still had some left, so I pushed my husband toward the pig. He would rather have more lamb, but I wanted to get something else. So hence we have a pig in the freezer. Next year we will probably get another lamb, but for now we have some of both to eat.

At our place I keep all of the meat at the hunting house in two deep freezes. As I need it I go over and bring back what I want. It is just easier. In the deep freeze here at the house I keep all the other freezer items such as veggies, bread, ice cream, etc.

Well yesterday when I was digging in the freeze I found the fresh ham roast. I had never cooked one before, but why put it off. So out it came and I put it in the sink overnight to thaw. I am a terrible planner, so having it thaw in the fridge would have taken days, and I don’t plan that well. So overnight in the sink works well.

This morning we headed into town for church. It was a nice day and I was able to drive my new little car that the kids named the rocket. It’s a blast. I will share that story soon. Anyway on the way home I was searching different recipes for fresh ham. I found a couple and as usual did my own thing. I have to. It is what works with my pantry and what works for me.

I put this huge roast on my roasting rack. Oh My! It is easily 15 pounds if not more. I scored it and put cloves all over it.  My son wanted to know what was sticking out of it. LOL..  I let it cook at 350 for about 5 hours and then began basting it with sauce.  I basted it about every 15-20 mintues for around an hour. Then I poured what was left over the roast and cooked it another 15 minutes.  At this point I took it out and let it sit while I prepared some mashed potatoes to go with it.

Usually I try to do the southern traditional thing of something green, white, and yellow at every meal. However tonight it was just mashed potatoes and ham. That was plenty.  It turned out great and received reviews from all the family.

I will say I am going to have to come up with some recipes to use up this huge ham besides sandwiches.

Dr. Pepper Glazed Fresh Ham

  • Servings: 12-15
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Print

  • 1 large fresh ham, 15 pounds
  • 2 cans of Dr. pepper or similar beverage
  • 3 tsp ground mustard
  • 6 cups brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • cloves

Score the ham in a criss cross pattern. Insert cloves where they meet.  Cook at 350 degrees for about 5 hours or 20 minutes per pound.

In the meantime combine coke, mustard, brown sugar, and vinegar. Bring it to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Continue to simmer until it reduces.

Brush the ham with the sauce every 15-20 minutes. Pour the additional sauce over the ham and let it cook for 10-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!IMG_00000523

Maybe Minestrone

wyranchwife1 Comment

I am not a huge TV watcher. I can take it or leave it and I would say 98% of the time I leave it.  However there is one exception. I do DVR Pioneer Woman, Barefoot Contessa, and Trisha Yearwood. There is one more but I haven’t watched any of the shows yet, so I can’t even remember the name.  Oh well, these are my big three. Everyone in my house knows that if Mom sits down and turns TV on, it is going to cooking shows.  Well it is what I do.

This morning started much the same as usual, take the kids to the bus stop and come back here for my breakfast before I begin cleaning or tackling any other to do items.  I have been eating the Pioneer Woman’s Spinach Artichoke dip for breakfast. I made it a couple of days ago. Look that one up on her blog. It is amazing!!!

Well I decided to catch up with Mrs. Ina.  She was making a great soup called Minestrone. Never made it before. However lots of chopping, lots of cooking. The longer I watched the more I thought I can make this. I have NEARLY all the ingredients. Well Decision made. The end of the show Ina and her husband were in front of the cozy fire and that topped it for me. I want to be warm and cozy enjoying this soup.

As I looked at Ina’s recipe, it immediately became apparent that I was going to have to improvise. I did not have a lot of the ingredients and since I live 33 miles from civilization, I would not be getting them anytime soon.  However I was already invested so here we go. Check hers out at www.foodnetwork.com. Hopefully next time I will have all the stuff to make it her way. When living on the ranch the main lesson I have learned is flexibility in all things. You gotta make things work.

Here we go. Her recipe uses pancetta. I don’t have any, never have. So I am going for bacon. Is that the same. I hope so. Maybe they are close and it will give a similar taste. I chopped it up with my handy-dandy kitchen shears and cooked it until almost crumbly, but not crunchy. I have a high hate for crunchy bacon. EWWW!

The next couple of items goes extremely well. I have carrots, onions, celery, but no squash. I figure potatoes will do. So I chop up a couple of those and throw them in. I let them cook with garlic, thyme. I do not have any canned tomatoes. But what I do have is a can of tomato sauce and some fresh tomatoes. I throw that in with about half a can of water. I add the 4 cups of chicken stock from my freezer. (Darn if I had thought ahead. I just made it and put in the freezer yesterday.) I let it all cook for about 30 minutes until the veggies were tender.

I then added 2 cups of dry elbow noodles. That was all I had besides rainbow spirals. I do not have any beans what so ever. I have never been out of beans. I am not sure what has happened to my cabinets. I am usually overly stocked on everything. I am thinking a major shopping endeavor is going to happen soon in my future.

I add 1 block of frozen chopped spinach and let it melt in the pot. I add some more chicken stock. Yep the rest of what I made. At this point my pot is almost to the spilling point. However I add just another handful of noodles. I figure they will soak up some extra moisture.  My chicken stock also has some chicken that came off the bones. So I do have some of that floating in my pot. Not sure how this is going to turn out.

It begins to thicken. The noodles are done. I add just a little more salt and pepper. Ladle myself a bowl and top with grated parmesan cheese. Not bad. Not bad at all. Wow, I can only imagine if I had made it properly as in her recipe, but this is pretty good.

Here is my recipe. If you make it let me know it I need to adjust something. Sometimes I forget my exact substitutions.

IMG_00000508

How many utensils can I fit in that pot? I know crazy.

Connie's Substitution Minestrone

  • Servings: 8-10
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

  • 5-7 pieces of bacon, cut into pieces
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 large potatoes, washed and diced with skins on
  • 1 1/2 tbsp. minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp. salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 2 tsp thyme leaves
  • 1 can tomato sauce
  • 1/2 can of water
  • 4 tomatoes, washed, and diced
  • 6-8 cups chicken stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cups dry pasta
  • 1 pkg frozen chopped spinach
  • Shredded parmesan cheese

Cook the bacon over medium heat until brown, but not crunchy. (unless you like crunchy)  Add the onions, celery, carrots, and potatoes. Stir and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaves, thyme, tomato sauce, water, tomatoes, and 4-5 cups of the chicken stock.  Bring to a boil, reduce and cook uncovered at a simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.  Add the dry pasta and spinach.  Cook at a simmer until the pasta is done. Adjust seasonings as needed.

Serve in large bowls, with parmesan sprinkled over the top.

IMG_00000506

Oh, it’s yummy. Hopefully the hubby will agree when he arrives home off the mountain.

First Time Potato and Ham Soup!

wyranchwifeLeave a comment

IMG_00000439

When it’s cold out I want soup. When I am stressed I want soup. (Well I want to chop stuff up and soup lets me do that.)Last week was just cold, damp and gloomy. So I was in the soup making mood.

When our last week of hunters drive away. That is my cue to begin cleaning out the hunting house and bringing all the food back to my house. With the power outage, I had more than my usual amount of food to bring home and some needed cooked. I had two bags of the diced ham. I use it for a ham, egg, cheese, and hash brown breakfast casserole. My kids won’t eat it, and I hate eggs. (Yes, long story, but I detest them.)  So I needed to use it up.

Searching online I found several ham and potato soup recipes. I am notorious for reading 10 recipes and then using parts of all of them. It usually works out okay, until I go to make it again and have no idea what I did. This is one of those instances, but I think I remember pretty good.

Well I pulled out the pot and away we went.  I actually turned out delicious. My overly picky son, devoured it. He even took it to school in his lunch the next day and wanted it for supper. So it is a make again recipe.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Ham and Potato Soup

  • 3-4 large potatoes, cut into small pieces
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 6 cups water, or enough to cover the potatoes
  • 1-2 pkgs diced ham,
  • 1/2 stick butter, softened
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons Watkins Chicken flavoring or bullion granules
  • salt, to taste
  • pepper, to taste
  • 3-4 tbsp flour to thicken
  • 3 cups, milk or more to thin

1. Combine the potatoes, onion, ham, and water in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, cook over medium heat until tender.  Stir in the chicken flavoring, salt, and pepper.

2. Stir together butter and flour until combined. Add to the soup mixture.  Stir until dissolved. Add the milk. Stir over medium low heat until thick and soup is heated through.

3. Adjust with more thickening or thinning until you reach the desired consistency. Season to taste.

This is a great soup because you can add to it with more ham, maybe cheese. Serve it as thick or as thin as you desire.

It’s Time!

wyranchwifeLeave a comment

Image

There is something about the giving away of summer and the entrance of fall. Yes, fall. Not the abrupt jumping of seasons that winter tried to do last week, but the gradual entrance of fall. I look forward to this every year. I for one detest summer. The hot long days of cow work or just the blinding heat that keeps you trapped inside an overly hot house. Ugh! You can’t cook because nothing sounds good, plus who wants to heat up the house even more. I for one am a cooker. I cook for fun, when I am stressed, or depressed, or when I have nothing to do. Okay I always have something to do, so if I am avoiding doing something I should be doing, I cook instead.   It is what I do. A terrible habit I must admit!

Well fall brings with it my inability to stop myself from cooking everything. It’s time again for cookies, pies, and soups. Oh, how I love to cook a good soup. Plus it is almost time for the holidays and the cooking gets even more intense. Oh I just love this time of year.

We have an outfitting business and I do all the cooking. It is so much fun and I cook until I am tired of standing in the kitchen.   My poor hands crack from the constant dishes, but it is so darn fun. Well I have leftover supplies that I being back over to my house. This year one of the things I just never used was a two pound bag of pecans. I mean what was I thinking to buy that big of a bag. I hate nuts in anything. They are just odd. Well this morning as I was putting away all the supplies this bag of pecans just kept pulling me. I couldn’t help myself. I usually wait till closer to the holidays, but I couldn’t I had to make the most fabulous thing possible with pecans and in my world quite possible the only thing I make with pecans, Candied sugared holiday pecans.  These are so good. Oh I could eat them all. I really could. Over time of course. You must try these. They will be a hit with everyone. Even non nut eaters like myself will be begging you to make more. Trust me do this, do it soon.

Sugared Candied Holiday Pecans

  • Servings: 10-12
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

  • 1 lb pecans whole
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup sugar

1. In a large bowl combine the egg white and water. Whisk until frothy. Add the  pecans to the bowl and mix until coated well. Let sit for 2-3 minutes to moisten well.

2. In a small bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pour over the pecans. Mix thoroughly until all the pecans are coated with the sugar mixture. Pour onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 200 degrees for 1.5 hours. Stir once. Let cool on cookie sheet. Break apart and store in an airtight container.

Winter Wonderland and Mom’s Creamy Potato Soup!

wyranchwifeLeave a comment

Image

Let’s just start of by saying BRRrrrrrr, and Yeahhh! That’s right I love winter and cold weather. It’s a little crazy, but it’s true. The snow hit last night and it is still coming down. We have a house full of hunters here from Tennessee and guess what? The electricity went out early this morning and we are still running without.

Well a really good cold day calls for body warming soup. Not just a regular soup, but a thick creamy soup that not only warms your body but floods your mind with memories of loved ones.

This is my mom’s creamy potato soup. It is just divine. I have it simmering on the fireplace as I write and the aroma is so amazing. When the guys come in they are going to be drooling everywhere.

Mom's Creamy Potato Soup

IMG_00000405

6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 medium onions, diced
2 carrots sliced
2 celery ribs, sliced
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half and half

In a large pot combine potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, cream of chicken soup, and chicken broth. Add water if it is too thick. Cook until potatoes are almost tender. Add basil, salt and pepper. Continue to cook until tender. Mix the flour and half and half. Add to the soup, and stir until combined. This is a thick soup. Serve with rolls.

Jalapeño Galore

wyranchwifeLeave a comment

Image

Well my brother in law brought a large sack of jalapeños from my mother’s bountiful garden in Tennessee. I have no luck with gardens in this climate.

I decided to can those bad boys. Do I know how? Of course not. But hey, it’s on the net somewhere I’m sure. After looking I came up with my own version adopted from others I saw. Did I mention these are hot!! But so good.