Christmas - Food Related

Cornbread... Made this yesterday... The mix came in a gift


Here are more goodies from the gift box - beans, and salsa mixes.

What a cool present my sister Christy sent! She send us a gift box from the Woman's
Bean Project... On Christmas Day I cooked a ham (we usually have one of our super tasty
prime ribs, but I am saving ours for tonight)... Well, ham seems to be one of those things
that never ends! I swear it multiplies... For close to a week we have been eating ham, ham & beans, grilled ham & cheese sandwiches, and last night we had egg mc muffins (ham, cheese, fried eggs on an English muffin).... for lunch today I think we will have a big chef salad...

Check out those cool lemons... Direct from California. My friend Michele, who moved here about a year ago (our kids are in the same classroom) from CA and she brought these to us recently!


A Sexton Christmas is not complete without AnnaBelle Compton Sexton's homemade Eggnog!


A tasty beverage... It calls for:

• 6 eggs
• 1 C sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 C Golden Rum (Dick's Grandma used 2 C Bourbon)
• 1 qt light cream (not to be found in stores... I use 1/2 and 1/2)
• nutmeg

Beat eggs
Add sugar and salt, beat
Stir in alcohol
Chill for 3 hours
add nutmeg on top of poured drinks

So, I double this recipe and have non-alcohol batch and one with alcohol. It is not thick.. Nice and light!

Advent Day 21 - Food & Song

First, the Song
Dick has been giving music lessons each night in preparation of Christmas Eve.
Sami gets guitar lessons, Jake keyboard lessons.. They are practicing
for our Christmas Eve sing along... Silent Night is our favorite!
Last year I made song books for everyone...in big type for those of us that are sight challenged!
Sami's song book is the binder under the lesson book.


Now, for the Food
Last night was Favorite Foods Friday! I made 'Tomato Melties' for appetizers.
This is a recipe Dick & I invented....

Start with sourdough bread......


Heat a cube of butter, sliced mushrooms, ots of garlic, and Italian Seasoning.


Baste the butter mixture onto the bread, add sliced roma tomatoes.


Top with grated Mozzarella cheese...as you can see, I goofed and put on cheddar!


Bake until somewhat crispy... and cheese is melted! These are a family favorite!
Well, with the exception of the mushrooms... the kids pick those off!

Advent Day 18 - Family Christmas Cookie Recipe

I am so on a roll!

Oh, and yes, I realize today is actually Day 21, but I am trying to get caught up!!!

After sharing with you some private moments about my day yesterday, this 'sweet' cookie recipe found its way into my email box from my ever so talented mother Pat. Pat is an awesome cook, had a wonderful career, (she is retired now) golfs every chance she gets, has great legs from all the walking she does in downtown Seattle (well, she's always had great legs!), dresses impeccably, and is a woman who is now living life to the fullest (I say that now, because remember the dysfunctional testimonial? We had some rough years, very rough) ... Anyway, she is a 'turn lemons into lemonade' type of woman, and refuses to be a victim or dwell on the past. A great role model for any woman who really needs to 'get a life'!

Here is the cookie recipe that she sent to me and my older sister Christy... Christy and I both have/had a tendency to 'attempt the Martha Stewart level' when in comes to the holidays...Christy is 'over it'. Hmmm.. come to think of it, Christy sent me a Martha Stewart book last Christmas (she tried to get it autographed, but that did not work out!)... wonder if there was a hidden message there?

Christmas Cookie Recipe

1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar
lemon juice
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Crown Royal

Instructions:
- Sample the Crown Royal to check quality.

- Take a large bowl, check the Crown Royal again, to be sure it is of
the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.

- Turn on the electric mixer...Beat one cup of butter in a large
fluffy bowl.

- Add one teaspoon of sugar...Beat again.

- At this point it's best to make sure the Crown Royal is still OK,
try another cup.. just in case.

- Turn off the mixer thingy.

- Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried
fruit.

- Pick the frigging fruit off floor...

- Mix on the turner.

- If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose
with a dewscriver.

- Sample the Crown Royal to check for tonsisticity.

- Next, sift two cups of salt, or something.... who giveshz a sheet.

- Check the Crown Royal.

- Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.

- Add one table.

- Add a spoon of ar, or somefink.... whatever you can find.

- Greash the oven.

- Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.

- Don't forget to beat off the turner.

- Finally, throw the bowl through the window.

- Finish the bottle of Crown Royal.

- Make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

Cherry Mistmas

Hope you all get a chuckle out of this!!! I sure did... Kills me every time I read it!

Advent - Day 6 & 7 - More Sweet Things

Day 6 - Last night we started watching the movie The Princess Bride. Such a cute little family fun movie! We are saving the rest for tonight, our stay up late night (TGIF!). Our little guy Jake was skeptical of a princess movie, very similar to the little boy who is sick in bed listening to his Grandfather 'read' him the story ! Naturally, Mr. Doubting Jake got absorbed into the flick - thanks to some good sword fighting...

Weather Report: This morning we woke to more snow! Two inches. The bad news is Jake went to school in sneakers. His snow boots managed to find doggy droppings and he 'forgot' to clean them. Not only that, for some reason, he can't find his NEW HAT that we bought last Saturday! Arg. Not sure if he has gloves. I'm sure his teacher is going to want to give me one of those 'mommy of the year' awards!

Today is Day 7 of Advent and I would like to share with you some sweet things! All of my family members live in other states, as well as my husband's family, so things are gonna have to hit the postal system next week, or shortly thereafter, which means, this weekend is going to be the baking weekend! My all time favorite resource for my cookies is the Gooseberry Patch Old Fashioned Country Cookies book! I've discovered all sorts of fun things in this little book. I have discovered another super duper awesome resource, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I'm linking you up to the Pioneer Woman's blog page that is featuring a great cookie recipe - I hope to try tomorrow. BTW, the Pioneer Woman is a hoot. Check her out anyway. She has a great sense of humor.

Have a great day! Here is one of my fave Christmas recipes...

MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE

Ingredients:

Whole Milk

IBARRA Authentic Mexican Chocolate

On the stove top, heat milk. Add 2 wedges of the Mexican chocolate per cup of milk. Use a wooden spoon to break up the chocolate as it melts. Heat to desired temperature!

To speed up the process break up the wedges in a blender prior to putting in milk.

Thanksgiving Recap!

Note the Apron! My Thanksgiving One!

Yep. This is me. No makeup. In my kitchen attire.. Glad I decided to get off my rear and peel the Yukons at 9 am for our 2pm dinner appointment. Ha! I was in the kitchen for 3 hours!
Well, I do get sidetracked... I decided we would also need snacks at noon - a light little celebration of our own since dinner wouldn't be until 3ish... I tend to do that. Get sidetracked! You know the routine, clear the table, then search for fun stuff to put on the table, then go off on some sort of tangent that involves checking the candle inventory or crystal goodies that are stashed!


Garlic/Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes
My favorite mashed potatoes.. Absolutely no butter in this recipe! (Disclaimer: I love butter and use it frequently, real butter!). This recipe has Yukon potatoes which give a buttery flavor, tons of garlic (I throw 3 heads into the boiling water - then squish garlic out into the potatoes and mash together), 1 c milk, and a brick of real cream cheese.. Yum! And yes, those are garlic cloves (cooked) on top!


Our Holiday Table
Our noontime celebration. Special drinks for all of us, along with snacks. Our relish plate has baby corn and pickled Okra in addition to black olives. Yum! See the snow out the windows? And the pot of geraniums I saved from outside (saved from the goats and weather!).


Our Little Family
At our friends house. We have a potluck with friends, and play games after dinner - Taboo and Apples to Apples. Sorry for the funky blue/green tint!


The Ride Home!
Jake is not quite asleep. Although he would like to have us think otherwise!
We all had to change into our snow gear (coveralls, snow boots, hats and gloves) to do our evening chores at 9:30 pm (they usually get done at 4pm). Thank goodness for the moon light and flashlights. The snow had diamonds all over it! It was a beautiful crystal clear night - hence the low temps. It was about 15 degrees and we had to break ice or carry water buckets for all the domestic critters that are outside our house - the dogs, cats and Sami's calf, Ruby. The sheep, cattle and goats have other water sources that we haven't had to break yet. That happens when we get below zero - in another month! The next morning it was 10 degrees.

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and filled with family, friends and food! I attempted to call all my favorite girls. I called my sister Paula, and left her our annual 'gobble gobble' message. Still haven't heard from that girl! She is MIA. Stinker. But I did get to chat with two of my other fave women. First was my mom, Pat, in Seattle, who had a great story to tell. She made Thanksgiving dinner Wed. night because on T-Day she was spending it at my cousin Eric's - whose wife was making a vegetarian dinner - so Wed. was a 'sneak in the meat night' for the rest of the family. Hilarious. Gotta get that traditional turkey or ham in somehow!
And my 2nd successful call was to my Aunt Alice. She is the perfect role model. Actually, both she and Pat are. They both had awesome careers and raised children under the worse/best of circumstances. There were other gals I had hoped to call, but alas, ran out of time!
OK.. gotta go get some more photos to share!

A Blue Monday - Chicken Soup Therapy!

Grandma Marina with Sami and Jake
In her living room, in Freedom, CA. March 2007

Thank you everyone for your sweet notes and condolences regarding our two guard dogs.
Today was my 'blue' day. Our company (The Good Ol' Boys) left this morning, kids went off to school, and I was left alone with my sad little heart. It was very hard to get motivated to do anything productive.

So, tonight we are having Grandma Marina's Chicken Soup for dinner. This recipe is what I use for when one of us is coming down with a cold. It is a wonderful cure! I also use it for comfort food, and right now, I am needing the warm of my Grandma's loving soup to warm my soul.
By the way, my Grandma will be 95 in November!

Here is the recipe:

GRANDMA’S CHICKEN SOUP

Ingredients:

One fryer, cut up

Salt

Head of Garlic

One stalk of celery, cut up

Carrots, cut up

Tomato (one small one, or ½ medium), chopped

Two handfuls of pasta (rice, potato, macaroni or noodles)

½ dozen green onions, chopped

• Wash chicken and cut up

• Put water in soup pot and boil
• Put chicken in pot of boiling water, add salt to taste
• Add garlic, cleaned and whole
• After 25 minutes of boiling, add celery, carrots, tomato, pasta and onions
• Bring to second boil, then let simmer for 15 minutes

I also add tortilla salad wraps to our meal.

Heat corn tortillas in butter. Remove when cooked. Add grated cheese, bite size lettuce pieces and cut up cilantro. Roll up. To eat - hold in one hand, your spoon in the other. Dip salad wrap into soup, take a bite, alternate with spoon and salad! Yum....

Recipe Thursday - Lamb Shanks Drennan

Below is a wonderful recipe passed on to us from one of our Baker lamb customers, Marleen B. But, before I share the recipe with you, a few notes:

Lamb Shanks, for those of you novices out there, are the lower portion of 'the leg', below what you and I would call a knee. This is the cut used for such delicacies as Oso Buco, or Baby Legs. Restaurants love to serve lamb shanks standing up on the plate, meaning, the bone is at the top, and the meatier end sits on your plate... add mash potatoes, and yummers... a tasty dish!

You always want to braise Lamb Shanks, to seal in the juices, and by all means never separate the meat from the bone prior to cooking (huge no no). The bone is what adds the extra tasty flavor, as in any meat dish. Why people are ordering meat cuts w/o the bone is beyond me!

Here is Marleen's recipe:

Ingredients:

• 4 Lamb Shanks (Sexton Ranches Natural Lamb of course!)
• 1/4 lb butter
• 2 onions - sliced
  
• 1/2 C dry white wine
• 1/2 C tomato juice
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp powdered ginger (or, treat yourself to freshly grated!)
  
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 C Chicken broth

Directions:
Melt butter in large skillet. Brown shanks well and place in a casserole dish - keep butter in skillet. Saute onions in skilled and remaining butter. Add dry wine and tomato juice, paprika, powdered ginger, salt, pepper and chicken broth. Cook and stir mixture for a few minutes, then pour over shanks. Cover and bake at 250 degrees for 3 hours or until tender - aka, when the meat falls freely off the bone...

Marleen's recipe also suggested that you 'remove fat from shanks' prior to browning.
HUGE NOTE: I would not! If you are eating a grass fed meat product, the FAT is where your healthy Omega 3 fatty acids are..meaning, your cancer fighting friends. Quit killing yourselves...if you are trying to cut your fat intake, quit eating all those nasty white bread products! And, besides, the fat is also a big flavor contributor..

We love lamb shanks cooked in a crock pot. It is definitely one of my favorite Fall recipes. I add potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and some favorite spices! Check out our website www.sextonranches.com for our ranch tested lamb shank recipe as well.

And, don't forget the red wine... another one of my cancer fighting buddies!

Recipe Thursday - German Short Ribs

OK folks! As promised I am adding a new category to my posts, 'Recipe Thursdays'. I figure most of you shop for groceries on Fridays or Saturdays, so if I post on Wednesday, this will show up in your Thursday mail (for subscribers).

This recipe comes from one of our Boise customers, Elaine K. She purchased our grass-fed ribs, and the next time I saw her she talked about how awesome they turned out! Of course, I just had to get the recipe! The meat falls off the bones folks! The reason I like this recipe is it is an 'on top of the stove' one, meaning, any of us can do it. I have another fave that requires a slow roaster, yet it is super simple!

Here is Elaines' recipe:

German Short Ribs (from Sunset Cook Book of Favorite Recipes)

2 ½ to 3 lbs of beef short ribs (try Sexton Ranches Grass Fed Beef!)

flour, salt and pepper to taste

2 tbs oil

1 or 2 med onions thinly sliced ( I used one)

1 cup dry red wine

½ cup chili sauce or catsup (I mixed some of both together)

3 tbs each brown sugar and apple cider vinegar

1 tbs Worcestershire

1 ½ tbs flour with ½ cup flour

Dredge the short ribs in seasoned flour. Heat oil in a Dutch Oven add short ribs and cook slowly until well browned all over. Add onions and brown lightly. Then add the wine, chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and Worcestershire. Cover and cook over very low heat for until meat is tender, about 2 hours.

This is all I did. I didn’t keep the sauce. I then served the short ribs which were quite sweet and tasty with corn bread and fried okra.

The recipe says to remove from heat, cool and refrigerate. Then lift off all the fat. Heat and stir in the flour blended with water. Cook until thickened and meat is heated.

All comments are from Elaine. I tossed in the one about our beef (well, that is what she used!).. Thanks, Elaine!