In the Kitchen

Whew! I am done in the kitchen! I really do enjoy cooking, but those early mornings are hard on this old gal. This week our camp man's wife came over one morning after I got back from trailering the boys out and dropping them off:

She is fun and a really good cook and she is sweet to share her expertise.

Last year she cooked one day when I was working and DH still brags on her Chicken Fried Steak. We've eaten and made a lot of Chicken Fried Steak through the years, but I'm fairly certain she's ruined it for us now because we've never eaten one as good as the one she makes. I'd love to share her recipe, but it may be a while because I have to figure out how to get all those little tips and tricks of the trade onto paper. It might be easier if you come visit and I'll fix it for you.

That was a busy day. The vet was here preg-checking after dinner

I bagged up leftover cookies and stashed them in his rig as well as the other fellas on the crew as I headed out to town to return a chicken cage to a co-worker who is moving. She was sweet and gifted me 6 of her pretty chickens earlier in the week:

We visited for a few minutes and I headed home, but it was dark by the time I got back. With the time change, we keep running out of daylight and we're always choring in the dark. But I was back in the kitchen long enough to make a Buttermilk Pie and get it in the oven for dessert the next day:

                                                  

I made another recipe yesterday that she shared with me... Smothered Burritos. Good gravy! At this rate, I'm going to have to double the distance I walk. It was fun to have company in the kitchen for a day and I have a few tried and true new recipes to add to my recipe books. I have 2 and they're getting full and falling apart. The kids have forbidden me to replace my original one, but I recently picked up a new one that caught my eye when I was in a shop in town.

There's lots of room for new favorites!

I am ready to shut down the kitchen for a day or two, but I always miss the crew. They are a hoot. The mornings have been so cold and they look comical climbing into the saddle with multiple layers. At one point I was asked by one of our regulars, "Can you give me a boost?" LOL

On another morning, as we were all packing into the pickup, to trailer the rig about 12 miles and I heard this comment from one day hand to another, "You wouldn't think less of me if I wanted to snuggle, would you?" SNORT.

I am not naming names. 😎

A Taste of Fall and the Week Ahead

I'm back in the kitchen this week. We're beginning our Fall Cow Works so the last few days have been filled with lists and menus and shopping:

As well as a really nice rain on Thursday afternoon:

The earlier rains came fast and hard and filled our dirt tanks. This one was slow and easy (0.6" here at the house) and just what we needed. We've still got time to grow more winter grass so this was the perfect follow-up to the earlier big rain. On behalf of the ranchers and livestock - Thank you, Jesus.

On Sunday morning we processed some cattle through the chute:

It's not often that the 1st day of Fall feels like the 1st day of Fall around here, but it was 48° when we went out to the pens and I was absolutely jubilant to pull on the first flannel shirt of the season!

I'm already tired and I haven't even made the first batch of biscuits.Thankfully, the time hasn't changed yet and it doesn't get light until after 6 so breakfasts won't mean 2:30 a.m. wake-up calls. I pulled some things together this weekend though since I am cooking and working at the sale barn today. I'll cook and feed them breakfast (waffles, eggs, sausage, and fruit), clean up the kitchen, and get things together in crock-pots for their dinner. I made salsa,

salad, will throw corn in one crock-pot, Tortilla Stack in a 2nd crock-pot, and give them Cowboy Cookies I baked yesterday for dessert.

For the next 6 days, if you need me, I'll be knee deep in  bread dough and soap suds...after the sale. They're calling for 1300-1400 hd today. Someone please send me some strength and vitality to get me through the week.

Fall Works - Day 6

Well, my attempt at posting each day I cooked this week was an epic fail.  Between cooking, washing mountains of dishes, and hauling the crew out, I didn't have much time and I figured that yet another photo of  me making yet another batch of bread just didn't make for the most riveting daily reading.

  Not that I ever post anything riveting, but variety would be nice. :)

A food photographer, I am not and although it's really hard to resist fresh baked bread

Or apple pie

Or a plate of Cornpone Pie (and yes, that is sitting on a paper plate. Remember, no dishwasher in this old ranch house and after washing mountains of dishes, leftovers get paper plates at night.)

the photos just never look as appetizing as the food tastes. Today is day 6 of 12. We have one more day today, then break a week to tend to other ranch duties, resuming for another 6 days the following week.

The boys have had absolutely beautiful weather this week:

 And then we had an unexpected storm roll in last night:

That dropped 1.7" on the south and east side of the ranch:

They have spent the week gathering the pastures, which is why they ride 15-30 miles in the morning. The pastures around here vary in size, but they run from about 3 sections (1,920 acres) to 16 sections (10,240 acres) and they'll gather multiple pastures. Last night's rain required a change of plans for today. We drove east last night to check on the rain and DH drove north at 3 this morning to check on the north side. We had rain there as well, but not as much and the roads aren't  under water so they'll gather, sort, and process what they can and then come gather some bulls and run those through the chute.

So I'm back in the kitchen for one more day, but before I start on dinner, I'm going to enjoy a mug of tea, a cinnamon roll muffin, and dig into the Word

Edited to add link to Cinnamon Roll Muffin post

Round 2!

Just as I watched the dust from the last rig leave headquarters last Friday, more dust was headed our way. We had a full house and a busy weekend with 6 extras here to celebrate Father's day. I love it when the front of the house looks like this:

Nothing makes me happier than when all of our family is together. Saturday was brutal as far as the heat:

And this week promises more of the same. Everyone finds their favorite shady spot in the heat of the day

:

The wind was whipping up a storm on Sunday morning and wind and smoking do not a good team make. So DH moved the smoker:

I put all of my leftovers to good use this weekend and DH filled the smoker with chicken. Cornish Game Hens on one side:

And big chickens on the other:

Everyone pulled out on Sunday: One in the morning because she was headed to North Dakota (I made a trip into town to meet her ride from the university), 2 in the afternoon, 2 headed south in the evening, and 1 headed east. I made 24 Buckaroo Bundles on Sunday to send with the kids:

Buckaroo Bundle Recipe Here

                                             
I made 16 2 weeks ago and our girl's bringing a college buddy home this next weekend so I'll probably be making more to send back with them.

I loved every minute of the weekend and can't wait till we get to do it again. My FIL is turning 80 in August so that's the next clan gathering!

After work on Monday, I made another trip to the grocery store because the crew was gathering around my table at 4 the next morning and I think I was expected to feed them. :)  Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert is on the menu for dessert so I know there will be lots of happy cowboys!

Ice Cream Sandwich Recipe Here

                                             

I've got roast in the pressure cooker for barbecue sandwiches tomorrow and am fixing to put together the Chocolate Eclair dessert. It's DH's favorite. :) Can't remember if I've shared it or not. I'll check - and if not, I guess I ought to do that. :) I've got to tackle that laundry too. Lots of bedding from everyone being here this weekend and I'll need it for the next round this coming weekend. I think I need a nap. 2:30 a.m. will be here before I know it.

My Week in Food

Whew! It's been a whirlwind of a week and I spent much of it  in the kitchen so food is what you get to read about today. We worked 4 days instead of three and it's been HOT! That's why breakfast is at 4. By the time they eat, load horses

trailer to the various pastures

 it's just about light enough for them to start gathering

and they can get things done by noon. It's been over 100 degrees for 10 days now and next week looks like more of the same. We're usually 5-8 degrees hotter here than they are in town, but I guess once you hit 105 degrees, what's another 8 degrees? It's all melting weather.

And, no we don't have the humidity that plagues much of the country. I grew up in that and it's not fun, but what we do for a living means we spend our days outside and no one enjoys it when it's this hot.

However, I've been cooking all week and cooking for the boys means the oven and stove are on for much of the day. They love their deserts and who am I to deny them of that. :)

Apple pie:

Sopapilla Cheesecake:

And Pea Pickin' Cake:

                                 

I hope no one went hungry. This was dinner on Thursday - brisket, Yummy Corn Casserole, Potato Salad, Jalapeno Poppers, and Rolls:

One child will roll in today with the others coming in tomorrow evening. Then I am taking one to town on Sunday morning to meet the University caravan and they are heading to North Dakota for a Nutrition Conference.

 My refrigerator is FULL of leftovers. I'm hoping they can empty it out so I can start with a clean slate for more cooking next week. Between enchiladas, brisket, fajitas (making these for the crew today), Chicken Salad (making this today for the weekend), Buckaroo Bundles (making these tomorrow), Pea Pickin Cake, Sopapilla Cheesecake, watermelon, cantaloupe, blueberries, and grapes - surely there will be enough.

Today I'm making fajitas and Queso. I need easy and am making enough for leftovers tomorrow.

If anyone goes hungry, it'll be their own fault. Oh, and this'll be a PPW...a paper plate weekend. :)

The Great Salsa Snafu

In the 30 years I have cooked for a crew, I have never done anything like this.

I've debated whether I ought to even confess this or not. My entire 30 year cooking reputation has been wrecked...shattered...destroyed. Through the years I've heard tell  that I am a good cook. I am not, I am a plain and simple, nothing fancy, but plenty of it, kind of cook.

The worst thing I've done is put cornstarch  in the biscuits one morning instead of baking powder, but in my defense, it was 3:30 in the morning and I'd been up at that ungodly hour too many times in a row that week. And I did burn a cake recently because I was on the phone with a good friend.

But cowboys are unfailingly kind to the cook and often the crew is compromised of single fellas who are over the moon grateful for a home cooked meal, but I sure tested my boys on Tuesday.

I had made enchiladas, Spanish rice, beans, salad, and rolls for dinner, along with homemade salsa. By the time they rolled up in their rigs for dinner, I was feeling pretty puny and I rushed to set everything out. They filed in, thirsty and hungry, commenting on how good it smelled. After filling their plates, and settling in, I turned to put a few things away. I grabbed the salsa bowl and something caught my attention. It looked funny. Darker than I remember it being when I made it the day before. So I put on my glasses and well, it wasn't salsa! Any guesses? It was APPLESAUCE! LOL

I just about died laughing and I popped into the dining room and piped up, "O.K. Which one of ya'll scooped up some of this salsa?!" Oh, the looks I got were priceless! They looked absolutely sheepish and their eyes were filled with laughter that they were trying their best to disguise. I could barely get it out, "THAT was applesauce boys! I am SO sorry!" But it's hard to believe an apology is sincere when the one apologizing is doubled over in hoarse laughter. But I think they were relived at my reaction because they all burst out  laughing as well. Oh my goodness! I was SO embarrassed, but it was SO funny!

Honestly, I was running a pretty good fever of 103°, my ears were plugged up so I couldn't hear very well, I couldn't smell or taste anything and apparently I really can no longer see without my glasses! Both my salsa and applesauce were in mason jars. I keep everything in mason jars.

Yes, in these pictures, it is entirely plain to see which is which, but honestly, that day, in that bowl, in my kitchen...well, it just wasn't. Even DH didn't say anything and he WOULD have, had he noticed.

 And every one of those boys cleaned their plates and told me how wonderful it all was for which they received swats with my dishtowel for fibbing as they walked out the door.

When I shared this with our girl, she laughed too. She was with a friend who is a guy and he told her that fruit salsa is a 'thing' and that I was just being trendy. I could have used that information during my applesauce adventure.

And then, when we got back to branding on Friday, they asked for more salsa. I told them that they could all expect some in their Christmas stockings. When they were filling their plates yesterday, I said that I couldn't believe that 30 years of my cooking reputation had been tarnished by one little bowl of applesauce and one of those dear boys, who's been helping us for a long time, gave me the sweetest smile and said sincerely, "Not even a little".

I honestly felt SO badly, but they thought it was the best thing ever. See, why I love these fellas? Still, I wonder if I'll ever live it down.

Oven Lovin'

I've had a Frigidaire gas stove for 22 years and as much cooking and baking as I do, I think I finally wore it out. Through the years, DH has replaced parts on multiple occasions and in the past 6 months or so, it has been  a crap shoot as to if it felt like baking or not. It was finally time for a new stove. It completely quit 2 weeks  ago and I can tell you that it's been no fun. In the big scheme of things, it's not a big deal. Others are dealing with much bigger issues, but I sure do miss my oven.

When I think of all the meals I've cooked and baked through the years, it makes me a little nostalgic and I kind of hate to see it go. Is it odd to become attached to an appliance? It has served us well through the years and I guess it's earned it's retirement.

So last week, I made a trip to town to scout out the possibilities. There's a Home Depot in town, but 95% of what they carry is glass top stoves and that just does not work with my cast iron collection. Besides, I'm a gas stove girl. In a perfect world, my dream stove would be one of those commercial 6 burner stoves and I'd have double ovens, but alas, that's not going to happen. My little kitchen is already cramped.

Then there are 2 local appliance stores so I popped in to each of those. We used to have a teeny, tiny Sears store, but it closed so the pickings are pretty slim when it comes to selection. Still, I think I hit the jackpot at store #1. I found this GE stove:

5 burners. Double oven. Gas. In the scratch and dent section. Yes, please!

There was only one itty bitty ding on one side that I couldn't even see when I tried to take  a picture. The delivery man's name is Magoo. How fun is that and he was a very sweet man. Had to take a farewell shot of my old stove as Magoo carted it off:

The bottom oven has a convection mode. I wan't looking for that, but I hear about them a lot. It came with the middle griddle and I added a center grate, but they sent the wrong grate so when I called and asked about it and a manual, Kent said, " Look in the bottom drawer." I told him it was a double oven and he told me to look there. I said, "No manual, but there's a pie and cookies in there." He laughed and said, "Already?!" Yes, sir, already!

 I am celebrating! I am baking! Pie is on the menu!

Pie AND cookies!

Because I have 2 ovens!

Cue the Snoopy happy dance!