Chili

What better way to celebrate our first frost and the end of potato harvest than with - chili!!
My neighbor wanted to know why we didn't have potato soup.
Fair question.

1) I didn't have bacon or cream (I know, revoke my Appalachian Belle card).
2) I had a roll of ground beef thawed and needed to cook it.
3) Once you harvest several hundred pounds of potatoes, you don't want to touch one for a hot minute.

So chili it was.

I don't have a very complicated chili recipe.  There's nothing fancy.  But it suits us just fine.

Brown a pound of ground beef in a large pot. Add some minced onion, garlic powder, seasoned salt, whatever your heart desires.
*Check how gorgeous that meat is - we raised the beef right here on the farm!! One of the best parts, aside from the awesome taste, is that it's super lean and I don't even have to drain the fat!

Add a quart of tomato juice, some chili beans, and chili seasoning.  I use this recipe for seasoning, plus a dash of paprika, and make it in large batches to store for later.  It saves time in the long run, and with an infant I am a fan of anything that saves me seconds.  You can make a single recipe for a batch, or use 2-3 Tbsp if you've got a bulk batch stored.
Isn't the color on that tomato juice gorgeous!

At this point I add 1 Tbsp of cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water to the boiling mixture.  If you are using store bought tomato juice you may not need to do this, but our home canned stuff is a bit thinner than I like my chili.
*Note: I like my chili like soup.  I don't want it to be like the stuff that goes on hot dogs.'
**Unless I want hot dogs.

Reduce heat to medium low.  Let the chili simmer and thicken.  It's technically ready to eat, but it just gets better with time.  So if your husband is out doing farm things, it can hang on the stove for a bit.

At this point, pour yourself some coffee into the cool Pusheen mug your Auntie gave you a couple Christmases ago.  Add enough Coldstone sweet cream creamer to make it almost pointless to have poured coffee into that mug.

Controversial opinion - I like spaghetti in my chili.

I do not like chili spaghetti.  They are two different things.

Fight me.

When you're ready to eat, top with some shredded cheese and fried onion strips.  Feel warm and cozy inside.
Fear the owl staring from under your bowl.
Enjoy!!

The Couple That Digs Potatoes Together ...

Potato Harvest 2019 is in the books! We ended up with a few hundred pounds of red and white potatoes - more than enough for our family, neighbors, and some extra to sell.  I have a total and unashamed love for the potato, and all things potato (except tots - I really don't care for tots).  Brace yourselves for potato recipes as we work our way through one of nature's greatest gifts! 

Fried Cabbage

It's actually finally feeling like fall in Central KY (it has been in the 90s for a ridiculous amount of time, and we have had zero rain for weeks!).  With fall weather comes fall food!!!
Fried cabbage is one of our absolute favorite meals.  It's bacon-y and savory and still kinda green so you can feel good about at least having a few vitamins under all that grease (sorta).  Bonus points - weirdly, this method of cooking cabbage doesn't leave your house smelling like a big boiled cabbage (again - bacon).

Enjoy!!

Dice and fry up an entire pound of bacon. (Yes, the whole package. Do it.)

While the bacon is frying, roughly chop a medium head of cabbage and dice a medium sweet onion.  Or get your husband who spent years as a produce manager in different grocery stores to do it ;) .

Ask same husband to peel and mince a couple cloves of garlic.  He will do eight.  Go with it.  You can't have too much garlic.  Ever.
Play the garlic some punk rock to get the juices flowing.  The Ramones and the Misfits did it for us.

Add the onions and garlic to the bacon (and skillet full of grease) and cook until soft and fragrant and starting to get the brown-translucent coloring.

Add the cabbage and give it a good stir to get it all coated in bacon grease. Cover and cook on medium-low until the cabbage is as soft as you want it.

Fry up some beer brats to enjoy with your fried cabbage.  Promise you will eat a more balanced diet tomorrow.  Enjoy life tonight.

Yum!!! Did I mention we love fall?

We kick off every fall by decorating our local pub! We grow around an acre of pumpkins, gourds, broom corn, etc., and use a chunk of it getting the pub ready for Oktoberfest. This is one of our favorite yearly traditions and really gets us in the fall mood. We LOVE fall!

I'm Back!

It's been a hot minute since my last (and only) post, but I've been a bit busy welcoming my new farm hand! Hopefully I can get back in the swing of things and keep this blog going! In the meantime, take a peek at sweet Baby A getting his first taste of farm life!

(The tractor is not running ;) ).

Blueberry (or Blackberry) Cobbler? Crisp? Cake? Dessert.

Berries are ripening in Central KY, so that means fresh berries for one of our favorite desserts!  This can be made with blueberries, blackberries, or I suppose any other berries, though I haven't tried them.  But today I had blueberries, so it's blueberry cake. I never really know what to call this dessert.  It's sort of like a dump cake, but takes more effort than dump cake implies (though you could sub the fresh berries for a couple of cans of pie filling and call it a day).  It's sort of like a cobbler, but it feels like cheating to call it that.  So call it what you will - it will take just as delicious!

Add five cups of fresh, washed berries to a large pan over medium heat.  Sprinkle with five tablespoons of sugar, and just a pinch of salt to offset the sweetness because life is all about balance.

Cook the berries until they are warm and bubbly, and they start to release their juices and make some nice syrup.  Mix a tablespoon of cornstarch with 1/4 cup cold water, and then stir this into the berry mixture.  Let cook and reduce until you have a nice, thick berry mixture the consistency of pie filling (it usually takes less than 10 minutes).  Pour that beautiful berry goodness into your favorite 9x13 ish baking dish. Wait five minutes for the berries to cool and the steam to dissipate so you can take a decent photo.*  Realize you need to get out your actual camera if you want blog worthy food photos (sorry ridiculously expensive smartphone).*
*You can skip the last two steps unless you are wanting to show off your dessert too.

Melt 8 tablespoons of butter (yes, the whole stick - you'll thank me).  Open a package of yellow cake mix and dump into a bowl.  Mix the melted butter into the cake mix until completely moistened.  

Crumble the cake mixture over the berry mixture, covering as evenly as possible.  Sprinkle another tablespoon or two of sugar over the crust.  You don't necessarily have to, it will be plenty sweet enough, but it gives the crust a nice crunch and sheen, and go big or go home, right?

Pop the dessert in a preheated 350 degree oven.  Giggle at the baking dish your bf gave you for Christmas a few years ago, and be thankful for good friends.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the crust is as golden brown as you want it.  Serve warm, with ice cream or cool whip if you feel extra decadent.
We may or may not have been known to have leftovers for breakfast.  Blueberries are fruit, after all ;).
Enjoy!

Full recipe without my unnecessary commentary:

5 cups blueberries or blackberries
5 Tbsp sugar, plus more to garnish
Pinch of salt
1 Tbsp cornstarch dissolve in 1/4 cup cool water
8 Tbsp butter, melted
1 package yellow cake mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat berries, sugar, and salt over medium heat in a large saucepan, stirring frequently.  When berries have started to soften and release their juices, add the cornstarch and water mixture.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked down and thickened, about 10 minutes.  Pour into a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish.
Mix melted butter and cake mix until all of the cake mix is moistened and crumbly.  Crumble evenly over the berries.  Garnish with extra sugar (1-2 Tbsp) as desired.
Bake at 350F 35-40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.