#if you don’t have homegrown Touch store bought is fine

[abba-enthusiast]

No longer a touch starved lesbian! (Signed up to a dancing class where you are physically required to touch another person)

[cricketnationrise]

hiii cricket been eating up your recent fics (and literally all the ones before that, too)

here’s a fic ask!!

8:30 pm, the brownstone

hen and alex

“and you’ll save all your dirtiest jokes for me, and at every table i’ll save you a seat, lover” 💕

rating: M or E

thanks sm cricket ❤️❤️❤️

oooh very nice prompt. i'll admit this could have gone in a few different directions and then i thought of the joke at the beginning and it, er, devolved from there. anyway its definitely E so enjoy! 💜🦗

read the rest of the ficlets here

❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙

8:30pm, the brownstone

“…then the donor said something about riding ‘requiring the right equipment,’” Henry giggles, warm from the bottle of wine they’re splitting.

“Oh my god,” Alex sniggers. 

“And it truly took every ounce of self control not to say ‘if homegrown isn’t available, store bought is just fine.’”

They both lose it completely as Henry chokes the words out. His cheeks hurt from grinning all evening, and now his stomach is cramping and he can barely breathe. Alex is clearly in the same boat if the tears in the corners of his eyes are any indication.

It’s a perfect evening. Alex got a fantastic mark on a paper and Henry submitted his manuscript ahead of the deadline. They don’t have anywhere to be until Monday and the reality of a free weekend, just the two of them, spools out tantalizingly in front of them. A flurry of exclamation marks and unhinged GIFs bounced between their phones all day as they planned this long-delayed night in. It’s everything Henry has been missing the past few weeks; their shared wine, dinner, and laughter a balm to his soul.

Alex gets a hold of himself first, barely.

“Holy shit, baby, that’s incredible,” he wheezes. “A dick joke slash sex toy meme spin, I’m so fucking proud.”

“You’re a demonic influence, of course you’re proud.”

“Hey, you were at least sixty percent of the way there before me, Mr. Oxford-Slut-Phase.”

“That’s Prince Oxford-Slut-Phase to you.”

“Of course, my mistake, Your Majesty.” Alex beams at him and Henry, as always, melts a little. He’s trying to convince his legs to maintain their structural integrity when Alex speaks again.

“We could mix and match tonight, if you wanted.” Henry tips his head to the side in confusion. The heat building in Alex’s gaze makes him want to be pinned to the couch cushions. Or do the pinning, he’s not feeling particularly picky about how he gets his hands on Alex this evening.

“We have both homegrown and store-bought equipment available,” Alex says pointedly. “Wanna use both in me tonight?”

A flash of heat runs down Henry’s spine. “Bedroom. Now.”

A mad dash up the stairs, a flurry of clothes tossed every which way, a reverent kiss to Alex’s wrists—just above the leather cuffs Henry buckled him into and attached to their headboard—and Henry is straddling Alex’s thighs.

“So gorgeous like this, love.”

“Henry, fuck just touch me, please.”

“Begging already? Interesting.”

Alex’s retort is cut off with a pleased gasp when Henry gets his mouth on Alex without so much as a warning. Henry practically worships Alex with his lips and tongue and—occasionally, delicately—teeth. He moves from Alex’s cock to his rim, before practically burying his face is Alex’s arse. It’s been so long since they’ve had time for more than hurried hand jobs in the shower and Henry has missed this. Missed how worked up Alex gets, how desperate he is when he’s not allowed to touch while Henry fucks him with his tongue.

Henry gets his fingers slicked up without moving his mouth, and then slips two into Alex alongside his tongue. Alex shouts when Henry crooks his fingers, begging a multitude of saints and Henry—always Henry—to make him come, to take pity, for more.

“How can I resist when you beg so nicely?” Henry says as he sits up, reaching for their favorite toy with the hand not knuckle-deep in Alex. They picked it out together, browsing the site Pez recommended to Henry back when they were still in uni. It’s a deep purple, about Henry’s size, but with a wicked curve that never fails to make a mess of them both. Alex whimpers when Henry adds a third finger and spreads them out, but he does his best to work his hips and take more and Henry knows he’s ready. He covers the dildo with lube and rests the head on Alex’s rim.

“Baby, c’mon, I need it,” Alex pants—and who is Henry to deny him anything? 

“Remember to breathe,” is all he says before pulling his fingers out and swiftly pushing the toy into Alex all the way to the hilt in one movement. Alex moans, low and long and the inevitable spike of pride that Henry is the one making Alex feel so good hits Henry like lightning. He fucks the toy in and out of Alex a few times—delighting in the sweat gathering at Alex’s temples and hairline—before thrusting it all the way and holding it there.

“You’re going to be good and keep this inside.”

It’s not a question, but Alex answers anyway. “Yeah, fuck, I want it—”

“Because if it slips out of you, I’ll stop.” Henry gives it a twist, so the curved end hits Alex’s prostate, with a devious smirk.

Alex makes a noise like he’s been punched in the stomach, but he nods, eyes wide. “I’ll be good, promise.”

“Excellent. Now open that pretty mouth for me.”

Alex does, gaze eager, as Henry shuffles up the bed and settles close, his cock brushing Alex’s bottom lip. Henry’s the one to groan this time as he pushes his cock into Alex’s mouth. He’s got one hand on the headboard and the other cradling the back of Alex’s head, threaded through his curls. He can’t look away from the sight of Alex’s lips stretching obscenely around him, from the flutter of Alex’s—

“Fucking eyelashes.”

Alex hums around him and Henry’s gone, tugging Alex off his cock by the hair so he can come across his mouth and neck, his release coating stubble and chain alike.

“H, Hen—can I—need to come.” Alex’s voice is utterly wrecked and if Henry hadn’t just come he would be now. 

“Just a moment.” Henry clambers off Alex, and stretches out at his side. He reaches a hand down and grasps the base of the dildo once again. “Alright,” he says, thrusting the toy, “Come for me.”

And Alex does.

[josephkitchen0]

Homestead Heritage: Bringing Thanksgiving Back to the Farm

By Steven Hall – You’ve bought property and moved to the country. You’re living the rural lifestyle you imagined and embracing the homestead heritage. And yet, when the holiday season arrives, you may still find your Thanksgiving preparation beginning and ending at the grocery store. During countless trips to the store for more canned or frozen goods—trips now made longer by your distance from town—, do you ever wonder what it is you’re supposed to be so thankful for?

Traditionally, Thanksgiving was a festival to celebrate the harvest, —a day to be grateful for a generous and bounteous season, a blessing after months of tilling, planting, and tending. All too often, however, a cavernous mental and emotional gap separates the fields and pastures of our nation’s farms from our dinner plates.

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When I moved out of my family’s home, I became aware of my own gap, in my case a generational gap. Although my childhood was spent in town, our family’s culture was heavily influenced by my father’s homestead heritage and growing up on a small farm in southeastern Idaho. This culture influenced the food we prepared and ate, the garden we grew, our work ethic, and the stories we told. However, I hadn’t truly appreciated how this homestead heritage influenced me until I grew into adulthood. I often fought against this culture, fought against chores in the garden, against farm cooking in the kitchen. Only later did I realize how much my notion of meals like Thanksgiving had been influenced by and interconnected with my family’s farming and homestead heritage, our garden, and the homegrown and homemade foods I had taken for granted as a child.

Today, the typical Thanksgiving meal begins behind a shopping cart and includes a spread from cans, freezers, and commercial bakeries. But for those living a rural life, the possibility exists to make Thanksgiving Day more closely resemble that original sense of harvested gratitude, a sentiment closely tied to the land, the seasons, and the uncontrollable results of a growing period. Consider the following suggestions, based on my own family’s farm-inspired traditions——from most complicated to easiest—for making your Thanksgiving dinner a direct reflection of your hard work and efforts during the farm year.

Thanksgiving dinner revolves around the turkey. Each Thanksgiving season, Americans consume nearly 100 million turkeys. During the last 50 years, thanks to its abundant quantity of breast meat, the modern “Broad-breasted White” variety—almost always raised in confined conditions—accounts for approximately 90 percent of Thanksgiving turkeys. In fact, the variety has developed such a large breast that it cannot reproduce naturally, only through artificial insemination. Many believe the variety and its growing conditions are largely responsible for the meat’s dry, often tasteless quality.

Historically, in contrast, the turkey raised for a family Thanksgiving meal could come from several different varieties, including the Narragansett or Jersey Buff turkey, two of the varieties most often associated with colonial America. These varieties reproduce naturally and, while their breast meat may not be as large and uniform, these birds are generally juicier and more flavorful. Today varieties like these— (now referred to as heritage turkeys) —have become rare, but are gaining in popularity. So what do you do if you want to find a heritage turkey for Thanksgiving … one that embodies the homestead heritage?

Living on a farm, the first choice would be to raise your own. As the sustainable food movement gains momentum in our country, the number of heritage turkey farms and heritage turkey breeders increases. Many of these breeders will mail turkey chicks directly to your front door, leaving you to raise the bird to the proper weight by the middle of November. While the purpose of this article will not focus on raising turkeys for meat, keep in mind that if you choose that ambitious path for next year, timing is crucial. Heritage varieties require more time to grow to harvest weight. On average, any heritage turkey will need from 24 to 30 weeks to reach full weight, while today’s grocery store white turkey needs just 18 weeks. You will need to plan ahead so your turkey reaches its harvest weight during the week of Thanksgiving.

One of the most reliable hatcheries in the country is the Murray McMurray Hatchery in Iowa. Self-promoted as “the world’s largest rare breed hatchery,” the Murray McMurray Hatchery just might be right. I’ve never found a variety they couldn’t offer; in addition to turkey poults, they also breed chickens, ducks, geese, pheasants, and more. They sell essentially every variety of heritage turkey: White Holland, Standard Bronze, Narragansett, Blue Slate, Broad-breasted Bronze, Bourbon Red, Black Spanish, Royal Palm and Chocolate turkeys. Ordering from their website (mcmurrayhatchery.com) is very convenient, and while raising a turkey is full of work and patient effort, there is nothing quite like receiving a peeping box with air holes in the mail and watching a fine poult grow to adulthood.

By the time you read this, not enough time remains to raise and harvest your own Thanksgiving turkey. But that’s okay. While this year might be out, and even if in the future you don’t have the space or energy to raise your own turkey, you can start searching now for a local turkey grower in your area. You can ask around at your community’s farmers market. Perhaps your area has a local butcher or a specialty shop. If not, try doing some searching in the classifieds in your local newspaper. Many small, local farmers are even creating farm websites or hosting blogs. You never know what you might find with a little searching online.

And if you can’t find a local turkey grower, don’t worry. Raising heritage turkeys through sustainable practices is rapidly gaining popularity. You might be surprised how many growers you can find that are willing to ship a Thanksgiving turkey directly to your home. Let me give you a head start. Here are just two of the most experienced and well-known turkey growers in the country.

Owned and operated by the Pitman family since 1954, Mary’s Turkeys is located in California’s Central Valley. A small, family-owned business with a strong homestead heritage, the Pitman’s free-range turkeys are raised organically, in the open air. One of the strongest features of the Pitman family’s operation is that, since 2003, they have also run their own processing plant. Since the same family farm conducts the entire process, they can promise the consumer a Thanksgiving turkey that has been raised and harvested through sustainable, humane practices. Within the state of California a significant list of stores sell Mary’s Turkeys during the holidays. You can see their website (www.marysturkeys.com) for a list of locations, as well as details on having a turkey shipped directly to any state.

Considered one of the pioneers of saving heritage turkey varieties, Frank Reese believes growing heritage turkeys for the dinner plate is the best way to preserve the historic varieties and homestead heritage. On his Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch in Kansas, Reese promotes raising turkeys on an outdoor range, with vegetarian feed, and according to the highest standards of animal welfare. He also supports additional small-scale farming operations. As he states on his farm’s website, by purchasing a Thanksgiving turkey from him, “you are supporting a network of independent growers.”

If you choose this alternative method for purchasing this year’s Thanksgiving turkey, keep in mind that the price for these turkeys is often two to three times higher than the generic “White-breasted” variety found in most grocery stores. However, many people who have tried turkeys from farmers like the Pitmans or Frank Reese argue that the added flavor, moistness, and tenderness alone make the additional cost worth it, let alone the support of sustainable farming practices and small-scale farmers. In fact, heritage turkeys have become so popular with consumers, you may need to order yours weeks in advance. So plan ahead.

How Homemade Dinner Rolls (or Bread) Make the Meal

Today every grocery store chain operates a bakery, making Thanksgiving dinner rolls a quick grab-and-go affair. Often dinner rolls are the last item on the list. And yet, for many, the rich smells of baking rolls or bread are the ultimate compliment to the baking turkey and stuffing of a Thanksgiving dinner. So why let your grocery store have the benefit of this process, and its attendant smells, when the enjoyment can belong to you and your guests? For me and my family, Grandma’s homemade bread recipe is the perfect final touch to a dinner plate bursting with turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Her cakey bread recollects the homestead heritage of growing seasons and harvests shared by her and Grandpa on their small farm in southeastern Idaho.

Appropriately, this kind of family bread recipe often survives for generations without being written down. If your family has a homestead heritage that survives multiple generations, perhaps you have reaped the benefits of handed-down recipes. If you represent a return to rural living, perhaps a member of your family is still cooking family recipes— like rolls or bread— and you could be the next in line to learn. One suggestion for you would be to arrange a learning opportunity with this individual, recording the recipe for yourself and others. If my mother hadn’t stood next to Grandma, taken measurements (for Grandma there were no exact measurements), and copied down instructions, we might not be enjoying her bread today and homestead heritage it represents. And for those of you representing the first generation on the farm, perhaps my grandmother’s bread recipe could be of use to you.

2 cups hot water (110°-115°F)

2/3 cup oil (vegetable, canola, or similar)

3/4 cup white sugar (short)

2 eggs

4-1/2 teaspoons dry yeast (2 packages)

6-1/2 cups white flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Mix hot water, oil, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl. Add yeast, lightly stirring until yeast becomes moistened. Let mixture sit until it foams up, then whip it until smooth. Add baking powder and salt. Slowly add flour (approximately one cup at a time until mixed).

Once all the flour is thoroughly mixed, cover and let dough rise inside the bowl. This should take about one hour. One of the best qualities of this bread recipe is that it requires no kneading. After the dough has fully risen, simply punch it down, divide it in half, and form loaves into two medium size bread pans, liberally greased with butter. Let the dough rise again (covered), for a similar length of time. Bake at 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes. Bread is fully cooked when top and sides of crust have taken on a medium to dark color. Remove the loves from pans and let cool on a wire rack. Optional: Brush melted butter across the top of each loaf.

Rolls can also be made with this recipe. Bake rolls for about 15 minutes at 400°F. Be aware, this is a gooey, cakey bread dough. To form rolls without making a complete mess and feeling utter frustration, thoroughly moisten your hands with butter or oil. Shaping rolls can be simplified by using a muffin pan and filling each about halfway with dough.

While baking homemade bread can be the most time-consuming part of Thanksgiving preparation, the rewards are worth the effort. The warm, inviting smells of baking bread come to us with wafts of memories: memories of family, tradition, and Thanksgiving meals from years gone by.

Thanksgiving Pie: Carving Up Your Garden Pumpkins

No Thanksgiving meal is complete without pumpkin pie. A relatively simple dessert dish, for many homes the pumpkin pie’s main ingredient and the recipe itself come from a store-bought can. But with a little extra effort, the pumpkin pie can become one of the most memorable and satisfying elements to Thanksgiving dinner.

Perhaps the easiest way to feel a connection between your own farm or garden harvest and Thanksgiving meal rests in the traditional pumpkin pie, especially one with a rich homestead heritage. Nearly every avid gardener I know grows pumpkins. Without much effort, and in most climates, pumpkin vines grow thick and strong. The colorful and plentiful results make for beautiful decorations and seasonal fun, and the late harvest helps the life of the garden last well into the fall.

Nearly all pumpkin seeds found in hardware stores, grocery stores, even nurseries, are from varieties intended to meet the Halloween needs of most families. The pumpkins are large, round, and include moderately thick flesh, designed perfectly for carving. In fact, most gardeners and pumpkin buyers rarely view pumpkins as a source of food. However, historically, many varieties of pumpkins were bred just for that purpose, as an ample source of food. An excellent source of seeds for such varieties of pumpkins is the Seed Savers Exchange, a non-profit organization based in Iowa whose purpose is to save endangered varieties of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Referred to as heirloom varieties (the plant equivalent of heritage farm animals), the Seed Savers Exchange now maintains seeds from over 25,000 varieties. Two varieties of pumpkin that I have grown for eating include the Amish Pie and Australian Butter. Each variety has a small inner cavity and thick flesh, generally up to five inches. One way to give new life and taste to the pumpkin pie is to grow a variety of pumpkin with qualities similar to these two.

The process is not difficult. Simply cut one of your pumpkins into manageable chunks and place them onto a baking pan, with the skin facing up. Since there is no standard thickness to pumpkins, you must keep checking on the flesh until it is baked soft enough to mash. Usually, a temperature between 350° to 400°F for one to two hours is sufficient. When the flesh is soft, remove the pumpkin pieces from the oven and let them cool. While still warm use a large spoon to scoop out the soft flesh, placing it into a food processor or a blender. Process the flesh until it reaches a smooth puree. Then simply store the flesh in the refrigerator or freezer until you are ready to begin making pie. The puree can also be used to make a delicious pumpkin soup. Keep your pumpkin pie recipe exactly the same, and simply add fresh pumpkin flesh and you’ll have pumpkin pie with a vibrant flavor and wholesome texture like you’ve never tried.

Cranberry Sauce: Quick and Easy

Finally, use a few of those minutes when you have the turkey in the oven, bread rising, and pumpkin meat cooling on the stove to add a final touch of homemade quality and distinctness we so often ignore. No one knows for sure when cranberry sauce first became a traditional part of the Thanksgiving meal. Versions of cranberry sauce history vary, from the pilgrims’ valuable lessons learned from Native Americans to General Ulysses S. Grant’s order in 1864 that cranberry sauce be served to the troops during the siege of Petersburg. But regardless of cranberry sauce’s first introduction to Thanksgiving dinner, there can be no doubt about its mundane condition today.

Until I became an adult, what was referred to as cranberry sauce at my family’s table simply resembled some kind of strange, purplish Jello. For this reason, I thought it strange this “cranberry sauce” wasn’t served during dessert. It took years for me to learn its real purpose. I remember watching each year as, just before the beginning of the meal, someone would crank the handle of the can opener, pop the lid, and give the can a shake as this slimy, bouncy, blob with no form (other than from the ridges of the can) came sliding onto a plate. Promptly cut into equal slices, the canned cranberry jiggler was put out for all to enjoy. But it shouldn’t have to be that way.

While the cranberry sauce holds a relatively small place on a full Thanksgiving table packed with large items, cranberry sauce’s fresh and cool tartness can add a distinctive and delicious element to the traditional meal. And with just a few minutes of extra effort and preparation, your family’s cranberry sauce can always be made from scratch.

Cranberry sauce does not need to be complicated. Simple, delicious recipes are abundant. Significant variety exists in recipes, but the following is perhaps the quickest and most simple. And who knows, perhaps it will become a new family tradition for you and yours.

2 cups fresh cranberries

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup white sugar

1 to 2 teaspoons grated orange rind

In a medium saucepan, bring water and cranberries to a rolling boil. Cook until cranberries burst, approximately 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in sugar. Continue stirring until sugar thoroughly dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in orange rind. Broken cranberries provide a textured sauce, but if you prefer a consistent and smooth texture, use a hand masher or processor. Pour mixture into serving bowl and place in refrigerator until mealtime.

This year, when you go around the dinner table to share what you’re thankful for, consider your dinner plate and how it was influenced by the homestead heritage. Take a few moments to reflect on the origins of one of our nation’s most treasured holidays. Think of the farmers across the country. Think of your own farm and the harvest that came with it this year, some of which may be on your dinner table in the form of pumpkin pie, along with a heritage turkey, fresh homemade rolls or bread, and cranberry sauce from scratch. I guarantee, if you do, you’ll savor the Thanksgiving meal you and others have worked so hard to prepare (and harvest), that much more.

We have much to be thankful for, especially a rich homestead heritage.

Published in Countryside November / December 2010 and regularly vetted for accuracy.

Homestead Heritage: Bringing Thanksgiving Back to the Farm was originally posted by All About Chickens

[lenakrruger]

Recipes for Realtors: Stewed prunes, oxtails and oranges

I was rearranging my pantry shelf, and it’s a rare thing to find things in tins, but I came across a large container of preserved prunes. And I decided it was time to use them again. This is a quick and easy sauce to make and it keeps well in a glass-covered container in the fridge for several days.

Remove the prunes using a strainer or a slotted spoon and put the liquid into a saucepan. Measure the liquid and add half as much granulated sugar and a cup of Offley Ruby Port.

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Bring it to a gentle simmer and reduce by a third. Stir well with a wooden spoon to incorporate the sugar. Mash the moisture-filled prunes or pulse coarsely. Add a pinch of salt.

Stir the mashed prunes into the reduced sauce pot, on simmer. Squeeze the juice of a fresh sweet orange into the pot and add orange segments from another whole orange, cut from between the membranes.

You could add the zest of a fresh orange or mince a few rinds from your candied citrus sugar jar to finish the sauce, just when ready to serve.

Alternate: You might consider adding a large dollop of sour cream to the port sauce; if you do, do not reheat. The sauce will separate. Just gently fold in the sour cream at the last minute and serve.

Remove the cooked oxtails from their cooking pot (see below), using a spider spoon, and cover with the port prune sauce on a serving platter. Gourmet at its best.

This sauce can also be used over top of pan-fried pork loin medallions (you can substitute veal medallions) or over centre-cut grilled thick pork chops. It’s a wonderful accompaniment to roasted whole unstuffed rock Cornish hens that have been roasted with my kumquat marmalade spread over the birds in the last few minutes of roasting. Or, use this prune port sauce with pan-fried duck breast, served medium rare, or over my turkey roll recipe at this link.

Paired with a citrus panna cotta or citrus zabaglione, made with minced rind from your pantry citrus sugar jar, you could even serve dessert in a matching puddle of your main course port prune sauce (save a bit before you add the oxtails). You might top a martini glass of the pudding with a dollop of Port Chantilly Crème (the kind used as filling for my Bird’s Nest Pavlova recipe). Or, top an espresso with a tiny spoon of the ruby port cream.

Suggested pairing: Offley Ruby Port. Let it breathe. Serve at a cool room temperature from a narrow neck decanter or directly from its bottle, chilled just a bit.

Another idea: Drizzle the prune port sauce on my grilled goat cheese spinach sandwich recipe you can find here. Scroll down to comments for Grilled Goat Cheese Spinach Sandwich Special (and so much more …)

Or, enjoy the sauce on an open face grilled brown bread slice, topped with thinly sliced roasted turkey and crispy bacon. Very yummy, either way. Note: if you have found a place to buy English bloomer bread that is very popular in U.K., it grills wonderfully. It’s also perfect to serve with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon at breakfast.

Asbach oxtails

In a heavy, coated, cast-iron pot, sauté oxtails in hot butter until brown. Add salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and a sprig of dry, fresh thyme. When cooked, add a little chopped parsley.

Add the following to the pot, then cover: Sweat a large Spanish onion, chopped medium fine; three celery sticks, chopped small but coarse; three carrots, large, cut in pennies on the diagonal.

Add one quart (four cups) of homemade chicken stock and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down. Simmer two hours. During the last half hour of cooking, add a quarter cup of Asbach brandy. Reduce. Sauce will thicken slightly.

You can serve the oxtails dish at this stage. Or, you can remove the oxtails so they don’t continue cooking (don’t overcook the meat) and add half and half cream. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat (don’t cover the pot) and reduce just slightly.

Serve over whipped, mashed potatoes, wide egg noodles or Basmati rice. Also good with crepes. Fill the crepes with the oxtails and serve the crepes in a reduced puddle of the natural sauce or the cream sauce, with the veggies on the plate pushed to the side.

If you have never eaten oxtails, you are missing out on a wonderful dish; but bear in mind, this is exceptionally rich and will be a great surprise for guests, too.

A different approach: Using either method, right at the end, add a tin of whole tomatoes and liquid; break up the tomatoes just a little.

Then, if you would rather have oxtail tomato soup, add another quart of homemade chicken stock. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and serve. When ready to serve, top each individual serving with a few shavings of frozen Asbach butter from your always at-the-ready freezer supply. Do not stir. Just let the compound butter melt.

More amazing oxtails: Hungarian oxtail goulash

Prepare as above: Let the meat fall off the bones; pull apart the meat using two forks. Reduce the sauce a little on low heat.

Check seasoning. Adjust salt, pepper and add a heaping tablespoon of Hungarian sweet paprika (not the smoky version, unless that is your personal preference). Gently fold in, just before serving, a large scoop of firm full fat sour cream. Do not reheat after adding the sour cream. Keep the cooking pan hot, covered until serving.

Serve the Hungarian oxtail goulash in a large family-style presentation in a large deep platter, along with a bed of my homemade sauerkraut. This works well as a side dish with plain breaded Wiener schnitzel or breaded chicken cutlets or pork cutlets and a generous serving of homemade egg noodles or spaetzle.

A word about food storage spaces

If you live near a grocery store or market, go in off-hours when checkout lines are less likely to be busy. And go more often. Most people never have enough refrigerator space no matter how big the fridge is, and kitchen cabinet space is often at a premium.

The luxury of having a separate pantry is just that. Unless you have one set, dedicated cabinet for food storage items, it’s better to shop frequently. It’s never a long walk to the basement and a worthwhile investment to put dedicated shelving in place for things best kept in a cool dark place.

Many Italian-built homes have a cantina. It’s not a real cantina unless it has an open air-exchange hole (as a listing rep be careful how you identify that space; you could find yourself paying to modify it). But nonetheless it is a cold room. But be careful about condensation accumulating. Keep an eye open for mould. That is never acceptable.

Back in the pre-war days, and even sometimes after, one could find dedicated giant storage bins in house basements, under a removable basement window, allowing those who grew their own potatoes and root vegetables a means of putting a slide in place and loading wagon-loads of veggies onto slides that delivered the homegrown wonders right to the storage bins, where they provided family food all through the off-seasons. Bins were made from bug-free woods, never from shipping skids that might carry uninvited guests in transit.

Some people who didn’t have open-slat wooden basement bins used open hemp sacks for storage. The coal or wood-fired furnace was often in the basement, so that kept any dampness at bay. In Canada, many basement areas had earthen floors.

Although the European immigrants brought their wonderful recipes from overseas with them, some foodstuffs really are international. Made with a local twist. Here is a good example.

Stale bread Austrian-style dumplings 

This is another wartime and post-wartime dish. Today we are still in a war – against food pricing and waste.

Bread is bread wherever you go or wherever you live. For these wonderful bread dumplings, you can use almost any bread. It just so happens the dumplings are still a staple in Northern Italy and Austria. And a particular favourite, too, among travellers to the region.

Don’t waste those easily dried out baguettes or rolls that become rock hard, almost impossible to bring back to life: French, Italian or Portuguese. Put the dried-out bread in a large plastic bag, lay a clean lightweight tea towel over it, and using your meat pounder hammer, smash the dried bread into large pieces.

Place the bread chunks into a large glass bowl. Just barely cover with half and half cream. The bread will expand as it absorbs the liquid. Let the bread sit for a few hours. You don’t want the bread soggy. Just moist.

Regular readers might notice I rarely use milk in my recipes. I don’t drink milk and haven’t since I was preschool when I was forced to drink milk that was “off”. I could never bring myself to drink it again, although very occasionally I would succumb to a hot chocolate or a milkshake. To me, ever after, milk tastes like whatever the cow had eaten, so I simply avoided it completely. Milk is full of natural sugars. Cream is not. Fat, yes. Sugar, no.

Now for these dumplings some people use flour as a binder. For an exception, perhaps use almonds or hazelnuts that have been ground to a powder flour-like texture. For six cups of soaked moistened bread, use about three-quarters cup of ground nuts (or flour). Whisk a large fresh egg and mix into the moistened bread. Sprinkle with minced fresh parsley and fresh lemon thyme. Grate a little fresh nutmeg into the mix and a little salt and pepper.

Now for the special touch: add a half cup of my special minced spinach mix from your fridge or thawed overnight freezer storage. But use spinach to which you have added chopped crispy bacon (not store-bought bacon bits).

To see my spinach special recipe scroll down to the sandwich comments here.

The dumplings need to be a generous size, about the size of a cup. Roll scoops of the bread mixture in your dry floured hands to form a ball shape. Dredge in seasoned flour. Cover on a tray with a clean tea towel.

Gently poach the bread dumplings in a large uncovered pot of simmering homemade chicken broth, perhaps for six minutes. Using a spider spoon, gently move the dumplings around in the broth. Do not overcook them.

Pull the dumplings apart into two pieces using two forks and sprinkle with Parmesan and serve alongside my Tiroler mushroom and cheese-filled Wiener schnitzel and spaetzle with a side of my special red cabbage or homemade sauerkraut. The dumplings are also a wonderful side with my sacrilegious Shiraz veal or with my delicious oxtail goulash.

This is a hungry-man meal for sure.

Any leftover dumplings can be sliced about a half-inch thick the next day and reheated quickly in sizzling butter and served with sugared carrots and blanched sweet peas or minty mushy peas.

Alternate: Mince white button mushrooms and minced onion, equal parts. Just sauté once over lightly in sizzling butter, cool slightly and add a little to the moist bread mix. With or without the spinach mix.

Another alternate: Coarsely chop cooked lobster claw meat and mix into the bread dumpling mix. You can keep on hand a flash frozen tin of lobster for this purpose (thaw and squeeze out the liquid; freeze the liquid and save for another recipe) or buy ready-cooked lobster claw packages. Add a little minced fresh tarragon. Poach the dumplings in chicken stock or homemade fish stock.

When ready to serve, spritz with homemade lobster oil or melt a lobster compound butter puck from your stored log and pour over each melt-in-your-mouth seafood dumpling.

Serve the large dumplings as a side, with a tiny drizzle of Petite Maison white truffle Dijon, with a generous bowl of thick Canadian seafood chowder or lobster bisque.

Plums up! Or figgy dumplings. 

Prepare the bread dumplings using cognac marinated plums or black mission figs, finely chopped (squeeze out excess liquid) and drizzle each dumpling with a little Chantilly Cream and offer a starter as a unique large amuse bouche.

There’s nothing difficult about preparing your meals in a gourmet fashion as a home cook. As my readers know, nothing goes to waste in my kitchen. And busy Realtors have to eat, so cooking at home actually saves time because you have an opportunity to multi-task. It’s simply a matter of being organized – mis en place. Just like at the office.

© “From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen: A Canadian Contessa Cooks” Turning everyday meal making into a Gourmet Experience

The post Recipes for Realtors: Stewed prunes, oxtails and oranges appeared first on REM | Real Estate Magazine.

Recipes for Realtors: Stewed prunes, oxtails and oranges published first on https://grandeurparkcondo.tumblr.com/

[felishasheats]

Recipes for Realtors: Stewed prunes, oxtails and oranges

I was rearranging my pantry shelf, and it’s a rare thing to find things in tins, but I came across a large container of preserved prunes. And I decided it was time to use them again. This is a quick and easy sauce to make and it keeps well in a glass-covered container in the fridge for several days.

Remove the prunes using a strainer or a slotted spoon and put the liquid into a saucepan. Measure the liquid and add half as much granulated sugar and a cup of Offley Ruby Port.

[banner]

Bring it to a gentle simmer and reduce by a third. Stir well with a wooden spoon to incorporate the sugar. Mash the moisture-filled prunes or pulse coarsely. Add a pinch of salt.

Stir the mashed prunes into the reduced sauce pot, on simmer. Squeeze the juice of a fresh sweet orange into the pot and add orange segments from another whole orange, cut from between the membranes.

You could add the zest of a fresh orange or mince a few rinds from your candied citrus sugar jar to finish the sauce, just when ready to serve.

Alternate: You might consider adding a large dollop of sour cream to the port sauce; if you do, do not reheat. The sauce will separate. Just gently fold in the sour cream at the last minute and serve.

Remove the cooked oxtails from their cooking pot (see below), using a spider spoon, and cover with the port prune sauce on a serving platter. Gourmet at its best.

This sauce can also be used over top of pan-fried pork loin medallions (you can substitute veal medallions) or over centre-cut grilled thick pork chops. It’s a wonderful accompaniment to roasted whole unstuffed rock Cornish hens that have been roasted with my kumquat marmalade spread over the birds in the last few minutes of roasting. Or, use this prune port sauce with pan-fried duck breast, served medium rare, or over my turkey roll recipe at this link.

Paired with a citrus panna cotta or citrus zabaglione, made with minced rind from your pantry citrus sugar jar, you could even serve dessert in a matching puddle of your main course port prune sauce (save a bit before you add the oxtails). You might top a martini glass of the pudding with a dollop of Port Chantilly Crème (the kind used as filling for my Bird’s Nest Pavlova recipe). Or, top an espresso with a tiny spoon of the ruby port cream.

Suggested pairing: Offley Ruby Port. Let it breathe. Serve at a cool room temperature from a narrow neck decanter or directly from its bottle, chilled just a bit.

Another idea: Drizzle the prune port sauce on my grilled goat cheese spinach sandwich recipe you can find here. Scroll down to comments for Grilled Goat Cheese Spinach Sandwich Special (and so much more …)

Or, enjoy the sauce on an open face grilled brown bread slice, topped with thinly sliced roasted turkey and crispy bacon. Very yummy, either way. Note: if you have found a place to buy English bloomer bread that is very popular in U.K., it grills wonderfully. It’s also perfect to serve with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon at breakfast.

Asbach oxtails

In a heavy, coated, cast-iron pot, sauté oxtails in hot butter until brown. Add salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and a sprig of dry, fresh thyme. When cooked, add a little chopped parsley.

Add the following to the pot, then cover: Sweat a large Spanish onion, chopped medium fine; three celery sticks, chopped small but coarse; three carrots, large, cut in pennies on the diagonal.

Add one quart (four cups) of homemade chicken stock and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down. Simmer two hours. During the last half hour of cooking, add a quarter cup of Asbach brandy. Reduce. Sauce will thicken slightly.

You can serve the oxtails dish at this stage. Or, you can remove the oxtails so they don’t continue cooking (don’t overcook the meat) and add half and half cream. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat (don’t cover the pot) and reduce just slightly.

Serve over whipped, mashed potatoes, wide egg noodles or Basmati rice. Also good with crepes. Fill the crepes with the oxtails and serve the crepes in a reduced puddle of the natural sauce or the cream sauce, with the veggies on the plate pushed to the side.

If you have never eaten oxtails, you are missing out on a wonderful dish; but bear in mind, this is exceptionally rich and will be a great surprise for guests, too.

A different approach: Using either method, right at the end, add a tin of whole tomatoes and liquid; break up the tomatoes just a little.

Then, if you would rather have oxtail tomato soup, add another quart of homemade chicken stock. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and serve. When ready to serve, top each individual serving with a few shavings of frozen Asbach butter from your always at-the-ready freezer supply. Do not stir. Just let the compound butter melt.

More amazing oxtails: Hungarian oxtail goulash

Prepare as above: Let the meat fall off the bones; pull apart the meat using two forks. Reduce the sauce a little on low heat.

Check seasoning. Adjust salt, pepper and add a heaping tablespoon of Hungarian sweet paprika (not the smoky version, unless that is your personal preference). Gently fold in, just before serving, a large scoop of firm full fat sour cream. Do not reheat after adding the sour cream. Keep the cooking pan hot, covered until serving.

Serve the Hungarian oxtail goulash in a large family-style presentation in a large deep platter, along with a bed of my homemade sauerkraut. This works well as a side dish with plain breaded Wiener schnitzel or breaded chicken cutlets or pork cutlets and a generous serving of homemade egg noodles or spaetzle.

A word about food storage spaces

If you live near a grocery store or market, go in off-hours when checkout lines are less likely to be busy. And go more often. Most people never have enough refrigerator space no matter how big the fridge is, and kitchen cabinet space is often at a premium.

The luxury of having a separate pantry is just that. Unless you have one set, dedicated cabinet for food storage items, it’s better to shop frequently. It’s never a long walk to the basement and a worthwhile investment to put dedicated shelving in place for things best kept in a cool dark place.

Many Italian-built homes have a cantina. It’s not a real cantina unless it has an open air-exchange hole (as a listing rep be careful how you identify that space; you could find yourself paying to modify it). But nonetheless it is a cold room. But be careful about condensation accumulating. Keep an eye open for mould. That is never acceptable.

Back in the pre-war days, and even sometimes after, one could find dedicated giant storage bins in house basements, under a removable basement window, allowing those who grew their own potatoes and root vegetables a means of putting a slide in place and loading wagon-loads of veggies onto slides that delivered the homegrown wonders right to the storage bins, where they provided family food all through the off-seasons. Bins were made from bug-free woods, never from shipping skids that might carry uninvited guests in transit.

Some people who didn’t have open-slat wooden basement bins used open hemp sacks for storage. The coal or wood-fired furnace was often in the basement, so that kept any dampness at bay. In Canada, many basement areas had earthen floors.

Although the European immigrants brought their wonderful recipes from overseas with them, some foodstuffs really are international. Made with a local twist. Here is a good example.

Stale bread Austrian-style dumplings 

This is another wartime and post-wartime dish. Today we are still in a war – against food pricing and waste.

Bread is bread wherever you go or wherever you live. For these wonderful bread dumplings, you can use almost any bread. It just so happens the dumplings are still a staple in Northern Italy and Austria. And a particular favourite, too, among travellers to the region.

Don’t waste those easily dried out baguettes or rolls that become rock hard, almost impossible to bring back to life: French, Italian or Portuguese. Put the dried-out bread in a large plastic bag, lay a clean lightweight tea towel over it, and using your meat pounder hammer, smash the dried bread into large pieces.

Place the bread chunks into a large glass bowl. Just barely cover with half and half cream. The bread will expand as it absorbs the liquid. Let the bread sit for a few hours. You don’t want the bread soggy. Just moist.

Regular readers might notice I rarely use milk in my recipes. I don’t drink milk and haven’t since I was preschool when I was forced to drink milk that was “off”. I could never bring myself to drink it again, although very occasionally I would succumb to a hot chocolate or a milkshake. To me, ever after, milk tastes like whatever the cow had eaten, so I simply avoided it completely. Milk is full of natural sugars. Cream is not. Fat, yes. Sugar, no.

Now for these dumplings some people use flour as a binder. For an exception, perhaps use almonds or hazelnuts that have been ground to a powder flour-like texture. For six cups of soaked moistened bread, use about three-quarters cup of ground nuts (or flour). Whisk a large fresh egg and mix into the moistened bread. Sprinkle with minced fresh parsley and fresh lemon thyme. Grate a little fresh nutmeg into the mix and a little salt and pepper.

Now for the special touch: add a half cup of my special minced spinach mix from your fridge or thawed overnight freezer storage. But use spinach to which you have added chopped crispy bacon (not store-bought bacon bits).

To see my spinach special recipe scroll down to the sandwich comments here.

The dumplings need to be a generous size, about the size of a cup. Roll scoops of the bread mixture in your dry floured hands to form a ball shape. Dredge in seasoned flour. Cover on a tray with a clean tea towel.

Gently poach the bread dumplings in a large uncovered pot of simmering homemade chicken broth, perhaps for six minutes. Using a spider spoon, gently move the dumplings around in the broth. Do not overcook them.

Pull the dumplings apart into two pieces using two forks and sprinkle with Parmesan and serve alongside my Tiroler mushroom and cheese-filled Wiener schnitzel and spaetzle with a side of my special red cabbage or homemade sauerkraut. The dumplings are also a wonderful side with my sacrilegious Shiraz veal or with my delicious oxtail goulash.

This is a hungry-man meal for sure.

Any leftover dumplings can be sliced about a half-inch thick the next day and reheated quickly in sizzling butter and served with sugared carrots and blanched sweet peas or minty mushy peas.

Alternate: Mince white button mushrooms and minced onion, equal parts. Just sauté once over lightly in sizzling butter, cool slightly and add a little to the moist bread mix. With or without the spinach mix.

Another alternate: Coarsely chop cooked lobster claw meat and mix into the bread dumpling mix. You can keep on hand a flash frozen tin of lobster for this purpose (thaw and squeeze out the liquid; freeze the liquid and save for another recipe) or buy ready-cooked lobster claw packages. Add a little minced fresh tarragon. Poach the dumplings in chicken stock or homemade fish stock.

When ready to serve, spritz with homemade lobster oil or melt a lobster compound butter puck from your stored log and pour over each melt-in-your-mouth seafood dumpling.

Serve the large dumplings as a side, with a tiny drizzle of Petite Maison white truffle Dijon, with a generous bowl of thick Canadian seafood chowder or lobster bisque.

Plums up! Or figgy dumplings. 

Prepare the bread dumplings using cognac marinated plums or black mission figs, finely chopped (squeeze out excess liquid) and drizzle each dumpling with a little Chantilly Cream and offer a starter as a unique large amuse bouche.

There’s nothing difficult about preparing your meals in a gourmet fashion as a home cook. As my readers know, nothing goes to waste in my kitchen. And busy Realtors have to eat, so cooking at home actually saves time because you have an opportunity to multi-task. It’s simply a matter of being organized – mis en place. Just like at the office.

© “From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen: A Canadian Contessa Cooks” Turning everyday meal making into a Gourmet Experience

The post Recipes for Realtors: Stewed prunes, oxtails and oranges appeared first on REM | Real Estate Magazine.

Recipes for Realtors: Stewed prunes, oxtails and oranges published first on https://oicrealestate.tumblr.com/

[lenakrruger]

Recipes for Realtors: Stewed prunes, oxtails and oranges

I was rearranging my pantry shelf, and it’s a rare thing to find things in tins, but I came across a large container of preserved prunes. And I decided it was time to use them again. This is a quick and easy sauce to make and it keeps well in a glass-covered container in the fridge for several days.

Remove the prunes using a strainer or a slotted spoon and put the liquid into a saucepan. Measure the liquid and add half as much granulated sugar and a cup of Offley Ruby Port.

[banner]

Bring it to a gentle simmer and reduce by a third. Stir well with a wooden spoon to incorporate the sugar. Mash the moisture-filled prunes or pulse coarsely. Add a pinch of salt.

Stir the mashed prunes into the reduced sauce pot, on simmer. Squeeze the juice of a fresh sweet orange into the pot and add orange segments from another whole orange, cut from between the membranes.

You could add the zest of a fresh orange or mince a few rinds from your candied citrus sugar jar to finish the sauce, just when ready to serve.

Alternate: You might consider adding a large dollop of sour cream to the port sauce; if you do, do not reheat. The sauce will separate. Just gently fold in the sour cream at the last minute and serve.

Remove the cooked oxtails from their cooking pot (see below), using a spider spoon, and cover with the port prune sauce on a serving platter. Gourmet at its best.

This sauce can also be used over top of pan-fried pork loin medallions (you can substitute veal medallions) or over centre-cut grilled thick pork chops. It’s a wonderful accompaniment to roasted whole unstuffed rock Cornish hens that have been roasted with my kumquat marmalade spread over the birds in the last few minutes of roasting. Or, use this prune port sauce with pan-fried duck breast, served medium rare, or over my turkey roll recipe at this link.

Paired with a citrus panna cotta or citrus zabaglione, made with minced rind from your pantry citrus sugar jar, you could even serve dessert in a matching puddle of your main course port prune sauce (save a bit before you add the oxtails). You might top a martini glass of the pudding with a dollop of Port Chantilly Crème (the kind used as filling for my Bird’s Nest Pavlova recipe). Or, top an espresso with a tiny spoon of the ruby port cream.

Suggested pairing: Offley Ruby Port. Let it breathe. Serve at a cool room temperature from a narrow neck decanter or directly from its bottle, chilled just a bit.

Another idea: Drizzle the prune port sauce on my grilled goat cheese spinach sandwich recipe you can find here. Scroll down to comments for Grilled Goat Cheese Spinach Sandwich Special (and so much more …)

Or, enjoy the sauce on an open face grilled brown bread slice, topped with thinly sliced roasted turkey and crispy bacon. Very yummy, either way. Note: if you have found a place to buy English bloomer bread that is very popular in U.K., it grills wonderfully. It’s also perfect to serve with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon at breakfast.

Asbach oxtails

In a heavy, coated, cast-iron pot, sauté oxtails in hot butter until brown. Add salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and a sprig of dry, fresh thyme. When cooked, add a little chopped parsley.

Add the following to the pot, then cover: Sweat a large Spanish onion, chopped medium fine; three celery sticks, chopped small but coarse; three carrots, large, cut in pennies on the diagonal.

Add one quart (four cups) of homemade chicken stock and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down. Simmer two hours. During the last half hour of cooking, add a quarter cup of Asbach brandy. Reduce. Sauce will thicken slightly.

You can serve the oxtails dish at this stage. Or, you can remove the oxtails so they don’t continue cooking (don’t overcook the meat) and add half and half cream. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat (don’t cover the pot) and reduce just slightly.

Serve over whipped, mashed potatoes, wide egg noodles or Basmati rice. Also good with crepes. Fill the crepes with the oxtails and serve the crepes in a reduced puddle of the natural sauce or the cream sauce, with the veggies on the plate pushed to the side.

If you have never eaten oxtails, you are missing out on a wonderful dish; but bear in mind, this is exceptionally rich and will be a great surprise for guests, too.

A different approach: Using either method, right at the end, add a tin of whole tomatoes and liquid; break up the tomatoes just a little.

Then, if you would rather have oxtail tomato soup, add another quart of homemade chicken stock. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and serve. When ready to serve, top each individual serving with a few shavings of frozen Asbach butter from your always at-the-ready freezer supply. Do not stir. Just let the compound butter melt.

More amazing oxtails: Hungarian oxtail goulash

Prepare as above: Let the meat fall off the bones; pull apart the meat using two forks. Reduce the sauce a little on low heat.

Check seasoning. Adjust salt, pepper and add a heaping tablespoon of Hungarian sweet paprika (not the smoky version, unless that is your personal preference). Gently fold in, just before serving, a large scoop of firm full fat sour cream. Do not reheat after adding the sour cream. Keep the cooking pan hot, covered until serving.

Serve the Hungarian oxtail goulash in a large family-style presentation in a large deep platter, along with a bed of my homemade sauerkraut. This works well as a side dish with plain breaded Wiener schnitzel or breaded chicken cutlets or pork cutlets and a generous serving of homemade egg noodles or spaetzle.

A word about food storage spaces

If you live near a grocery store or market, go in off-hours when checkout lines are less likely to be busy. And go more often. Most people never have enough refrigerator space no matter how big the fridge is, and kitchen cabinet space is often at a premium.

The luxury of having a separate pantry is just that. Unless you have one set, dedicated cabinet for food storage items, it’s better to shop frequently. It’s never a long walk to the basement and a worthwhile investment to put dedicated shelving in place for things best kept in a cool dark place.

Many Italian-built homes have a cantina. It’s not a real cantina unless it has an open air-exchange hole (as a listing rep be careful how you identify that space; you could find yourself paying to modify it). But nonetheless it is a cold room. But be careful about condensation accumulating. Keep an eye open for mould. That is never acceptable.

Back in the pre-war days, and even sometimes after, one could find dedicated giant storage bins in house basements, under a removable basement window, allowing those who grew their own potatoes and root vegetables a means of putting a slide in place and loading wagon-loads of veggies onto slides that delivered the homegrown wonders right to the storage bins, where they provided family food all through the off-seasons. Bins were made from bug-free woods, never from shipping skids that might carry uninvited guests in transit.

Some people who didn’t have open-slat wooden basement bins used open hemp sacks for storage. The coal or wood-fired furnace was often in the basement, so that kept any dampness at bay. In Canada, many basement areas had earthen floors.

Although the European immigrants brought their wonderful recipes from overseas with them, some foodstuffs really are international. Made with a local twist. Here is a good example.

Stale bread Austrian-style dumplings 

This is another wartime and post-wartime dish. Today we are still in a war – against food pricing and waste.

Bread is bread wherever you go or wherever you live. For these wonderful bread dumplings, you can use almost any bread. It just so happens the dumplings are still a staple in Northern Italy and Austria. And a particular favourite, too, among travellers to the region.

Don’t waste those easily dried out baguettes or rolls that become rock hard, almost impossible to bring back to life: French, Italian or Portuguese. Put the dried-out bread in a large plastic bag, lay a clean lightweight tea towel over it, and using your meat pounder hammer, smash the dried bread into large pieces.

Place the bread chunks into a large glass bowl. Just barely cover with half and half cream. The bread will expand as it absorbs the liquid. Let the bread sit for a few hours. You don’t want the bread soggy. Just moist.

Regular readers might notice I rarely use milk in my recipes. I don’t drink milk and haven’t since I was preschool when I was forced to drink milk that was “off”. I could never bring myself to drink it again, although very occasionally I would succumb to a hot chocolate or a milkshake. To me, ever after, milk tastes like whatever the cow had eaten, so I simply avoided it completely. Milk is full of natural sugars. Cream is not. Fat, yes. Sugar, no.

Now for these dumplings some people use flour as a binder. For an exception, perhaps use almonds or hazelnuts that have been ground to a powder flour-like texture. For six cups of soaked moistened bread, use about three-quarters cup of ground nuts (or flour). Whisk a large fresh egg and mix into the moistened bread. Sprinkle with minced fresh parsley and fresh lemon thyme. Grate a little fresh nutmeg into the mix and a little salt and pepper.

Now for the special touch: add a half cup of my special minced spinach mix from your fridge or thawed overnight freezer storage. But use spinach to which you have added chopped crispy bacon (not store-bought bacon bits).

To see my spinach special recipe scroll down to the sandwich comments here.

The dumplings need to be a generous size, about the size of a cup. Roll scoops of the bread mixture in your dry floured hands to form a ball shape. Dredge in seasoned flour. Cover on a tray with a clean tea towel.

Gently poach the bread dumplings in a large uncovered pot of simmering homemade chicken broth, perhaps for six minutes. Using a spider spoon, gently move the dumplings around in the broth. Do not overcook them.

Pull the dumplings apart into two pieces using two forks and sprinkle with Parmesan and serve alongside my Tiroler mushroom and cheese-filled Wiener schnitzel and spaetzle with a side of my special red cabbage or homemade sauerkraut. The dumplings are also a wonderful side with my sacrilegious Shiraz veal or with my delicious oxtail goulash.

This is a hungry-man meal for sure.

Any leftover dumplings can be sliced about a half-inch thick the next day and reheated quickly in sizzling butter and served with sugared carrots and blanched sweet peas or minty mushy peas.

Alternate: Mince white button mushrooms and minced onion, equal parts. Just sauté once over lightly in sizzling butter, cool slightly and add a little to the moist bread mix. With or without the spinach mix.

Another alternate: Coarsely chop cooked lobster claw meat and mix into the bread dumpling mix. You can keep on hand a flash frozen tin of lobster for this purpose (thaw and squeeze out the liquid; freeze the liquid and save for another recipe) or buy ready-cooked lobster claw packages. Add a little minced fresh tarragon. Poach the dumplings in chicken stock or homemade fish stock.

When ready to serve, spritz with homemade lobster oil or melt a lobster compound butter puck from your stored log and pour over each melt-in-your-mouth seafood dumpling.

Serve the large dumplings as a side, with a tiny drizzle of Petite Maison white truffle Dijon, with a generous bowl of thick Canadian seafood chowder or lobster bisque.

Plums up! Or figgy dumplings. 

Prepare the bread dumplings using cognac marinated plums or black mission figs, finely chopped (squeeze out excess liquid) and drizzle each dumpling with a little Chantilly Cream and offer a starter as a unique large amuse bouche.

There’s nothing difficult about preparing your meals in a gourmet fashion as a home cook. As my readers know, nothing goes to waste in my kitchen. And busy Realtors have to eat, so cooking at home actually saves time because you have an opportunity to multi-task. It’s simply a matter of being organized – mis en place. Just like at the office.

© “From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen: A Canadian Contessa Cooks” Turning everyday meal making into a Gourmet Experience

The post Recipes for Realtors: Stewed prunes, oxtails and oranges appeared first on REM | Real Estate Magazine.

Recipes for Realtors: Stewed prunes, oxtails and oranges published first on https://grandeurparkcondo.tumblr.com/

[josephkitchen0]

A Guide to Different Colored Carrots

A large culinary family includes cumin, dill, fennel, parsnips, parsley, cilantro and different colored carrots. Though carrots are primarily eaten for the roots, it wasn’t always this way. Carrots also weren’t always orange.

Back to Our Roots

As early as 3,000 BC, German inhabitants started growing carrots for their highly fragrant leaves and seeds, since the roots were narrow and woody. They emerged in Afghanistan as the modern root we eat today, though they were different colored. Carrots from West Asia, India and Europe were purple. An 11th century Jewish scholar described red and yellow roots, a claim upheld by 12th century Arab-Andalusian agriculturist Ibn al’-Awwam. Descendants of these eastern carrot varieties are usually purple or yellow and have branched roots instead of a thick, long column.

The structure of the carrot changed in the Netherlands in the 17th century. Several popular tales exist to explain the sudden emergence of orange from different colored carrots. One says it developed as an emblem of the House of Orange and the Dutch struggle for independence. Others claim it honored William, who lead a victorious revolt against Spain in 1544. William’s seat was in a place pronounced “Aurenja,” in France, and the name was later confused with the French word for “orange.” Western cultivars are classified by the root’s shape instead of his color. “Scarlet Nantes” identifies a cylindrical and blunt variety with a deep, reddish orange hue.

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Modern gardeners want something different. Colored carrots may offer phytonutrients or a delightful hue for juicing. They look stunning sitting in a basket beside zucchini and eggplant. Gardeners rarely want woody, forked varieties so top seed companies offer brilliant new selections. These include Red Samurai, an open-pollinated carrot, or the yellow Jaune Obtuse de Doubs, an ancient fodder crop. Royal hues include the Purple 68 hybrid or Pusa Asita black carrot for people who want to save heirloom seeds. A new rainbow variety produces different colored carrots from a single strain of F1 hybrid.

Purple 69, Red Samurai, Scarlet Nantes, and Yellowbunch

3 Crazy Carrot Myths

Most of these myths are laughable, though it’s surprising how many believe them.

Eating carrots improves your vision. The mostly widely accepted fallacy, this myth began in World War II. Britain’s air ministry developed a new and secret system that pinpointed Nazi aircraft before they could reach the English Channel. But Britain didn’t want the Germans to find out about the new technology so they formulated a rumor, hoping it was plausible. They claimed certain pilots attained “Cat’s Eyes” due to eating a lot of carrots. The rumor was so persuasive that British citizens started consuming massive amounts of carrots so they could see in the dark. Seventy-five years later, the majority of our society still believes it. The myth does have a little credibility, though; beta carotene may reduce the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration but it does not improve overall eyesight.

Carrots contain seeds. Though this myth is rare, it makes its way through potential gardeners interested in saving their own seeds. Carrots must be allowed to go to seed, meaning the green top must develop a thick stem with a flower atop. If the flower matures then dries, seeds may be harvested. But no seeds reside within the roots.

You can plant and grow “baby carrots.” This childhood misconception extends into adulthood. Carrots do not originate in plastic bags and they are not all one size and shape. Nor are baby carrots miniature varieties. They are larger carrots which have been shaved down into something a customer is more likely to buy, increasing the price for the consumer. Shavings are often processed into carrot juice. Baby carrots are so sweet and tender because the larger root has been whittled down to the tender core, discarding or reprocessing the rest. Shaving down baby carrots allows producers to sell overgrown roots which would otherwise only be marketable as juicing carrots. This practice doesn’t happen with different colored carrots because of marketability, though uncut purple carrots are sold for juicing.

As Above, So Beneath

Whether growing orange or different colored carrots, cultivation is easy if the gardener remembers a few tips.

Root vegetables which thrive in cold weather require temperatures a little warmer to sprout. As with growing radishes, daytime temperatures between 55 and 85 are necessary for germination. Carrots will not sprout at 95 degrees. Cold and wet soil encourages rotting. Because of this, the right time to plant carrots is in the spring, after soil is workable and the days have warmed, or in early autumn.

Carrots prefer loose, well-drained soil that is free of rocks. Mixing a little clean wood ash into the dirt prior to planting increases potassium for sweeter roots, in addition to adding phosphorus and magnesium. Root vegetables prefer an unobstructed path downward; if they meet a pebble, they will fork.

Though carrots may be grown in containers, beginning gardeners often don’t give them enough depth. A carrot with a thick, six-inch root may also have four more inches of long, skinny root at the end. Once that skinny end reaches the bottom of a planter, the carrot stops growing downward, even if the edible part will only be a few inches long. To ensure planters have enough depth for the entire root, consider the tops. A carrot with a foot-tall top should be given twelve inches of root space.

To plant carrots, turn soil until it is loose, mixing in light fertilizer such as rabbit manure. Rake the surface smooth then trace a thin trench into the dirt with a pencil or fingertip. Carefully and thinly sprinkle carrot seed into the trench then push soil back over it, just barely covering the seeds. Water using a fine mist spray. Seedlings will emerge within two to three weeks and will look like a pair of long, green blades. True leaves come next, tiny and frilly then growing tall.

Carrots need three to six inches between each plant to allow for adequate growth. If the sides touch, carrots stop growing. When the seedlings are tiny, and if the soil is loose, they can be redistributed to an appropriate distance apart by scooping into the soil with a large spoon and carefully lifting both seedling and soil. Gently separate seedlings. Then use the spoon to pull soil back in the seedling’s new location. Insert the plant and allow soil to fall back. Water well to reset the dirt and avoid transplant shock.

When carrots are several inches tall, mulch with straw or grass clippings. Carrots enjoy hot tops and cool roots. Mulching also avoids weeds which may compete for root space. Keep soil moist but not wet as carrots continue to grow.

Carrots can be eaten at any time during the growth cycle. If they were planted too closely and compete for space, pull several out and enjoy a sweet springtime snack. Most carrots mature within 75 days. To harvest, reach down as far as you can. Grab the root, not the leaves, or the greenery may break off while leaving the carrot in the ground. If necessary, dig down with a shovel to loosen the soil. Shake or wash the dirt off. Carrot tops may be composted or fed to livestock.

Unlike store-bought carrots, homegrown roots rarely need peeling. Simply hold beneath running water and scrub with a vegetable brush. If carrots have been grown organically, only the dirt must be removed.

To save carrot seeds, sacrifice the most beautiful and successful roots for the sake of perpetuation. Allow these to remain in the ground through the fall and winter. The next year, the carrot will develop a flower. Allowing the flower to develop creates the seeds in addition to attracting parasitic wasps which battle destructive pests like squash bugs. Let the seed heads fully mature on the plant then carefully clip off. Make sure seeds are completely dry before strong them in a ventilated container such as a paper envelope. Keep seeds in a cool, dark location.

Different colored carrots include white, yellow, orange, red, magenta, purple, and combinations of different colors. Look for them online if only orange varieties are available locally. Growing colored carrots is a fun and satisfying experience.

Do you grow different colored carrots? If so what is your favorite variety? Let us know in the comments below.

A Guide to Different Colored Carrots was originally posted by All About Chickens

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Homestead Heritage: Bringing Thanksgiving Back to the Farm

By Steven Hall – You’ve bought property and moved to the country. You’re living the rural lifestyle you imagined and embracing the homestead heritage. And yet, when the holiday season arrives, you may still find your Thanksgiving preparation beginning and ending at the grocery store. During countless trips to the store for more canned or frozen goods—trips now made longer by your distance from town—, do you ever wonder what it is you’re supposed to be so thankful for?

Traditionally, Thanksgiving was a festival to celebrate the harvest, —a day to be grateful for a generous and bounteous season, a blessing after months of tilling, planting, and tending. All too often, however, a cavernous mental and emotional gap separates the fields and pastures of our nation’s farms from our dinner plates.

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When I moved out of my family’s home, I became aware of my own gap, in my case a generational gap. Although my childhood was spent in town, our family’s culture was heavily influenced by my father’s homestead heritage and growing up on a small farm in southeastern Idaho. This culture influenced the food we prepared and ate, the garden we grew, our work ethic, and the stories we told. However, I hadn’t truly appreciated how this homestead heritage influenced me until I grew into adulthood. I often fought against this culture, fought against chores in the garden, against farm cooking in the kitchen. Only later did I realize how much my notion of meals like Thanksgiving had been influenced by and interconnected with my family’s farming and homestead heritage, our garden, and the homegrown and homemade foods I had taken for granted as a child.

Today, the typical Thanksgiving meal begins behind a shopping cart and includes a spread from cans, freezers, and commercial bakeries. But for those living a rural life, the possibility exists to make Thanksgiving Day more closely resemble that original sense of harvested gratitude, a sentiment closely tied to the land, the seasons, and the uncontrollable results of a growing period. Consider the following suggestions, based on my own family’s farm-inspired traditions——from most complicated to easiest—for making your Thanksgiving dinner a direct reflection of your hard work and efforts during the farm year.

Thanksgiving dinner revolves around the turkey. Each Thanksgiving season, Americans consume nearly 100 million turkeys. During the last 50 years, thanks to its abundant quantity of breast meat, the modern “Broad-breasted White” variety—almost always raised in confined conditions—accounts for approximately 90 percent of Thanksgiving turkeys. In fact, the variety has developed such a large breast that it cannot reproduce naturally, only through artificial insemination. Many believe the variety and its growing conditions are largely responsible for the meat’s dry, often tasteless quality.

Historically, in contrast, the turkey raised for a family Thanksgiving meal could come from several different varieties, including the Narragansett or Jersey Buff turkey, two of the varieties most often associated with colonial America. These varieties reproduce naturally and, while their breast meat may not be as large and uniform, these birds are generally juicier and more flavorful. Today varieties like these— (now referred to as heritage turkeys) —have become rare, but are gaining in popularity. So what do you do if you want to find a heritage turkey for Thanksgiving … one that embodies the homestead heritage?

Living on a farm, the first choice would be to raise your own. As the sustainable food movement gains momentum in our country, the number of heritage turkey farms and heritage turkey breeders increases. Many of these breeders will mail turkey chicks directly to your front door, leaving you to raise the bird to the proper weight by the middle of November. While the purpose of this article will not focus on raising turkeys for meat, keep in mind that if you choose that ambitious path for next year, timing is crucial. Heritage varieties require more time to grow to harvest weight. On average, any heritage turkey will need from 24 to 30 weeks to reach full weight, while today’s grocery store white turkey needs just 18 weeks. You will need to plan ahead so your turkey reaches its harvest weight during the week of Thanksgiving.

One of the most reliable hatcheries in the country is the Murray McMurray Hatchery in Iowa. Self-promoted as “the world’s largest rare breed hatchery,” the Murray McMurray Hatchery just might be right. I’ve never found a variety they couldn’t offer; in addition to turkey poults, they also breed chickens, ducks, geese, pheasants, and more. They sell essentially every variety of heritage turkey: White Holland, Standard Bronze, Narragansett, Blue Slate, Broad-breasted Bronze, Bourbon Red, Black Spanish, Royal Palm and Chocolate turkeys. Ordering from their website (mcmurrayhatchery.com) is very convenient, and while raising a turkey is full of work and patient effort, there is nothing quite like receiving a peeping box with air holes in the mail and watching a fine poult grow to adulthood.

By the time you read this, not enough time remains to raise and harvest your own Thanksgiving turkey. But that’s okay. While this year might be out, and even if in the future you don’t have the space or energy to raise your own turkey, you can start searching now for a local turkey grower in your area. You can ask around at your community’s farmers market. Perhaps your area has a local butcher or a specialty shop. If not, try doing some searching in the classifieds in your local newspaper. Many small, local farmers are even creating farm websites or hosting blogs. You never know what you might find with a little searching online.

And if you can’t find a local turkey grower, don’t worry. Raising heritage turkeys through sustainable practices is rapidly gaining popularity. You might be surprised how many growers you can find that are willing to ship a Thanksgiving turkey directly to your home. Let me give you a head start. Here are just two of the most experienced and well-known turkey growers in the country.

Owned and operated by the Pitman family since 1954, Mary’s Turkeys is located in California’s Central Valley. A small, family-owned business with a strong homestead heritage, the Pitman’s free-range turkeys are raised organically, in the open air. One of the strongest features of the Pitman family’s operation is that, since 2003, they have also run their own processing plant. Since the same family farm conducts the entire process, they can promise the consumer a Thanksgiving turkey that has been raised and harvested through sustainable, humane practices. Within the state of California a significant list of stores sell Mary’s Turkeys during the holidays. You can see their website (www.marysturkeys.com) for a list of locations, as well as details on having a turkey shipped directly to any state.

Considered one of the pioneers of saving heritage turkey varieties, Frank Reese believes growing heritage turkeys for the dinner plate is the best way to preserve the historic varieties and homestead heritage. On his Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch in Kansas, Reese promotes raising turkeys on an outdoor range, with vegetarian feed, and according to the highest standards of animal welfare. He also supports additional small-scale farming operations. As he states on his farm’s website, by purchasing a Thanksgiving turkey from him, “you are supporting a network of independent growers.”

If you choose this alternative method for purchasing this year’s Thanksgiving turkey, keep in mind that the price for these turkeys is often two to three times higher than the generic “White-breasted” variety found in most grocery stores. However, many people who have tried turkeys from farmers like the Pitmans or Frank Reese argue that the added flavor, moistness, and tenderness alone make the additional cost worth it, let alone the support of sustainable farming practices and small-scale farmers. In fact, heritage turkeys have become so popular with consumers, you may need to order yours weeks in advance. So plan ahead.

How Homemade Dinner Rolls (or Bread) Make the Meal

Today every grocery store chain operates a bakery, making Thanksgiving dinner rolls a quick grab-and-go affair. Often dinner rolls are the last item on the list. And yet, for many, the rich smells of baking rolls or bread are the ultimate compliment to the baking turkey and stuffing of a Thanksgiving dinner. So why let your grocery store have the benefit of this process, and its attendant smells, when the enjoyment can belong to you and your guests? For me and my family, Grandma’s homemade bread recipe is the perfect final touch to a dinner plate bursting with turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Her cakey bread recollects the homestead heritage of growing seasons and harvests shared by her and Grandpa on their small farm in southeastern Idaho.

Appropriately, this kind of family bread recipe often survives for generations without being written down. If your family has a homestead heritage that survives multiple generations, perhaps you have reaped the benefits of handed-down recipes. If you represent a return to rural living, perhaps a member of your family is still cooking family recipes— like rolls or bread— and you could be the next in line to learn. One suggestion for you would be to arrange a learning opportunity with this individual, recording the recipe for yourself and others. If my mother hadn’t stood next to Grandma, taken measurements (for Grandma there were no exact measurements), and copied down instructions, we might not be enjoying her bread today and homestead heritage it represents. And for those of you representing the first generation on the farm, perhaps my grandmother’s bread recipe could be of use to you.

2 cups hot water (110°-115°F)

2/3 cup oil (vegetable, canola, or similar)

3/4 cup white sugar (short)

2 eggs

4-1/2 teaspoons dry yeast (2 packages)

6-1/2 cups white flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Mix hot water, oil, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl. Add yeast, lightly stirring until yeast becomes moistened. Let mixture sit until it foams up, then whip it until smooth. Add baking powder and salt. Slowly add flour (approximately one cup at a time until mixed).

Once all the flour is thoroughly mixed, cover and let dough rise inside the bowl. This should take about one hour. One of the best qualities of this bread recipe is that it requires no kneading. After the dough has fully risen, simply punch it down, divide it in half, and form loaves into two medium size bread pans, liberally greased with butter. Let the dough rise again (covered), for a similar length of time. Bake at 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes. Bread is fully cooked when top and sides of crust have taken on a medium to dark color. Remove the loves from pans and let cool on a wire rack. Optional: Brush melted butter across the top of each loaf.

Rolls can also be made with this recipe. Bake rolls for about 15 minutes at 400°F. Be aware, this is a gooey, cakey bread dough. To form rolls without making a complete mess and feeling utter frustration, thoroughly moisten your hands with butter or oil. Shaping rolls can be simplified by using a muffin pan and filling each about halfway with dough.

While baking homemade bread can be the most time-consuming part of Thanksgiving preparation, the rewards are worth the effort. The warm, inviting smells of baking bread come to us with wafts of memories: memories of family, tradition, and Thanksgiving meals from years gone by.

Thanksgiving Pie: Carving Up Your Garden Pumpkins

No Thanksgiving meal is complete without pumpkin pie. A relatively simple dessert dish, for many homes the pumpkin pie’s main ingredient and the recipe itself come from a store-bought can. But with a little extra effort, the pumpkin pie can become one of the most memorable and satisfying elements to Thanksgiving dinner.

Perhaps the easiest way to feel a connection between your own farm or garden harvest and Thanksgiving meal rests in the traditional pumpkin pie, especially one with a rich homestead heritage. Nearly every avid gardener I know grows pumpkins. Without much effort, and in most climates, pumpkin vines grow thick and strong. The colorful and plentiful results make for beautiful decorations and seasonal fun, and the late harvest helps the life of the garden last well into the fall.

Nearly all pumpkin seeds found in hardware stores, grocery stores, even nurseries, are from varieties intended to meet the Halloween needs of most families. The pumpkins are large, round, and include moderately thick flesh, designed perfectly for carving. In fact, most gardeners and pumpkin buyers rarely view pumpkins as a source of food. However, historically, many varieties of pumpkins were bred just for that purpose, as an ample source of food. An excellent source of seeds for such varieties of pumpkins is the Seed Savers Exchange, a non-profit organization based in Iowa whose purpose is to save endangered varieties of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Referred to as heirloom varieties (the plant equivalent of heritage farm animals), the Seed Savers Exchange now maintains seeds from over 25,000 varieties. Two varieties of pumpkin that I have grown for eating include the Amish Pie and Australian Butter. Each variety has a small inner cavity and thick flesh, generally up to five inches. One way to give new life and taste to the pumpkin pie is to grow a variety of pumpkin with qualities similar to these two.

The process is not difficult. Simply cut one of your pumpkins into manageable chunks and place them onto a baking pan, with the skin facing up. Since there is no standard thickness to pumpkins, you must keep checking on the flesh until it is baked soft enough to mash. Usually, a temperature between 350° to 400°F for one to two hours is sufficient. When the flesh is soft, remove the pumpkin pieces from the oven and let them cool. While still warm use a large spoon to scoop out the soft flesh, placing it into a food processor or a blender. Process the flesh until it reaches a smooth puree. Then simply store the flesh in the refrigerator or freezer until you are ready to begin making pie. The puree can also be used to make a delicious pumpkin soup. Keep your pumpkin pie recipe exactly the same, and simply add fresh pumpkin flesh and you’ll have pumpkin pie with a vibrant flavor and wholesome texture like you’ve never tried.

Cranberry Sauce: Quick and Easy

Finally, use a few of those minutes when you have the turkey in the oven, bread rising, and pumpkin meat cooling on the stove to add a final touch of homemade quality and distinctness we so often ignore. No one knows for sure when cranberry sauce first became a traditional part of the Thanksgiving meal. Versions of cranberry sauce history vary, from the pilgrims’ valuable lessons learned from Native Americans to General Ulysses S. Grant’s order in 1864 that cranberry sauce be served to the troops during the siege of Petersburg. But regardless of cranberry sauce’s first introduction to Thanksgiving dinner, there can be no doubt about its mundane condition today.

Until I became an adult, what was referred to as cranberry sauce at my family’s table simply resembled some kind of strange, purplish Jello. For this reason, I thought it strange this “cranberry sauce” wasn’t served during dessert. It took years for me to learn its real purpose. I remember watching each year as, just before the beginning of the meal, someone would crank the handle of the can opener, pop the lid, and give the can a shake as this slimy, bouncy, blob with no form (other than from the ridges of the can) came sliding onto a plate. Promptly cut into equal slices, the canned cranberry jiggler was put out for all to enjoy. But it shouldn’t have to be that way.

While the cranberry sauce holds a relatively small place on a full Thanksgiving table packed with large items, cranberry sauce’s fresh and cool tartness can add a distinctive and delicious element to the traditional meal. And with just a few minutes of extra effort and preparation, your family’s cranberry sauce can always be made from scratch.

Cranberry sauce does not need to be complicated. Simple, delicious recipes are abundant. Significant variety exists in recipes, but the following is perhaps the quickest and most simple. And who knows, perhaps it will become a new family tradition for you and yours.

2 cups fresh cranberries

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup white sugar

1 to 2 teaspoons grated orange rind

In a medium saucepan, bring water and cranberries to a rolling boil. Cook until cranberries burst, approximately 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in sugar. Continue stirring until sugar thoroughly dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in orange rind. Broken cranberries provide a textured sauce, but if you prefer a consistent and smooth texture, use a hand masher or processor. Pour mixture into serving bowl and place in refrigerator until mealtime.

This year, when you go around the dinner table to share what you’re thankful for, consider your dinner plate and how it was influenced by the homestead heritage. Take a few moments to reflect on the origins of one of our nation’s most treasured holidays. Think of the farmers across the country. Think of your own farm and the harvest that came with it this year, some of which may be on your dinner table in the form of pumpkin pie, along with a heritage turkey, fresh homemade rolls or bread, and cranberry sauce from scratch. I guarantee, if you do, you’ll savor the Thanksgiving meal you and others have worked so hard to prepare (and harvest), that much more.

We have much to be thankful for, especially a rich homestead heritage.

Published in Countryside November / December 2010 and regularly vetted for accuracy.

Homestead Heritage: Bringing Thanksgiving Back to the Farm was originally posted by All About Chickens