Hot dang I am so excited! I’ve always wanted one, but never knew their history or how to say their name. In fact, I just left tripod spice grinder thingy on my list to Santa. The kids were doubtful old Saint Nick baby would come through. Well step back nonbelievers, cause Santa delivered.

Three-toes, my new molcajete (mol-ka-HE-teh), is hand carved out of lava and was really rough when I got him. Yes, it is a he. I checked. Like my guns, I name my kitchen gadgets too. I wouldn’t hold a woman that way. Moving on.

Molcajetes means stone sauce bowl. According to Aztec lore, the three legs is thought to pay homage to the god of the hearth, Huehueteotl, who is associated with the number three. Who knew.

To season the three-legged beast you can take the pear-shaped grinder thingy called ajolote (ah-ho-LO-teh) and grind rice or corn. What this does is basically sands the inside of the bowl to make it a little “smooth”. (This is where we have a break down in communication, as it depends greatly what your definition of smooth is). Anyway I ground like a bored Aztec woman, whose kids had left the nest or cave, whichever. For days I ground, rinsed and repeated.

 Here’s the rice before.

And after.

On the third day Ben said, what you need is a wire brush on a drill. (A great idea really.) But I glared at him at explained I didn’t want to miff the god of the hearth, besides I’m a traditionalist. A traditionalist until I start getting blisters, that is. Then I ran out and bought a whole set of wire brushes and commenced to scrubbing. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there.

 There are a lot of imitations out there for real live molcajetes. If you want to order a real one, you can go to Melissa Guerra or if you want to read another post about them check out The Homesick Texan’s post here. Great stuff.

Knuckles and brushes be damned, I think I’m almost there. While cast iron is easier to season, it was kind of a earthly fun project. Like cast iron in Mexican kitchens you pass your molcajete down through the family. I will be putting this in my will as some sick joke to my kids after Mommy is long gone. *sphnicker sphnicker* If nothing else I’ll be remembered for my twisted sense of humor.

What do you think? Do you think my saucy new rice griding past time is cool or just plain weird?

Simply,

Sis

Having been raised by a cowboy, I’ve eaten a bean or two. Or three. In fact, there was one winter there where we didn’t have two pennies to rub together, a piggy bank to put them or a window to throw it out of and we ate nothing pinto beans. Well, we did have a few things canned from the garden, deer meat, some cheap pullet eggs from a well meaning neighbor and homemade bread from freshly ground wheat and some goats milk from the goats I got to milk. But really, that was about it. Mom claims it was the healthiest winter we have on record. Not that we kept track.

Anyway. I know my way around a bean. (I think ‘The Dry Bean’ is the coolest name for a tavern). You would think after all those years of beans, beans the musical fruit I would be sick of them, but I’m not. I still love them and much to the chagrin of my family, I fix them about once a week. Beans are a cheap protein that’s comforting and good to this former cowgirl. Besides it’s far too late to change my silly ways now.

Since I’m in a good mood and my dad’s birthday is coming up I’ll share his cowboy bean secrets with you today, in remembrance of him.

One Cowboy’s Bean Recipe

One kid to sort the good guys out of your bag of pinto beans.

from the bad…

After the beans are sorted rinse, drain and repeat…

until the water is clear and lovely. Then put in enough water to cover the beans.

Add one onion roughly chopped and four or five cloves of garlic. I smash and mince mine…Dad always smacked them once and threw them in the water and picked out the floating peels, but he was weird.

A handful of salt, that equates into a couple tablespoons.

 A ham bone. If a ham bone isn’t available use bacon, smoked turkey leg or a drip or two of liquid smoke. You can also throw in a beef, chicken, or vegetable bullion cube or four if you want too.

If you like your beans with a thick broth…put in a third navy beans. They break down fast when they cook, leaving a nice thick broth.

Cook with a wooden spoon so all the farts can climb out. 

And remember…to sing to your beans, just cause Dad did. 

Serve with cornbread, biscuits, fried taters or greens and a bunch of these pickled peppers to your best friends and family, only after saying a prayer of thankfulness that your eating beans cause you want to, not cause you have to. And as you serve them to your favorite people quote my Aunt Betty and say, “I wonder what the po folks are eating.”

Simply,

Sis

When I teach Dave Ramsey’sFinancial Peace University I try to bring a treat every week for the participants. I’m not bragging, but this was my last classes’ favorite. They inhaled it like a bunch of addicts. The mom of one of the families called it crack bread.

I said, “Crack bread? What’s that?”

She said, “Oh, that’s what my husband calls that banana bread you make. It’s that addicting.”

God love her for saying so. Folks, if you want to butter me up, just brag on my cookin’. Plain and simple. I gave everyone a copy of this recipe and have been wanting to share it with you. But wanted a picture of it and so far it hasn’t stuck around long enough to have it’s picture taken. Ben has been known to tap his foot while I’m clicking away and then say, “Can I eat it now or do I have to wait until it gets cold?” You know what they say…behind every good man is a woman rolling her eyes.

Speaking of cold. This is really rocking if you put it in the frig over night and slice it the next day for breakfast. It turns the crust into some kind of yummy and with coffee– Aww, it just makes me bang my head on the ground.  And did I mention it’s moist? Oh Rhodas, it’s fresh cooked. (If you don’t know why I call you Rhoda, please click here to investigate. Thank you.)

Banana Bread a.k.a. Crack Bread

3 Eggs

11/2 Cup Smashed Bananas (I use 3 or 4 empty bananas.)

3/4 Cup Applesauce

2 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Oil

3 Teaspoon Vanilla

3 Cup Flour

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Walnuts If you want. (I don’t, as I think they are high risk food.)

Beat eggs until foamy. Add oil, sugar, bananas and vanilla; mix well. Add flour, soda, powder and cinnamon. Mix again. Pour into greased and floured pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. (I always stick something it into it to test for doneness, like a tooth pick, steak knife or something. If it comes out clean…it’s time to eat some crack bread.) I almost forgot, this makes three loaves. It’s great in a cake pan too. Feel free to use what you have.

Enjoy!

Sis

PS ~ This recipe isn’t original to me. I stole it from a Western Kansas Southern Baptist cookbook. It’s no secret Baptist women can cook. Thank you Miss Stephanie where ever you are. I doubt angels cook this well.

Like some kind of twisted foodie I take pictures of veggies and fruit in all sorts of states, from naked to streaking and now empty. Then I expoit them by writing about them and giving them funny names. I’m sorry. I’m weak. Bananas are not immune when I’m around, either.

I love to discover new ways to save money esspecially on food. Today it’s banana specific, but works with peaches too. Back when I was a nanny baking these yummy kid pleasing waffles, I learned you could freeze bananas. That was just after I opened their frig and a frozen banana fell out. I screamed, said ewwwwwe and was heading for the trash can when I was stopped by Lynn, the lady of the house. Turned out when their bananas got over ripe she would throw them into the freezer. Just like that, no baggie, no nothing; just naked freezing to be saved for baking banana bread.

On the day you bake banana bread just set them out to thaw (it doesn’t take long.) Or you can throw them into the microwave for a couple minutes and your ready to make them empty. Just cut off the end and the bananas slip out like a theif in the night. What is surprising about this is, they aren’t brown, they’re perfect, and that funny tasting thingy on the end stays in the peel, leaving you with an empty banana. 

Currently I have 32 bananas in my freezer, leftovers from banana sales and poor little fruit that just didn’t get eaten up. I could make enough banana bread to feed a small army. Or give everyone I know a some banana bread for Christmas. Don’t you know, it’s the new fruit cake?

How do you save money buying fresh fruit?

Simply,

Sis

It’s time to do the salsa. My garden is going crazy, and all I have to dance with is naked tomatoes, onions, peppers and garlic. And let me tell you, my danced card is full. Let’s can some salsa, shall we?

The first thing I do is prepare the jars by washing them in the dishwasher or by hand and place them upside down in a large pan of water. I’m using cast iron, cause that would be the biggest skillet I have. But you use whatever you have. I add just a splash of white vinegar and turn the heat on to medium high. 

(I put white vinegar in my water because that’s how my mama did it. I think she did it because our well water was so hard. Since not much has changed there, I do it too.) Put your lids and rings in the water too, as everything is supposed to be sterilized.

I don’t follow a recipe. I go by taste. Since salsa tastes vary greatly, I’ll give you some ideas. Let’s get chopping. I use a food processor to chop my veggies for salsa. There was a time I did it all by hand, but I have a family now, and it’s more about speed than relationship at this point. For this batch I chopped six onions, one head of garlic, three green peppers, and three huge jalapenos.

The veins and seeds contain the most heat in peppers. So if you can’t stand the heat… take out the veins and seeds. I like it hot, so I left them in.

I used a bunch of grape tomatoes and some naked tomatoes, a gallon and a half in all. Use what you have. I think mixing yellow ones in salsa looks cool and cuts a lot of the acidity.

For tips on talking your tomatoes out of their clothes click here.

After everything is chopped give it a good stir but don’t turn on the heat yet.

Next add canning salt, about 1/3 cup lemon or lime juice, black pepper, two tablespoons of sugar (again, to cut acidity) and Mom’s secret ingredient…can you tell what it is? 

Look closer…

Cumin. A handful of cumin. Stir and taste with corn chips. Add more of whatever spice you think you need.

Please note: I used to put fresh cilantro and the tiniest bit of basil in my salsa, but don’t anymore. Cooking cilantro does something funky to the taste. So I put it in when I open the jar instead. If you want to put it in now, do it. Make it your own. I won’t tell anyone.

Turn on the heat to high and bring the salsa to a boil fast, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. As soon as it boils, it’s time to can. I think I can. I think I can…

Grab a hot jar.

Put your special canning funnel on top…

Pour in salsa.

Leave some room at the top of the jar to in sure a good seal and wipe the top of the jar.

This is ready for a seal.

Place seal on jar and screw the ring on tight.

Repeat until your kitchen looks like this…

and your jars look like this.

You’re just like the little engine that could canned.

Let the jars set on the counter until completely cooled and sealed. If this is your first time canning you may hear some pings and tings, that is music to any canner’s ear. It means your can sealed, you did great and you’ll have salsa to eat this winter.

One last thing. I am a lazy canner. I don’t pressure can or do water baths in a big old canner unless I have to. With this salsa, I don’t have to. So I don’t. This is supposed to be fun. Right?

You can, can!

Can-can. Salsa. Get it? (Is this thing on?)

Never mind.

Happy Canning!

Sis

Oh Rhoda’s…I’ve done it now. I was playing the good wife and was out mowing the back forty and broke the darn mower. What I mean by that is I broke Ben’s precious baby, a John Deere riding mower. The one he wouldn’t let me drive for the first two years we had it. Yeah, that one. Oh C-WAP.

So now I find myself in my kitchen whipping up some of my famous chicken fried steak AKA…the stuff that gets me out of the dog house.

Ready? Here we go. You need enough meat to feed your people. I don’t care if you use minute steaks, tenderized round steaks or the loin out of a deer. It’s all good. Today, I’ll be using some beef minute steaks I bought from a local butcher…so as not to bring up the word deere.

I put my cast iron skillet on med-high heat with enough oil to come half way up on the meat. Then I throw at least a sleeve of saltine crackers in a gallon baggie and start smashing with a rolling pin. I take out all the aggression I have about breaking the mowing and not having enough duck tape to fix it, and I other wrongs in my life until they look like this.

Then I crack a couple eggs and some milk and give them a good beating.

It’s time to season the meat. I like to keep it simple. Who would have thought. Anyway, just salt and pepper the meat to taste. If I’m feeling like I’m in deep do do I will use season salt instead. Today, it’s season salt.

Then the fun starts. Dip your meat in egg. Press it into the crackers. And lay gently in the hot oil to fry. Rinse and repeat, Rhoda. Egg Cracker Fry. Until you get all your meat in hot water oil.

While that’s frying I check on the smashed taters and corn and build a nice garden salad.

Turn when they are golden brown, and drain well on paper towels. Then make milk gravy. Lots of it. I’m in trouble here.

Get caught while cooking…and say, “I’ve got good news and bad news honey…”

“How about the bad news first.”

“The good news is…I got most of the mowing done and we are having chicken fried steak. The bad news is I broke your mower. Gravy?”

“Did you say chicken fried steak? I love your chicken fried steak.”

“Don’t worry about the mower. I can fix it.”

I’m telling ya, Rhoda’s, it could bring peace to the Middle East.

It’s fresh cooked!

Simply,

Sis

Lots of good things come out cooking for harvest. This recipe for coleslaw is one of them. It’s a crowd pleaser’ in this area, very simple and fast to make. Check it out.

Brookville Hotel Coleslaw

1 1/2 Pounds Shredded Cabbage

1 teaspoon Salt

2/3 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Vinegar

1 cup Whipping Cream

Shred the cabbage and chill. When cabbage is cool add salt and stir. Sprinkle sugar over the cabbage mixture and stir. Add vinegar and stir. Add whipping cream and stir.

Do you see a pattern? Stir. Do the hokey poky and stir. Stand and one foot. Stir. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving and stir.

Yes, my friends, the secret to this one is mixing ingredients in order and stirring in between.

Take a big ole bite, jump back and kiss yourself. Then hollar, “That’s fresh cooked Rhoda!”

Cause I love ya!

Sis

P.S. A recipe wouldn’t be a recipe without me adding something…I think shredded carrots would be great in this. Okay. At ease, carry on.

Oh my Rhoda’s. (If you don’t know why I call you Rhoda, click here.) I had high hopes of posting pictures,  menus, recipes and such of my adventure of cooking for a wheat harvest. I can tell that’s not going to happen. The past three weeks that have been a blur of food and frenzy. 

I made a plan, followed it…for the most part…and even took a few pictures. Here we are at the end and I haven’t posted anything but my menu. “Oh the horror. I’m such a failure. A blogging misfit…A…”

So, on my last day, before I fire myself, I’ll post one of their favorite meals. So here’s the quick and dirty…

This is my third kitchen, in the office of a feedlot. (If you missed my first kitchen remodel you can check it out here. If you missed my second kitchen remodel you can check it out here.)

Isn’t it dreamy? (A feedlot is where cattle get fatten up before it goes to market. Kids around here call them peed-lots or cowboy poop because they smell so nice.)

This is my fourth kitchen, in the community building of our small town.

(The lights when out for a couple of days out at the ranch and derned if it ain’t hard to cook on an electric stove when the power is out, so I commandeered this kitchen because it had power.)

Here’s what the harvest crew looked like this year. It consists of three brothers, a son, and an extra. Some days we have more extras, maybe a friend, a banker, stray truck driver, a couple kids, an extra husband or wife. Who knows. I just cook big and hope for plenty.

You’ll notice…here in wheat country…usually the meals get taken out to the field by said cook and served out of the back of a vehicle. I don’t. I’m one of those liberated cooks, the crew comes to me. I like that.

Here’s what a typical meal looked like. Brisket, tossed salad, fruit salad, twice baked potatoes (not in the half shell), garlic bread and Miss Vickie’s dump cake. Yes, they are spoiled. I call it job security.

I like to travel through food. It’s a game I play. The guys will come in and say, “Where are we going today, Sis?”

“South of the border, on a ranch in Oklahoma, or to my house.” It just depends where the recipe came from. Not that I follow those very well. Anyway, we ‘take a trip without leaving the farm’ getting back in record time, just after the hungry hostages slick everything. Then we’re I am back at the feedlot to clean up and pack a picnic for their supper.

So, this is it, 21 meals and 126 sandwiches later…I’m done…finished..fineto. It’s been fun. I love the folks I cook for, but I’m off to fire myself. Hey, somebody has to, and the guy in charge won’t. Then I’m off to spend my paycheck. So, I’ll see you in a month.

Okay a week.

Tomorrow.

Probably tomorrow.

A few minutes.

It will just take a few minutes.

Simply,

Sis

Feeding folks is what I do. I love it. It must be a family tradition…

The first part of my life we lived on a ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska, with a bunkhouse full of cowboys. Mom had three kids…bing (early 1970) bang (early 1971) boom (late 1972). Dad always said 1972 was when they got the TV. That’s funny right there. (Actually, I counted it back and I’m guessing it was Valentines Day. Who knows. I wasn’t there. Well, I was…but…oh never mind.)

Anyway, my mom had three young ‘ens (some in cloth diapers) to chase and a house full of cowboys to cook for. Dad told Mom, ”It doesn’t matter what you cook, just make sure it’s hot and you have a bunch.”  

It doesn’t matter what kind of crew you’re cooking for, you still have to answer that looming question every mom loathes…What’s for dinner?

Since I hate to shop, I plan my menus two weeks at a time for the harvest crew and for my family. Here’s what the harvest crew menu looks like.

When making a menu I think about how busy my shedule is that day. If I don’t have time for a five course meal because of other commitments, it’s good day for a 30 minute meal. This is also a good time to know what’s on sale. So I keep my calendar and grocery store’s flyer handy. If I don’t have a flyer, I look it up online.

I also try to think about the basic food groups and try to plan a serving of protein, a starch, a veggie, and fruit  for every meal. It’s been said I spoil the guys with homemade bread and desserts throughout the week.  I don’t call it spoiling. I call it job security.

From the menu, I make a grocery list. This is where I take inventory of what they already have and get out any recipes that I might be using in the next two weeks. In my world, recipes are just suggestions, not written in stone. Does that surprise you?

Then I go shopping, with a full belly, a bottle of water, a cooler and a great attitude. Or not. If I need excitement in your life, I skip the good attitude and my shopping trip will end up like this one. Did I mention I’m far from perfect?

Now that I have a plan, I know what I need to thaw out or prep for tomorrow. The extra effort it takes to plan ahead is worth it. Who wants to answer the question “What’s for dinner?” every day anyway? Not me.

Oh my little Rhoda’s…are you ready to cook? The harvest dam is fixin’ to break.

Stand by,

Sis

There’s nothing in this world that makes food taste as good as smoke. Nothing. Even picky eaters cower to the taste of smoke and will eat anything that has smokey goodness cooked into it. That is just one of the many reasons I love to cook over an over fire in my first kitchen.

When Papa (Ben’s Dad) was visiting, W and I decided to stay home and cook and crack bull whips instead of going fishing. Well, he cracks them like Indiana Jones, the Man From Snowy River, or his Dad (not me.) I cook.

So let’s cook. First we need a fire.

 Since ‘Survivor Man’ was popping his bullwhip, I built this one. Then after it cooked down a little I put on my 12″ cast iron skillet with some oil to get good and hot before I put in the carrots.

 In my second kitchen, I took the silks off the corn. (If you’re not from Nebraska, that would the the blond, sometimes brunette hair that corn grows.) Then put the husks back up where they like to live and put in water. 

 Acutually, submerse in water for 20 minutes or while your getting everything else ready in the kitchen. I found my wire dish drainer works great for this.

 Then I peeled the potatoes and carrots and seasoned the meat while I was waiting for my fire to get right.

 Before we go on, let’s get one thing clear. I don’t like cooked carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes or anything else like that.  This would be one of the few exceptions. Okay? Clear. Put the carrots in to fry first, because they take twice as long as potatoes. Did I mention…the oil needs to be hot?

When the carrots start to turn brown or kinda black, I toss in the potatoes. Let’s get another thing clear. I don’t like burnt things. YUCK. But, if a carrot gets a little color on it, it brings out the sugar…ohhhh, Rhoda, then add a little smoke flavor from the fire….Slap yer mama good. Okay…bring on the taters.

If you are like me, this is where I would add onions and green peppers, but, my dear family members aren’t like me, so I don’t add them. (Sniff) After the taters are almost cooked I take it to the house, if my grill is small and let them hang out over low heat  in my second kitchen, while I finish getting everything else happy. I’ve also been known to cover with foil or lid and leave it on the coolest part of the fire on on the rocks around my fire pit.

It’s now time to pick up our bald corn from the pool and throw it on the fire…

 turning every once in a while…

 getting all sides the same black color…

Until it’s half done (about 10 minutes over med/high heat.)

Bring on the meat, any kind will do. Chicken, pork, steak, hamburgers…whatever.

When it’s all said and done. The corn has cooked about 20 minutes total. The meat is done and gets to hang out for 10 minutes, getting happy and letting the juices redistribute, before we eat it.

This is what it looks like, just before it disappears.

Oh, Rhoda, it’s fresh cooked.

Simply,

Sis