Easy On the Go Harvest Granola Rounds

Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Another Day...

This isn't the first time I have said this. Unfortunately, this summer, we haven't seen a lot of it which hasn't been good for our corn and soybeans trying to grow in the fields.  Although it hasn't been quite as dry as last summer, it has definitely been less than desirable which is why rain this time of year is not exactly welcome. Rain this time of year will not help our crops as their growing season is over and harvest season is upon us; however, we can't harvest our crop if the ground is wet.  So after the rain this week, we will wait for it to dry up before heading to the fields and hope that harvest will begin soon.

That being said, I am always looking for quick and easy snacks that The Farmer can take with him when he is in the fields as harvest usually means long hours.  And this recipe is a super double bonus as it is not only quick and easy, but also rather nutritious, and can serve as a snack or breakfast.  I had seen a few recipes for these "health balls" floating around on the Internet, but when our great friend Nancy made some for The Farmer and I this summer, we were hooked and they will be the perfect snack for me to keep on hand during the upcoming harvest season.

Easy On-the-Go Harvest Granola Rounds

Ingredients
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup ground flaxseed
1 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla

Directions

Mix all ingredients together.  Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or longer.  Roll into rounds and store in air tight container.  (I made approximately 40 one inch rounds.)  Enjoy!!!!

Tips

• Store in refrigerator if desired.
• Pre-package 4-5 rounds in a sandwich bag for a grab 'n go snack or breakfast.
• Perfect with a glass of milk

I am participating in Indiana's Family of Farmers Table Talk Series and received a gift in exchange for my participation.

Kid Friendly Apple Cranberry Pops

Now, I wouldn't have made it through the Farm Girls Freeze event without the help of Big Sissy and Little Sissy so it was only fitting that they decided to whip up their own recipe during the event as well from the same Gooseberry Patch Freezer Friendly Recipes cookbook.

Big Sissy and Little Sissy decided to make Apple-Cranberry Pops

Apple-Cranberry Pops

Ingredients
12 oz. can unsweetened frozen apple-cranberry juice concentrate, thawed
2 c. plain yogurt
2 t. vanilla extract

Directions
Mix ingredients together.

(After some trial and error and few messes, I would recommend adding the ingredients in the order of yogurt, concentrate, and vanilla and use a whisk to mix the ingredients together.)

Pour into small paper cups.

Insert a wooden treat stick into the center of each yogurt cup.  (We also learned through trial an error that they are some tricks to this step too, but you will have to stay tuned for those.)

Freeze overnight.

When ready to enjoy, let stand at room temperature for a few minutes; peel off paper cups.

Super Easy Freeze and Bake Lasagna

So last weekend while college friends, Tequila, Tutti Fruity, The Captain, and Miller, were heating it up on the beaches of Florida, I was freezing it up in the kitchen with some of my fellow Real Farmwives.  (Unfortunately, my work, farm, and mom schedule didn't make traveling to Florida to possible, but that allowed me to join in on the freezer day fun and watch Big Sissy and Little Sissy's soccer games while The Farmer watched Bubby's football game at the same time.)

Thanks to Gooseberry Patch and their Our Favorite Freezer-Friendly Recipes cookbook, I had a bunch of new recipes to choose from for the Farm Girls Freeze event.  Now I have learned a few things since our last freezer cooking day so I had a few requirements when looking for a recipe.  I was looking for one with relatively few ingredients and one that was easy to put together.  From my experience this is key when making a recipe in bulk and I had 11 batches to make.  (Thankfully I had Big Sissy and Little Sissy to help me.)

This is how I stumbled upon Freeze & Bake Lasagna.  8 ingredients which actually became 7 because I couldn't find one of them and it call for uncooked lasagna noodles so it my opinion it more than met my requirements.

Freeze & Bake Lasagna

Ingredients
28 oz jar spaghetti sauce
1 lb. ground beef, browned or I used 1 lb. Italian sausage, browned
8 oz. jar mushroom pieces, drained
16 oz. container ricotta cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 T. Italian seasoning
8 lasagna noodles, uncooked and divided
2 c. shredded Monterrey Jack cheese ( I couldn't find any plain Monterrey Jack cheese so I just substituted mozzarella cheese)
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions
Combine sauce, beef/sausage, and mushrooms; set aside

Mix ricotta cheese, egg, and Italian seasoning together; set aside.

Layer as follows in each of 2 ungreased 9x5 loaf pans (I couldn't find disposable 9x5 loaf pans so I improvised with a 9x13 pan and doubled my ingredients when layering):

once cup meat sauce,

2 lasagna noodles,

1/2 cup ricotta cheese mixture,

1/2 cup Monterrey Jack cheese and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.

Repeat layers.

We then covered with Press 'n Seal and then aluminum foil as it is ready for the freezer.

When ready to prepare, thaw overnight in the refrigerator.  Remove Press 'n Seal, cover with foil, and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

And then enjoy!

Who says you can't go home

Home is where the heart is...

This summer has been full of events that have made me think of "home."  And not just where I live today, but where my heart has been over the years.

The summer started with a major focus on 4-H at this pigpen.  Big Sissy is a 4th generation 4-Her as this was her second year of 4-H.  With our county fair the last week of June, Big Sissy spent the majority of her time the month of June working on her many 4-H projects.  As I've said before, 4-H has always played a big part in the lives of The Farmer and me and it is such a joy to watch Big Sissy love 4-H.  Now I'm not quite sure how we will make it when all 3 kids are in 4-H, but we will find a way just like The Farmer and I's moms did.

 



Any way, Big Sissy had a pretty amazing second year of 4-H that will continue into the State Fair next week.  I'm so glad that she is enjoying carrying on this tradition that was started many years before her and is even seeing some success in the show ring like my mom did many years ago which was  lot of fun as my mom and Aunt S were there to share in the fun that night along with The Farmer's parents and Uncle K. 

 



I even got to visit my "home" county fair this year.  This was my youngest cousin's last year of 4-H.  He was the last of my generation to finish 4-H in our county.  There had been someone in 4-H in my home county since I started 4-H more years ago than I'd like to admit... 1987.  That is a lot of years of family picnics, traditions, and fun at the fair.  Hopefully next year, my niece will start 4-H and start the tradition of the next generation of 4-Hers in my home county. 

Some things have changed but many have stayed the same including many of the faces.  It was great to visit my home fair even if I do like my own recipe for Beef and Noodles better than theirs now, but this is where my love of Beef and Noodles started. 

This past weekend I really did get to go to one of my past "homes." 

 



Several of my sorority sisters and I converged on Purdue University for the weekend to relive our college years.

 



It was amazing to see so many women that had an impact on my life and to visit one of the houses that really built me. 

So I don't know who says you can't go home, because I've been going "home" all summer long. 

And although this summer has gone by in the blink of an eye and isn't officially over, the start of school is coming sooner rather than later at this pigpen as Big Sissy and Bubby head back to school on July 31st.  This just may or may not be the same day Big Sissy's pigs and muffins go to the State Fair for judging later in the week.  (No pressure on The Farmer or I.)  That being said hopefully we can still squeeze in a few trips "home" either down memory lane or making new memories with what is left of the summer of 2013. 


Thanks to Indiana's Family of Farmers for getting me to return to my "home" of blogging.  Although this is a sponsored post as I'm a Table Talk Contributor this month for Indiana's Family of Farmers, my love of my "homes" and the traditions and recipes of them are all my own opinions and thoughts. That being said, be sure to check out Indiana's Family of Farmers on Facebook, Twitter, or their blog as they have a lot of fun stuff happening especially with the upcoming Indiana State Fair. 

Celebrating Indiana Wines

I loved my time as a student at Purdue and as an animal sciences major, I loved my agriculture classes.  That being said, I always tell people that there is one that always comes to the top of most useful:  wine appreciation.  Now I know some of you may be wondering what did I really learn in class like that, but I learned a lot.  It was a 3 hour Monday night class and we did get to try 3 wines each week, but we also had to learn about the different types of grapes and where they were grown.  We learned about wines from France, Italy, California, and Indiana to name a few and tasted them all from sweet to dry.  This class really left an impression on me and one that I have found myself leaning back on since graduating from Purdue more years ago then I would like to meet.

A few of the Indiana vintages my mother-in-law has on hand

As I stated above, we did spend some time learning about the wineries in Indiana and they have only continue to grow in number over the years.  In fact today, Indiana has 69 wineries that produce over 1.25 million gallons of wine and attract over 2 million visitors each year.  Even cooler than that is my very good friend Miss Jeanette AKA the Indiana Wine Babe gets to spend her days promoting those amazing wineries in the state of Indiana.

This is why I'm so excited to invite you all to Vintage Indiana, a festival of wine, food, and fun on June 1st from 11am - 7pm at Military Park in downtown Indianapolis.  This is Indiana's largest wine festival featuring locally crafted wines and nearly 30 wineries will be in attendance offering samples of over 300 wines.  Adult tickets are $22 in advance at Marsh Supermarkets or online at www.vintageindiana.com or $25 at the gate. Kids 6-20 are $5 and kids under 6 are free.  There are even special designated driver tickets for $10 each that include unlimited soft drinks and water. Sounds like a lot of fun to me which is why I'm so excited that one lucky reader of mine will win 2 free tickets to Vintage Indiana thanks to Indiana's Family of Farmers. 
 

So let the fun begin. 

To make things simple, this giveaway will have two ways to enter and will only be open for 24 hours.  Here are the two ways to enter:

1. Comment on the blog and let me know your favorite Indiana winery.
2. Comment on the blog and let me know your favorite kind of wine. 

Winner will be chosen randomly after 5 PM on May 25, 2013. Winner will be notified by email and must respond within 24 hours.Two tickets will then be sent to the winner courtesy of Indiana's Family of Farmers.  

This is a sponsored post.  Although I was compensated for this post, all opinions are mine and mine alone.  

Nourishing Generations of Hoosiers

Big Sissy's take on Ag Day...

Big Sissy entered an essay contest earlier this year with the theme of Our Food, Our Farmers:  Nourishing Generations of Hoosiers (and a 200 word maximum).  Although she didn't win, we were quite proud of her entry and I thought it would be perfect to share as we celebrate Ag Day 2013.  We are proud to be farmers and to raise food for our own family as well as all of yours and it looks like Big Sissy shares in that love.  

Our food and our farmers… As a fifth generation farmer, I am proud to be able to come from a family that has been able to nourish Hoosiers for generations.

Farmers have been nourishing Hoosiers for years. If it weren’t for all the farmers, we would have a very limited amount of food in our world today. Since before Indiana became a state, Hoosier farmers have provided food for people everywhere.

Animals are a big part of our state. Our state, Indiana, is ranked 5th in pig production. We wouldn’t have near that many pigs today if farmers weren’t growing all the crops for their feed or taking care of the pigs to the best of their ability.

Farmers also play a big role in our environment, and they take care of it well. Farmers everywhere do a lot for our earth and soil. On our family farm, we have cover crops planted in one of our fields. The reasoning behind this is that the plants will put nutrients back into the soil.

These are just a few examples of how farmers have been nourishing Hoosiers for generations.

And with these future faces of agriculture, we hope our family will be able to continue to do it for many more generations to come...

Italian Beef in a Bucket

Or a crock pot or slow cooker.

Although I'm a pig farmer and love me some pork, Italian Beef will always have a soft spot in my heart.  That being said, I had never made it before in my life.  That is until Gooseberry Patch's Slow Cooking Year 'Round arrived with the Italian Beef in a Bucket recipe.  I knew I had to make it. 

Italian Beef in a Bucket

3 1/2 - 4lb. beef rump roast

12 oz. jar Italian giardiniera mix, mild or hot, drained

12 oz. jar pepperoncini

.7 oz. pkg. zesty Italian salad dressing mix

10 -1/2 oz. can beef broth

12-18 crusty Italian rolls

Place beef roast in a large slow cooker.

In a bowl, combine remaining ingredients except rolls; do not drain pepperoncini. (I mixed together the broth and dry salad dressing mix first.)

Pour mixture over roast.

Cover and cook on low setting for 10-12 hours, until meat is very tender.

Shred with 2 forks; stir into mixture in slow cooker.

Serve on rolls; top with some of the giardiniera mixture from the slow cooker.

Makes 12-18 servings.

This Italian Beef was absolutely delicious and so juicy and even made for yummy leftovers.  

It was the perfect meal to come home to after spending the day at Big Sissy's first volleyball tournament.

Now don't forget to enter for your chance to win a copy of this amazing cookbook and hurry as time is running out.