Another day on the farm. Main event: Boil down gallons and gallons of maple tree sap into quarts and pints of maple syrup. Hopefully by days end we will be having syrup on our ice cream. Tomorrow morning, buckwheat pancakes! Here’s a picture of Mat’s boiler this year: Continue reading
April Happenings
Laundry, making a birthday special, dishes, bringing a toddler outside to enjoy the mud; these have all been a great part of why I have not updated you all lately. Here is a slideshow look at our lives these past few weeks (toddler pooping in the bathtub picture not included):<!–more–>
Thanks to all that have encouraged me in another post. I do have a goal to update or give a recipe once a week, but have been a little busy with life and my lovely family. Enjoy spring. I think it is finally here.
Peanut Butter Pork
Do you ever have this problem?
While getting dinner ready, one of your kids gets lost in a mud puddle. Well it happens to us, so quick and easy dinner recipes are a treasure for us.
This week was filled with a few great visitors. One of them, being a college student, has no idea how to cook his own meals and feels he has no time to do so. I served up this meal and he loved it. The nice thing about this is that it takes ten minutes of your time in preparation in the morning and produces a great aroma to come home to at night. Now all I have to do is teach him to cook bacon in the oven, sausage and pork chops in a skillet, slice ham for sandwiches and grill brats in the park. Then he’ll be ready to order a 1/4 hog from us. Pork, for me, has become the easiest, quickest, and tastiest meat to prepare. Try it this year, we still have a space to order some more hogs.
This recipe is easy, requires ten minutes of preparation, and is also kid friendly. It can be prepared in winter or summer since it is prepared in a slow cooker. I found this recipe at: Stephanie O’Dea’s “A Year of Slow Cooking” blog. Click on over to check out her version without my changes and to see other great ideas for slow cooker greatness.
Asian Peanut Butter Pork
1.5-2lbs Righteous Oaks Farm pork tenderloin or roast
1 onion, sliced
1/4 cup soy sauce (I used Tamari; it’s gluten free)
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
Rice, cooked and served with the meat
This is so easy. Chop the onions and place on bottom of crock pot. Place pork on top of the onion. Pour everything else into the crock pot. Let cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with rice.
Maple mustard chicken
It has come to my attention that some of you may not know how to use a whole chicken. Once you have learned how to use a whole chicken, I can rest knowing that you have been liberated from having to use those frozen “chicken breasts” you find in the store. Seriously, after eating real pasture-raised, additive-free, pure-and-yummy chicken, eating those frozen beasts is like eating a hotdog that has sat in the fridge for a year. On second thought, I think it’s worse.
So here’s my attempt at your liberation: Maple Mustard Chicken. It is an easy recipe that you have to try this year. Truthfully, you don’t even have to like mustard to enjoy this dish. If you know kids, you know they are often hard to please, even so, my kids ate it up. In this picture, I made a double recipe.
First, you will need at least one good knife. Next, a pan – 8×8 or 9×13 works depending on how much you will be making. An oven is helpful for this recipe. I have tried it on the grill and it is not as good. I have not tried it in the crock pot, though it would likely work if you do not overcook it. A meat thermometer is essential for tasty chicken. If you don’t have one, look for one at the thrift store. Here goes:
Maple Mustard Chicken
1/4 cup Pure Maple Syrup
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup Honey Mustard
1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
Cut up the whole chicken, or two if making for a family of five. Click for wikihow. I recommend saving the breast for a different recipe. This recipe works best with the thighs, legs, and wings. Place chicken in your baking dish (8×8 for 1.5 pounds, 9×13 for more).
Preheat oven to 450F.
Mix together pure maple syrup, mustard and red wine vinegar. Pour over the chicken. Place in preheated oven.
Once the internal temperature of the meat is above 155F in the thickest part, we call it good around here. If you are using store bought instead of our pastured chicken, a temperature above 165F is ideal. This takes about 40 minutes.
Serve and enjoy.
Once you make it, be sure and let me know what you think.
I first came across this recipe here and have adapted it according to our tastes.
The Sap Has Started To Run!
Some of our maples have started to produce sap which we will soon start boiling down into the Nectar of the North aka Pure Maple Syrup! This flow of sap will continue as long as we have air temperatures cycling below and above freezing.
When the trees thaw initially they take up water along with the stored sugars they had deposited last fall. As the tree refreezes the water it has taken up expands and creates a positive pressure within that will push the sap out the taps. Eventually the pressure will equalize if the tree doesn’t freeze up again and the sap flow will stop, but each time the tree refreezes pressure will be regained. This process will last 4-6 weeks. By that time the temperatures will stop dipping below freezing or the sap will start to turn off-flavored due to the leaf and flower buds breaking open.
This kind of pressure build up during sap flow is found in only a few types of trees. Thankfully, God has designed the maple in this way so that we can harvest the sugars in the sap and boil them down into a delectable syrup!
One final parting fact: The Box Elder Tree (Acer negundo) is part of the maple family and can be tapped for maple syrup.
Spring is Upon Us
Finally Winter seems to have lost it’s hold on Minnesota. I was out in my long sleeves, jeans and boots today and couldn’t feel a chill. What a beautiful feeling. With Spring comes a rush of new ventures. Continue reading
Seed starting time begins
Today we planted seeds with our homeschool group. The kids had a blast. Excitement arose in me to start planting. I told Mat about this and then realized tomorrow is March 1, my first scheduled day to plant seeds. Continue reading
Righteous Oaks Farm 