Category Archives: Recipes

Ideas to get you started with healthy foods.

DIY Stocking Stuffer

Posted on by under Recipes

I don’t know about you, but I grew up opening a stocking of little goodies on Christmas day. It’s still one of my favorite traditions. I especially enjoy thinking of and finding things throughout the year that my family will enjoy. Don’t tell, but I will be including some of my favorite handmade lotion in the stockings that I’ve made for extended family. I know they love this stuff and it’s the perfect winter gift.

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I know most people don’t have tallow lying around, but if you’ve saved some from deer or beef cattle, I’ve got the recipe for you:


Do-It-Yourself Tallow Lotion      Time=1 hour       Difficulty=medium

1 cup tallow, beef, deer, sheep or goat (with the addition of lavender oil I did not notice the scent of the deer tallow)

2 Tablespoons olive oil or sweet almond oil

1/2 tsp essential oil (be sure you test a drop on your skin first so that you don’t have a batch of lotion that will irritate your skin – e.g. cinnamon oil often irritates skin)

Place tallow in double boiler or other pan and warm it on low heat until it is just melted. Once melted, remove from heat and add olive or almond oil. Let it cool to room temperature then add the essential oil(s).

Once the tallow, olive or almond oil, and essential oil(s) are combined, pour the mixture into a container if you are not going to whip it. Otherwise, place your pan into the fridge until it is just hardened. It takes about 30 minutes. Then remove it from the fridge and whip it with a hand mixer until it is the consistency you desire (Usually 3 minutes for me). Scrape it into your final container and enjoy!

 

If you don’t have tallow, you can buy it online or sometimes find it at a local meat processor. We also have some beef tallow for $3 per pound. And if you’re not up to making it yourself, our tallow lotion is $2 for a 4 ounce jar. Email or give us a call.

Also, one last reminder for orders before Christmas. We can make gift certificates or provide pork and chicken by the pound or in large quantities. Let me know by Saturday if you’d like me to make you up some lotion. Let us know before December 23, 2017 and we can even deliver to the Aitkin or Crosby areas and anywhere between here and the Twin Cities.

Don’t forget our $15 off promotions run until the end of December 2017. Read more by clicking here: $15 off!

We hope you are enjoying this advent season!

Broiled Goat Chops

Posted on by under goat, Keeping the Home, Recipes

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For me I prefer my old go-to recipes. It is hard for me to try new recipes because of the time it often takes to implement something foreign to me. The new recipe I tried yesterday? Unbeatable. It took about twenty minutes, minus the marinading time, to get dinner on and that included all the sides (“Cream Corn Like No Other” and garlic cheese bread broiled with the chops).  I think the meat took ten minutes at most in the oven. Added bonus, the kids loved the meal. Another bonus, I’m finally not hungry. I’ve been so hungry the last few days and just can’t get enough to eat. Goat meat protein always fixes that craving need for me.

We’ve been getting a lot of interest in our goat meat from people who have never tried it. After explaining its qualities in a recent post, they want to take advantage of this healthy meat. After trying a great recipe for goat chops, I am highly recommending that you try it! We found an Indian blogger’s recipe entitled, “Broiled Goat Chops“.

The spice blend she recommends is just right. However, if you have picky kids, you may want to leave out the cayenne pepper. The other issue is that most American cooks do not have amchur (dried mango) powder in their spice cabinet. Luckily we have some we were given from an Indian friend a few years back. You can easily find it on amazon or at the Indian grocery if you live in the city.  Though you could leave amchur (amchoor) out, it does give it a tangy sweetness that really does add to the dish. Also, we used olive oil in place of avocado oil. This recipe was so perfect, I plan to try her recipe for Slow Cooker Goat Curry with one of our roasts very soon.

So now you know what to do with Goat Ribs and Goat Chops. We still have plenty of goat chops, shanks, shoulder roast and leg roast. Give us a call or email, we’d love to hear from you. Unfortunately, we have sold out of ribs and ground goat.

Happy eating! We’ll try to keep the recipes coming.

Valentine Eggs

Posted on by under Farm, Recipes

Eggs! Our chickens are producing so many right now and we have very few customers. Our boys take good care of Chubb, Goldie, Floppy, Featherfoot, Nightshade, Featherina, Grouchy, Lanky, Bossy and all the rest that look too similar to name. We give our boys non-gmo and soy-free feed for their chickens and, in return, we receive all the eggs we would like.

img_1436The Nix boys would like to offer a dozen eggs for $3.50 to anyone interested. They range in size from large to jumbo. Most of the yolks are dark yellow, providing a high omega 3 ratio for a quality egg. The chickens are kept warm and run throughout our large high tunnel all winter and play among the grass and bugs the rest of the year.

Since we have dozens of eggs in our fridge, I found a fun recipe and an idea for our Valentine’s day celebration. Hope you have fun trying them out for yourselves!

First, my little guy and I made a delicious andimg_1614 flour-less (great for those who are gluten-free) chocolate cherry cake. I am not in the habit of creating baking recipes, but this woman sure knows her stuff:
Flourless Chocolate Cherry Cake
We sure enjoyed mixing this up together.

Second, I had fun making a simple, but surprisingly tasty lunch item for my men (little and big).img_16191 Basically, all you need is a hot dog or sausage cut almost to the end in two , a toothpick to cinch it together, and an egg for the center. Place the heart-shaped hot dog in a heated pan, drop an egg in each heart, cover and cook until they are done to your liking. It went well with an english muffin. Also, a little ketchup on the side is great for those of us who can’t eat a hot dog without it.

Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Eating!

Delicious Pastured Pork

Posted on by under Farm, pork, Recipes

I can’t tell you how much I have appreciated having a freezer full of meat. It’s like having a convenience store right next door. It reduces stress about what to feed my family and it reduces the amount of trips I take to the grocery store. Time saving – yes!

Having a whole hog wrapped and ready has also increased the health factor in our meals. We have been able to choose how our meat is processed and what ingredients go into our food. It has also led to a few fun new recipes.

Yesterday we tried roasting a slab of side pork and boy was it delicious! side pork
Crispy, meaty, satisfying. Bacon, I’m never coming back. And now we have leftovers that I’m excited to try in an Asian stir fry tomorrow night. I’m not a big fan of cooking, but when I can produce results like this, it gets me excited!

The meat of pastured pigs is a different product than the conventional raised meat you would find in the grocery store. Here’s a little health information I found comparing wild boars (completely pasture raised) and conventionally raised animals (in a large barn with cement floors).

“Because pigs are monogastric animals (single stomach), they have the ability to convert vegetable and plant 18 carbon fatty acids (ALA) to the 20 and 22 carbon fatty acids (EPA and DHA) which reduce inflammation, reduce cardiovascular disease and promote good health for us all when we eat pork. Free ranging pork contains higher concentrations of these beneficial fatty acids than are found in their feed lot produced counterparts.”1

We continue to provide a non-GMO and soy free diet for our hogs as well as hay throughout the winter. They run and enjoy themselves by producing all sorts of havoc on our farm. Trust me, they’ve found lots of good forage as they’ve roamed past their boundaries this winter. Which leads me to make sure they don’t outgrow their welcome around here…

We still have a few half and whole hogs available for our spring butcher dates (March and April). $3 per pound hanging weight. Give us a call and we’ll tell you more: 218..927..1425.

You’ll definitely have to try this recipe with your next order!

Roasted Side Pork

  • Servings: 10-15
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

2-3 pound side pork
For Rub:
1 Tablespoon cracked peppercorns
1 Tablespoon salt (we use Real Salt brand)
1 Tablespoon granulated garlic
1 Tablespoon Chinese five spice powder, or spice of your choiceMix together rub ingredients. Rub generously and completely around the side pork slab. At this point, I recommend placing in the fridge for up to a day to let the seasoning do it’s work.
Once your slab has rested for a time (1 hour to 1 day), place the meat onto a “cooling rack” or other slotted roasting pan on top of a large baking sheet with the fattiest side up. Make sure there are raised sides on the baking sheet so the liquid fat does not drip into the oven. Roast at 325° F for 90 minutes or until the internal temperature is 145° F.  Cool slightly, slice and serve.

1 Cordain, Loren. http://thepaleodiet.com/bacon-anything-left-to-discuss/ June 16, 2014

We’ve Got Goat Meat!

Posted on by under Farm, goat, Pastured pride, Recipes

Last week nearly two hundred pounds of goat meat arrived in our freezer. We were able to get it USDA inspected at a newer local facility in Sturgeon Lake, MN that we really enjoy. Of course we took out a package right away and Mathew cooked up a rack of goat ribs. It was savory and satisfying!

img_1501We found our recipe at mymidlifekitchen.com. With only five ingredients, it was simple,  quick to prepare and warmed the house nicely since it cooked for three hours. Perfect for a winter day in Minnesota!

Ingredients

Check out mymidlifekitchen.com for the full recipe and how to prepare it.

Goat meat is a great source of lean protein, B-12 vitamin and iron. It is also quite versatile if you enjoy a variety of tastes and flavors. According to a Universiy of California blog post, “What is the world’s most popular meat?” goat meat is actually the most commonly consumed meat in the world, with 63% of the world’s population eating it. This article also has a nutritional comparison of various meats, see below. We look forward to trying Indonesian, South American, French, Asian, Middle Eastern and African recipes. Each has their own special spices to add. Please share your favorite recipes with us so we can share them with the world!

Nutrient composition of goat and other types of meat1, 2
Nutrient Goat Chicken Beef Pork Lamb
Calories 122 162 179 180 175
Fat (g) 2.6 6.3 7.9 8.2 8.1
Saturated Fat (g) 0.79 1.7 3.0 2.9 2.9
Protein (g) 23 25 25 25 24
Cholesterol (mg) 63.8 76.0 73.1 73.1 78.2
1 Per 3 oz. of cooked meat
2 USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 14 (2001)

Harper, John M. “What is the world’s most popular meat?” http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=3679. November 3, 2010.

Give us a call or send us an email to order some today. We’d love to deliver some Goat Chops, Goat Shoulder Roast, Goat Leg Roast, neck or ground meat. direct to you. Our current price is $10.00 per pound.

Breakfast Sausage

Posted on by under Recipes

This is a long overdue recipe post mainly because many people have asked for it. There are so many additives in food these days and we have chosen to minimize that in our lives. One way to do that is to make our own breakfast sausage with our ground pork or other ground meats. The following recipe also works well with ground venison and goat (with a few additions). Enjoy!

Breakfast Sausage

  • Servings: 5-7
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

1 pound ground pork
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
3/4 teaspoon onion flakes
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces bacon, side pork or cracklins (optional, but helpful with venison)
Lard or bacon grease for frying

Mix all together and let sit, covered in refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. Mix again, then form into patties. Melt some lard or bacon grease in a skillet. Fry on medium low heat until they are browned and cooked through. Enjoy!
*This recipe also works well with venison. You may want to add an egg.
*For ground goat meat sausage, add 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin and 1 egg.

PORK:  As of today, we have three hogs left and are selling by the half and whole. $3 per pound hanging weight. Give us a call 218 dash 927 dash 1425.

GOAT:  We also have meat goats for sale and sell them whole. They are $5 per pound and ready very soon.

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Here’s a few of our porkers enjoying some fresh pasture. We feed them a non-gmo, soy free grain mix and mineral in addition to their fresh greens and roots.

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Here’s a picture of what the goats enjoy most mornings. They are all fully grass-fed, given goat mineral and a full run of their favorite foods on pasture.

Rhubarb Is Ready

Posted on by under Farm, Garden, Keeping the Home, Maple Syrup, Recipes

Rhubarb is Ready: $2 per pound if you pick it up or $3 per pound delivered to your area. 218#927#1425

Rhubarb is loaded with vitamin C, K, calcium, potassium, manganese and more. It also has a good amount of fiber and has a very low glycemic load.* Now is the time to enjoy the first fruits of Minnesota. It’s a great time to can up some rhubarb sauce or freeze chopped rhubarb to enjoy all year long.

Be sure to order some maple syrup to go along with it. Maple syrup helps the rhubarb to not have the filmy after feeling on your teeth. You don’t have to use so much sweetener when you use it either. Normally if a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, I’ll put 1/2 cup of maple syrup in for starters and can often decrease from there. You may also need to cut the liquid in a recipe if you do this. And for those of you who sometimes get heartburn with rhubarb desserts (likely because of the white sugar), it sure helps cut back on that as well.IMG_7472

Recipes we’ll be making again:
Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Strawberry, Rhubarb, Lemon Rind, Yogurt, Maple/Stevia Smoothie
BBQ sauce (made with rhubarb)
Rhubarb Scones
Rhubarb Juice
“Refreshing Rhubarb Salad”
or this:

Maple Rhubarb Sauce

  • Servings: about 7
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

1 cup rhubarb, chopped (2-3 stalks)
1-2 Tablespoons maple syrup (depending on how sweet you like it)

Stir rhubarb and maple syrup together in a small saucepan. Stir over medium low heat for 5 minutes, simmer for about 3 more minutes or until the rhubarb has broken down and a pourable sauce forms. Taste and sweeten as desired.

Wonderful topping for ice cream, pancakes, oatmeal, etc. This recipe could easily be made in large batches and canned.

We never spray our produce and practice soil health principles to create healthy and yummy produce.

*http://foodfacts.mercola.com/rhubarb.html and http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/2056/2 (the ads on this site are not so good for the eyes, but I thought I’d let you know where I got this information)