Christmas Cookies, "Work Christmas Party", and Run Like No One Is Chasing Me!

 Hello again to old friends and new!

It has been on my heart and mind to continue with blog entries as often as possible.  So, here I go!  I LOVE to bake as you may know and especially for the holidays!  A friend asked recently as I posted a photo of "Cookie #12", "What do you do with all of these cookies?"  Well.. here's what I do:

• Platter for where ever we go for an event
• Plate for each local neighbor - I typically do this on Christmas Eve Eve!
• Each of our pastors receive a plate. 
• Small box to each of my cousins, aunts/uncles, siblings, parents
• We ship a big box to far away family and some friends
• Oh and I eat them. More than I should, probably? haha  They are just so tasty!  

Here's a beautiful platter I took to my sister's for Thanksgiving!  

I made a bunch of flavors since then and I have 6-8 more kinds to go if I'm really ambitious!  I think a cookie that is creeping up to be one of my top faves is a new cookie for me as of last year - Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip!  It has big chocolate chips and mini-chocolate chips! I'll keep you posted!  Here's a link to the recipe at BunsInMyOven.com Of course I doubled it but should have tripled it - well except it wouldn't have fit into my mixing bowl!

As you may know, our Affiliate Partners are all over the USA & Canada.  As I mentioned previously, Homestead Miranda works the phones and completes a lot of admin items but does so remotely.  Since Homestead McKenna is local to us and works at our home office in her own space, I decided we needed to have an official "Work Christmas Party"!  I remember old work Christmas parties were so fun!  Usually everyone brought food to share and maybe there was a white elephant gift exchange or a secret Santa.  Yesterday, after chatting with Homestead Phil prior, I announced to Homestead McKenna that we planned on taking some time during her shift to have a "Work Christmas Party"!  I said I'd make some delish food, we'd feast, and enjoy some time together.  She was so excited and planned to wear festive clothes - which I've been doing since Thanksgiving! haha  You probably hardly recognize us without our blue Rent The Chicken shirts on! 

• I made this Short Rib Instant Pot recipe from OhSweetBasil.com  We purchased the ribs right from our local farm friends.  If you don't buy direct from a farmer or from a farmers market. Please consider it!
  
• I use this bbq sauce recipe instead of the one they have in their recipe. Of course I double it. Combine all ingredients in a stove top pot and bring to a low simmer for five minutes. As much as I LOVE Sweet Baby Rays.... this is a million times better!
  

1 c ketchup
1/3 c brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c vinegar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp paprika

• This AMAZING Gouda based Mac & Cheese recipe. I love it! It's not my go to and I make it only for special occasions like a Work Christmas Party and in my cast iron pan of course! ButterBeReady.com
• I also made this delish go to Cornbread recipe again in a cast iron skillet - BlessThisMessPlease.com
  

WOW! My belly is FULL.... I really should go for a long-ish run today but the full belly is delaying my desire to run.  It is nearly 60F outside though! Decisions Decisions!

The saying "run like someone is chasing me" is not true for me.  I literally run like no one is chasing me If they were, they'd for sure catch me! haha  I participated in my 5th half marathon of 2021 and ever for me in November.  My Mom has been a great pit crew for me for a few races this year and this race was no different!  My cousin Eric carted his mom, my Aunt Mary, and my Mom for the entire race where the trail crossed over a road.  They had a great time and it was super encouraging me to have them cheering for me!  I share the following collage to show off my Rent The Chicken gear and my lovely sparkly skirt that was gifted to me recently. It's not my kind of style at all but I love it!  I receive so many compliments on it!!  The second photo isn't very clear but I see so much strength and determination in my entire being in the photo!  The third photo is of my pit and support crew!  YAY!  And finally... my final race metal of 2021! I participated in 12 races in 2021. 5 half marathons, 2 5ks, 2 10ks, a 100 mile relay, 1 miler, and a 10 miler. 16 months ago, I was excited to make it a mile! As I mentioned previously, I do walk / run intervals so I'm not running the entire distance.  But my foot crosses the finish line every time whether it's a training run or a race just like someone who runs the whole thing.  Praise be to God!

Seize the day!  Reach out to a friend or family member that you haven't chatted with in awhile. Enjoy those around you.  Bake or buy a batch of cookies and give them to a neighbor just because!  Thanks for reading!  You are appreciated!

Creamy Garlic Tomato Soup!

I LOVE making soup in the winter! I make so much at one time that we eat it for days! Or I give some away :) This week, I made Creamy Garlic Tomato Soup based on The Prairie Homestead's Recipe.

Creamy Tomato Garlic Soup

• 2 large cans puree tomatoes (you can use crushed or diced but I like a smoother soup)
• 8 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup chopped onion (again due to texture, I chop these in the food processor)
• 4 tsp minced garlic
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 6 cups whole milk OR half and half or combination of the two or 2% (really whatever milk I have on hand but the whole milk / half & half helps to thicken the soup)
• 4 tsp brown sugar (6 tsp sucanat is what the original recipe calls for but I don't have that on hand)
• 4 tablespoons dried basil
• 2.5 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Shredded Parmesan cheese (for garnish)

Melt butter in a large stock pot (I use 6 qt) then add the onion and garlic until tender. Stir in the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes until it starts to brown some.

In another pot, heat the tomatoes to simmer.

In the flour mixture, add the brown sugar, salt, pepper, and basil. Pour in milk semi-quickly but slow enough to not have clumps of flour. Cook and stir constantly over medium heat until it simmers and begins to thicken. Add heated tomatoes and gently stir. Continue to heat for 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Puree the tomatoes in a blender or food processor. (If you have a hand/immersion blender, you can skip this step. Read on for details.) Place them in a separate saucepan, and bring them to a simmer.

I always top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and often also make homemade garlic croutons. I didn't make the time for the croutons this time so I used crackers instead. I did; however, make the time to deliver some to my friend Carrie as I'm being purposeful with my time AND it's her favorite!

Meal Planning Update - (Or lack thereof!)

Last week I rambled on about my hopeful plan of starting to meal plan including using up that 7.5# ham! Homestead Phil was out of town for 4 days so I lived on tortilla pizzas and cereal. OOPS! Here's how we munched on that ham for a week:
1. Homestead Phil participated in our church's Men's Annual Chili Cook-off. Chili is his thing so he looks forward to participating every year! It seems to be different every time he makes it so there will not be a recipe provided. :) This year conveniently had ham in it! haha

2. Scalloped Potatoes and Ham based on The Pioneer Women's recipe.

• 3 pounds Russet Or Yukon Gold Potatoes, Washed Thoroughly 
• 2 Tablespoons Butter 
• 1 whole Yellow Onion, Diced 
• 3 cups Diced Ham 
• 3 cups milk (I used 2%) 
• 1/4 cup Flour Black Pepper To Taste 
• 1 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese 
• 1 cup Grated Monterey Jack Cheese 
• Chopped Parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large casserole dish. Dice ham. Chop onion and slice potatoes thin. (I used my food processor for both.) While food processing, heat butter in a large skillet. Add onions and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until they start to turn translucent. Add ham and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a microwave-safe container and nuke for a minute or so, until no longer cold. Whisk in flour and black pepper until totally combined. Set aside. (You may add salt, but cheese and ham are salty, so add sparingly.)
Combine the two grated cheeses. Set aside.
Layer 1/3 of the potato slices in the buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the ham/onion mixture, then 1/3 of the cheese, then pour on 1/3 of the cream mixture.
Repeat this twice more, ending with a sprinkling of cheese and a pouring on of the rest of the cream mixture. I'm heavy handed with the cheese so I needed more than the 2 cups of cheese. It wasn't "au gratin" style as it was more scalloped than cheesy. Cover dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes at least, or until bubbly and hot.
Cut into squares and serve. Sprinkle on chopped parsley if you'd like! (I didn't!)

3. Ham Potpie based on my step mom's recipe. It's one of those "Some of this. Some of that." recipes so I won't be sharing that today but it was delish! It finished up the ham though as we also had a few ham sandwiches and ham and eggs through the week :)

I did save the ham bone and didn't boil it very long for the ham potpie so I may toss that bone in the freezer to make more broth another day!

Meal Planning - I'm not great at it!

On Monday, at 6:30pm, I pulled a 7.5# ham from the freezer. I didn't have a plan but I quickly realized that we would NOT be having ham for dinner as it was going to take some time to defrost and then take about 2 hours to heat after defrosting.

I ended up making this DELICIOUS Buffalo Mac and Cheese recipe! A few notes:

• I forgot I am a blogger so I didn't take any photos
• I doubled the recipe except for the hot sauce because I don't really like spicy foods
• I used my fancy huge skillet from Pampered Chef similar to the one found here that can be used in the oven
• I didn't use the recipe's Planko recommendation and just liberally sprinkled Progressive Italian Breadcrumbs on top before baking

We still didn't eat until 9pm.

I cooked the ham the next night again not starting it until well after 6pm leaving dinner to be at 8pm and I failed at making any sides! We ended up with hot ham sandwiches. Legit ham but sandwiches nonetheless. Ironic that most people have ham sandwiches on the last day of finishing off a ham and I made them on the first night? :) I have high hopes for making three ham related recipes in the next few days plus we're having a pot luck at church on Sunday so I'm sure I'll take one of them!

• Cheesy Ham Potato Soup - Note: I don't boil the halves of potatoes separately. I chop all of them and pull out what I consider to be the quantity to match the halves. It cuts the cooking time down.
• Hearty Ham Potato Casserole - I've been making this one for a number of years and it is also DELISH! I double the recipe and we eat it for days!
• Ham & Scalloped Potatoes - I haven't made this one yet but I'm digging up recipes as someone recommended for me to make it when I posted about my ham dilemma above on Facebook. I'm up for the challenge but there are A LOT of ways to make it. With or without cheese? With a rue or without? I think I'm going to make it for dinner tonight once I find a recipe - It's only 6pm. Plenty of time for those raw potatoes to bake!

I've done some vague meal planning in the past. I think I should get back to it. It narrows down the grocery shopping and it cuts down on my brain power usage on a daily basis. Plus, Homestead Phil gets hungry about this time of the evening. It would be nice if I had some dinner ready sometime around now rather than at 8-9pm!

As a side note, I also have a running update! I went running (you know I use that term loosely!) twice this week. I stayed with my previous ratio of run 15 seconds / walk 30 seconds. I also used my new shoes with my old "old lady" inserts. PLUS, the dirt road near our homestead that received new rocks recently has now evened back out without large rocks randomly about. My times were a bit slower than my recent ratio but I'm still pleased. I think I'll stick with the 15/30 ratio for at least another week before changing my ratios again. Tomorrow is my "long run" of 3 miles! Praying my calves hold up and I can keep up this new hobby!

PS - I'll do better about taking pics for my blog throughout the week!

In the news and more!

Has it been a week already since my last entry? Time sure does fly when you're having fun!!

Two big news segments hit this week for Rent The Chicken!
1. Our episode on the Vegetable Gardening's show was published! It was a fun interview with Mike the Gardener! Click here to watch on YouTube

2. THE TODAY SHOW WROTE ABOUT US! Full disclosure: Our awesome journalist friend, Terri, works for Today.com and hooked us up! She wrote the article and then the Today Show, Today Parents, etc. What a blessing! Here's a link to the article: Curious about raising chickens? Thisi company lets you rent hens for your backyard

AND....even bigger news! Our Girl moved in officially this week! We could not even be more excited and proud! Thank you for your support! We had a surprise Welcome Home party for her upon our arrival and boy was she surprised!

AND... I made my first ever ice cream cake following the directions from This Recipe. We can't publicly post her name or photos of her at this time.

Simple Pancake Recipe!

Hi all!

This Simple Pancake Recipe has been provided by Homestead RayLee who provides Rent The Chicken to Middle Tennessee!

1 Rent The Chicken Farm Fresh Egg (Ok.. you can likely use any egg but fresh eggs are the best!)
1 very ripe banana

In a bowl, smash the banana and add the egg. Mix until the two are combined. Cook like you would a regular pancake. We're big fans of cast iron skillets so we like to cook ours in the cast iron. Top with butter and syrup!

Enjoy the best pancake you've ever had!

Pizza Crust Recipe!

Hey y'all! (You can tell that I'm still recovering from my Nashville trip!)

This low carb and egg based pizza crust has been provided by Homestead Brandon & Alyssa who provide Rent The Chicken to the Laurel Highlands Area of Pennsylvania.

4 eggs
4 oz softened cream cheese
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons parmesan cheese
Garlic salt
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything until smooth with hand mixer. Pour onto a baking sheet and smooth out (it will be a bit lumpy, no matter). Bake at 350F until golden (about 35 min). Top how you would like and bake for another 10.

Enjoy!