Panini Turkey Sandwiches

Posted on by November 24, 2018

Kelley, with help from Mary, made this following a recipe on her telephone and improvisions while I was working on Turkey and Sausage Gumbo for later. It is included here so one day we can remember how she and Mary made them.

  1. Spread cajun spicy mustard on Jewish Rye bread
  2. Placed three thickish 1″x1.5″ slices of Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese on each slice of bread so there would be cheese on both sides of the meat.
  3. Added turkey breast meat and put the other bread slice with cheese over it.
  4. On mine they smeared on leftover turkey dressing and on theirs they put the dressing plus Mary’s Ina-Cognac gravey.
  5. Buttered both sides with melted butter
  6. Grilled each sandwich separately in the panini press until they were lightly toasted. The cheese had also melted and the whole thing was much thinner.

Tasted good while reminding me of a grilled cheese sandwich. The turkey flavor was lost in the flavors of the cheese, rye bread and butter. Mary and Kelley really like their creation.

Our 1st Thanksgiving at the Farm

Posted on by November 25, 2018

This was our first holiday since moving to Sundown Farms from Houston. It was also the first time in 8 years the family had gotten together for Thanksgiving as we did for many years. Along with the turkey, asparagus casserole, dressing, shrimp dip, and other sides, Mary fixed Texas Pecan Pie Pound Cake, a pumpkin cake with pecans topped with fresh whipped cream and ___. Continue reading →

Cornmeal Yeast Rolls

Posted on by November 21, 2018

CORNMEAL YEAST ROLLS from the Old Farmer’s Almanac here.

INGREDIENTS
1-1/4 cups cornmeal
1 cup boiling water
1 package (1 tablespoon) dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
3/4 cup scalded milk, cooled to lukewarm
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 teaspoons salt
4 to 5 cups flour

INSTRUCTIONS
Combine the cornmeal and boiling water in a large bowl. Stir well and let stand for about 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add the milk, butter, sugar, egg yolks, and salt to the cornmeal; blend well. Gradually add the yeast mixture to the cornmeal mixture, stirring well. Slowly add enough flour to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°F) for 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk. Punch the dough down and shape into 12 round rolls. Place on a greased baking sheet, cover, and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 30 to 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

YIELD:
Makes 1 dozen rolls.

Pecans Roasted

Posted on by November 19, 2018

11/18/2018 – Roasted these to use in the high fiber trail mix for the kids 2018 Thanksgiving visit.

Honey Roasted Pecans – This easy recipe with just those two ingredients was inspired by Kelly@TrialandEater. She advised the  rough proportions to be 1 tablespoon honey for each 1 cup pecan pieces.

What we did was as follows.

  1. Preheated oven, set for convection, to 350°F. Lined a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a small bowl mixed in warmed dark Texas honey with the whole halves and pieces until evenly coated.
  3. Convection baked for about 15 minutes.
  4. Let cool

To see if we like this we did 1C of pecans and measured about 1T of the dark thick honey. It was hard to get it evenly mixed in so zapped it about 15 seconds to warm up and then the honey could be distributed. Baked it 10 minutes and they were not sticky and seemed to be roasted. They were good so we fixed the large 4C batch for the trail mix.

We did not measure the honey for the 4C batch and added more than the first batch. Probably 2T/cup and after 10 minutes in the oven they were still sticky. Put them back in for 5 more minutes and they were still sticky but not as much when they cooled. Added they to the trail mix and they broke up well and lost the sticky. Nice addition to the trail mix.

Farm Snack loaded with fiber and protein

Posted on by November 19, 2018

11/18/2018 – Made this high-fiber trail mix for the kids 2018 Thanksgiving visit made with our pecans. Used a mixture of kernels from the following trees: Hastings, Cheyennes, Elloits, Stuarts, and Shawnees.

2C Kashi GOLean Original
2C Kashi GOLean Chocolate
2C dried cranberries, i.e. Craisins
1C Sunny Cranberry Trail Mix by Archer Farms from Target. Contains sunflower seeds, almonds and other nuts and seeds.
1-3/4 CM Golden Raisins cause that is all we had
5C Honey roasted pecans from the farm

That was inspired by Neily’s Healthier Lower Cal Trail Mix

  • 4 cups Kashi® GOLEAN Original cereal
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 cup almonds, slivered, sliced or coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup sunflower seeds or pistachios

Texas Pecan Pie Pound Cake

Posted on by November 15, 2023

11/1/2018 – This was the first cake Mary made in the new oven at the farm.  It was inspired by the recipe here. It was also made for Thanksgiving 2023 and enjoyed by all.

INGREDIENTS:

From here.
  • 4 sticks butter
  • 4 cups sugar
  • 4 cups flour (cake or all-purpose)
  • 8 large eggs
  • 8 oz. cream cheese
  • 2 to 3 tsp of vanilla flavoring
  • 1 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 jar of caramel ice cream topping

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Leave cream cheese, butter, and eggs out to reach room temperature.
  2. In mixer, cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time. Then, add flour, one cup at a time. Last, add vanilla flavoring.
  3. Grease and flour tube/bundt pan and pour in batter. Pour in batter first, then sprinkle pecans and brown sugar on top (a cup or a little more of each). Lightly press into the batter.
  4. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. (You may want to tent the top with foil to keep the nuts from scorching.) Then, increase the temperature to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Test the cake with a fork or wooden skewer to check for doneness. The utensil should come out dry and clean (no batter).
  5. Remove from the oven and allow a few minutes to cool before removing from the pan.
  6. When you invert onto a plate, you may lose a few nuts, but most will bake into the top layer of crust.
  7. Then, turn the cake onto another plate so that the nuts are on top. The original recipe calls to “Drizzle with a jar of caramel ice cream topping. Heat from the cake will make the caramel melt over the pecans.” That would have been far to much sugar for us so it was not added.

Huevos Rancheros Sauce ToTry

Posted on by June 7, 2024

From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYhnyp-xKTs&t=168s

Related Video: Refried Beans: https://youtu.be/iC5mR5s70bE

Huevos Rancheros

2 white onions
4 Roma tomatoes, cored
2 jalapenos
2 serrano peppers
6 garlic cloves (divided)
2 guajillo chilies finely chopped
Bacon grease or fry oil
Corn tortillas
Eggs
Shredded cheese, for sprinkling

Slice the onion in half, but be sure to keep the root ends intact.

Begin by preparing the vegetables: Core the tomatoes, slice the stems off the jalapeno and serrano peppers and remove the seeds, if desired to reduce the spiciness. Slice the onions in half, but keep the root intact.

Fill a large saucepan about halfway with water. Add all the vegetables and 4 of the garlic cloves. Bring to a boil for about 10 minutes or until the tomatoes are tender, adding more water if needed.

Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and let cool. Peel the outer skin of the tomatoes off and discard (soaking them in cold water beforehand, will release the skin easier). Cut the stems off the jalapeno and serrano peppers, and remove the seeds, if desired. Remove the root of the onions.

Add all the vegetables, along with the remaining 2 garlic cloves to a blender, and diced guajillo peppers and Salt and pepper, to taste. Blend until smooth.

Pour the contents in a saucepan to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and continue to cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, heat about 1 tablespoon of bacon grease or oil in a cast iron skillet. Add the tortillas and flip to coat with grease on both sides. Cook until they bubble up slightly and warm through on both sides. Be sure not to overcook until crispy.

Return to the skillet, adding more grease if needed, and add the egg(s). Fry until over-easy.

Take the tortillas and top with the egg followed by some sprinkled cheese and then the sauce. Top with more cheese. Serve immediately.