Morgan's Christmas Saddle

Christmas is always my favorite holiday. From the good food to the family gatherings to, yes, the gifts. This year was no exception. My kids are just begining to understand that there is something to the festivities, in fact, my son (the middle child at a year and a half) was mostly just overwhelmed. But my neice, Morgan, reminded me of just how special a time of year it really is. Morgan has cerebral palsy and is a cowgirl to the bone. She loves horse anything and if you can listen fast enough, she will tell you all about it. The idea of a saddle just for her has been on her Grandpa's mind for quite some time. We looked into having one made, and really couldn't afford that... so Grandpa bought a kids saddle and they modified it with the back from a specially made wheel chair that was hers. A few bolts and straps and Morgan has her own saddle, with modifications fit for any cowgirl in her place. Of course, there are risks to anything equine and Morgan's parents are aware of them, but the smiles you get from this little girl are priceless, when you see her horseback. And for my two cents, letting her have a piece of her dream, now that is the best gift of all.

My thought for the day, the G's of Good Beef

You know, we raise some very good beef here on this ranch. But, I was thinking, we really can't take a whole lot of credit; God, grass and genetics make some mighty, tasty beef - we are just lucky to be here and eat a lot of it!
Enjoy some beef this holiday season, we are lucky to have ranchers who do their best to bring us the very safest beef in the world. And get creative, try some local beef from your neighbor, some oat-finished Herefords from the folks down the road, some grain-finished 4-H beef from your neighbors kids; beef really has a lot of different flavors, you could even become a 'Beef Connoisseur' (picture some swishing and swallowing of tasty beef, "um, yes, some grassy undertones, with a slightly dandelionish aftertaste, yes, this is grass-fed from New Mexico.")

Green Chile Stew

This is my husbands recipe, and my favorite thing on a cold winter day, I have tried it with meat other than pork and it works with everything! Try it out, with any game meat; javalina, pork (wild or domestic), elk, venison, beef, etc.

4-5 potatoes, diced
1 lb stew meat
garlic salt
1/2 to 1 cup diced roasted green chile, more if you like it hot, less if you don't (ask if you have a question on this!)
2 small cans tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
water

boil the potatoes in salt water until barely tender (you will cook them more, so this step can be skipped unless the meat you are using is really tender, and then cook the potatoes all the way).
fry stew meat (use a bit of oil in the pan if needed only to keep it from sticking, you don't want any extra oil.)
After your meat is browned, add the green chile and garlic salt, salt and pepper. Add potatoes and about a cup of water to de-glaze the pan and get all the good browned bits up. Add the tomato sauce and simmer over low heat for an hour or longer if meat is tough, just until everything gets tender and serve with tortillas and enjoy!

Barbary Sheep

Had a question about Barbary Sheep meat...yum!
I have heard from several folks that Barbary Sheep aren't that good but, BOY, do I disagree, it is probably some of my very favorite game meat!!! It is mild and similar to antelope, I think, not too tough and easy to substitute in most beef or elk recipes.
I think the trick is to take care of the meat when you process it, I really take my time and make sure there is no hair, clean up around where you shot it, no blood, etc. Then I de-bone it all and try and take off most of the membranes (so you do end up with some small pieces). The stuff that is too small I just made stew meat out of. Then, I butterfly the steaks into about 1/2 thick and double paper wrapped it and into the freezer it went!
Recipes - I think our favorite way to eat Barbary Sheep is to chicken-fry it (see below) but also, it is good marinaded (one hour, all day, either is fine) in lime juice and olive oil with lots of pepper, garlic and a little rosemary (fresh or dry) and then grilled. Depending on how much you cook, just put enough marinade (about 1 part lime to 2 parts olive oil) into a ziplock bag to cover it up and put your meat in and set it in the fridge and yummy!
Interestingly, the shoulder steaks were nice and tender, but the round steaks were tougher (usually the other way around with beef, elk and venison in my experience!)
Enjoy!

New Mexico Red Chile

Snowing outside means warm food inside. A pot of beans on and Chile Colorado, red chile, will warm the soul! I make mine using dried red chile pods, just break off the stem, cover with water and bring to a boil (12-14) if you dont want it too hot, shake out the seeds. Cover, and make sure it doesn't dry out! Steam gently for about twenty minutes, then let cool. Put the pods and a little of the water you steamed the chile in (reserve the rest) into the blender or food processor. Grind to a paste. Meanwhile, get about 1-2 TBSN lard or oil hot and add a TBSP of flour. Brown and add the chile water, stir until well mixed and add the chile paste. A dash of salt, pepper and garlic salt and simmer away! Everyone makes it different, and different ways for different things. Chile powder works just as well, this is just the way I like to make it!
Either way, enjoy it, chile is good food and New Mexico has the best.

Christmas Cookies

12,001 reasons why I love Christmas. This is at the top of my Christmas cookie list, although my grandmother's brown butter cookies were so amazing. I have found other recipes but nothing comes close to hers...let me know if you know a good brown butter cookie! As you make cookies, keep this one in mind!

The Holidays, good food, lots of it, and the stuff we never make the rest of the year. The local flavors here are the best. Biscochitos, empanadas, posole, you name it. I am just a gringo, and wouldn't pretend to tell how it is supposed to be but most of my recipes are from my friends in the know and this is a great Biscochito recipe. Yummy!


Biscochitos
2 cups shortening
1 ½ cup sugar
2 eggs
2 TBSP vanilla
2 tspn anise seed (I use more)
6 cups flour
3 tspn baking powder
½ cup water
1 tsp salt
cream sugar and shortening, add anise and beaten eggs. Sift dry ingredients and mix in, add water. Roll out and cut with fancy cookie cutter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake 400 for 12 min.

Truffles

Nothing says holiday time like homemade candy. Divinity, fudge, brittles, you name it. For me, my specialty is truffles. They are pretty darn easy, and taste so good. I actually get asked for them....but how can you go wrong with good chocolate, butter and cream?! So make a batch up, put your special twist by adding a flavoring you like (my favorite is Baileys Irish Cream) and tadah - someone knows you love them!

Handmade Truffles
8 oz of bittersweet chocolate baking bars (I use Ghirardelli)
1/3 c heavy cream
6 TBSP butter, cut in small pieces
1 TBSP coffee or other flavorings (Amaretto, Baileys)

simmer cream in saucepan, add butter and stir til melted. Add chocolate, remove from stove and stir until completely melted and smooth. Add coffee or other flavorings. Pour into shallow pan and refrigerate until firm, roll into small balls and coat in cocoa, or chopped nuts or powdered sugar.
(If making raspberry truffles, add 1/3 c strained raspberry jam to cream when simmering.)

Jerky

Ahh, that good stuff. A little short on cash? The best gifts are ones handmade - I remember our family making a whole passel of hand-made candles when I was a kid. Not only did our family and friends get these great candles, but our whole family did it together and here I am twenty something years later, still remembering with a smile.
Back to my title - jerky. It is so good, and just think how cool it would be to give/get a bag full of this special stuff from your hunting trip. Not only is it healthy, but you get to visit about the great trip with all your recipients and bring in the whole family for a holiday time to make the gifts. You can have your processor slice jerky meat for you and you can even freeze it until you are ready to make it. Or, you can do it all yourself. I slice it about 1/8 inch thick, too thin and it looses some flavor, too thick and it is chewy forever.
You can all make the cards (feature a picture of your hunting trip!)
The best jerky is air dried - hang it on a porch where the canines and others can't get to it, (we have zero humidity so my experience is this works great, but it probably won't for all! A dehydrator is fine, so is the oven with the pilot light on.)
soak about 3-5 pounds meat, sliced in a large bowl that all the meat will fit in. Put in a couple cups water, with about 1/2 cup kosher salt, lots of black pepper and a dash of garlic salt. Start with a little less and stick your finger in it and taste it. If it needs more salt and pepper, add it, if not, toss your meat in!
Soak for an hour and then pour into a colander so that the excess water runs off. I let it sit in the sink a few minutes, at least. Have your string ready, good cotton string, sturdy enough to hold a few pounds, and lay slices of meat over the string. If using the string method, you might lay out newspaper underneath where the meat is, becuase it will continue to drip and a few layers of newspaper will make cleanup easier. (Keep an eye on it, though, if it gets too wet, it will dry to the floor and make a mess). Or lay flat on dehydrator shelves or onto wire racks on cookie sheets. Dry until it just cracks when you break a piece.
Write down in your little recipe book what you like and what you didn't, so that next year you have a great starting place (Less salt, more pepper, cut thicker, whatever!)
We love to add a few spoons full of red chile flakes (chile pequin) or a few roasted green chiles that were run through the food processor or blender.
A note: fat will go rancid, so make sure and trim all the fat off your jerky meat.

Holiday Game Recipe

Been saving that deer tenderloin? Depending on how many you feed, (I think a fairly good starting place is about a third to a half pound of meat per person, we like lots of meat) keep those tenderloins whole and serve them up for your Holiday Feast! Elk, Venison, Grass-fed Beef, you name it!
Sides, it will often get the whole family involved in the cooking process. And, there is nothing funner than firing up the grill in the snow!

Marinade
a can of pinapple chunks
Juice of 1-2 limes (or a few squirts from the little green plastic lime!)
salt and pepper
a dash of rosemary, garlic salt (or the real stuff, fresh garlic is great, just dice a clove up), paprika, seasoned salt

1-3 tenderloins

You may need to double the marinade if you are doing more than this.

Mix your marinade in a plastic tub large enough for the tenderloins to fit into. Let meat set for at least 30 minutes, maybe an hour or two. To grill, I take off the chunks, they will just fall in anyway.
Get your grill good and hot and set a few small dampened chunks of wood (ok, a word of caution here, fruit wood is great, oak is pretty strong flavored stuff, mesquite is available at most stores) into the coals for a good smokey flavor. Set your tenderloins on and keep on eye on them. Last time I did this, the deer cooked about 14 minutes, I rotated it around about 3 times to get it grilled on the outside and moved to the back of the grill off of the heat so it smoked, and I got a good medium temperature on it (pink and moist in the center). My good friend, Bill, at the Timbers at Chama, says the most important thing is to not let it dry out... (if you want great NM hunting, check them out http://www.thetimbersatchama.com/)
Let set a few minutes befor you carve and then set that plate in the center of the table and slice off thin slices of heaven for everyone!
I love my meat medium rare, that said, I rarely get it cooked there. I am impatient, etc. and so just know that trying recipes a few times is the best way to master it.

Chicken Fried Game, Beef

Chicken Fried Steak, it is the meal I eat with the most feeling of comfort food associated. It is good, wholesome, tasty, easy to change up and did I mention, good? We chicken fry elk, deer (venison), beef, Barbary sheep (oh, so good!) - you name it, we chicken fry it!
You can do lots to make it your own, serve it up with green chili, put in a touch of lemon pepper to your flour mixture, etc. I dare say, almost anything can be chicken fried... and taste good.

My fondest memories are of Moms Chicken Fried Steak, I like mine, but her's is just that bit better because, well, she made it! So, here it is, and just in getting this written down, I learned a few things (like she uses water with her eggs, I use milk!) who knew, maybe that is her secret to making it the best!

Mom's Chicken Fried Steak and gravy
(most of my recipes are for a healthy family of 4 - try 'em out and see if it works and then adjust as you need)
2-3 lbs of meat, cut into steaks, about 1/2 thick (If thicker, just flatten them a little more)
1 cup flour
1 or 2 eggs
a few tablespoons milk, plus a cup or two for the gravy
2 TBSP oil
salt and pepper to taste
Tools: frying pan, cutting board, meat mallet or large knife, bowls or pie plates, fork or spatula

Pound meat until about 1/3 inch thick, using mallet or back-side of knife (hit meat repeatedly, moving across steak, then turn again so you are making a criss-cross pattern) turn over and do the same. Don't pound until you are blue in the face! Just get it good and tender and give it a try. If it didn't work, try again - it is a simple method but one that takes a little time getting comfortable with.
Put flour into bowl large enough to lay steaks in (a pie plate works great) and add a little salt and pepper. Break eggs into other pie plate and whisk until one color with about 2 TBSN milk.
Get your oil hot in frying pan in a medium to medium hot stove. don't let it smoke, this is a little too hot!
Take a steak, and lay into flour. Then, using fork, dip into egg mixture. Shake off, and back into the flour mix. Lay into hot oil, careful not to spash yourself! Repeat until your pan is full.
Turn when tanned. As done, take out and fill your frying pan until all your meat is cooked.
After done, add a bit of oil if there isn't any left in the pan. Add about 2 TBSP of flour from your flour mix and stir into the hot oil. Turn down the heat on the stove, and add 1-2 cups milk and mix into the oil/flour mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring the whole time and serve it up!
Umm, umm good. If it doesn't turn out don't worry - the mistakes arent too bad, and I have been making gravy for 25 years and it still gets a little lumpy or thin sometimes!