Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Even though we have a daily routine that includes milking our cows

 and feeding all the animals on the farm, today was anything but ordinary.

During fall or spring calving season, 

it's not unusual to have from one to three calves born.

Today we had a total of nine new babies!

It was anything but a routine afternoon  as Ryan and I worked to

give each new calf a bottle of colostrum and vaccinations to prevent illness.

I'm thankful for these kind of interruptions of our daily routine

that bring smiles to our dairy farmer faces

                                                                                  and

                                         for the new crop of calves for Hattie  to help  feed!

Dairy Soup Solution

Whether you're thinking about Superbowl Sunday, a cure for January's bone chilling weather like  we've been experiencing  or what to do with a few left over baked potatoes, Dairymom Jonna  Schutte of Iowa has shared a perfect  solution with Chunky Baked Potato Chowder at
 Dairy Makes Sense.


Chunky Baked Potato Chowder

Ingredients

2 slices bacon
1 cup chopped onion (about 1)
1/2 cup chopped carrots (about 1)
1/2 cup chopped celery (about 2 stalks)
4 cups lowfat 1% milk
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
3 Russet potatoes, baked and cut into bite sized pieces

Preparation

In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove from pan, crumble and set aside. Add onion, carrot and celery to bacon drippings and sauté over medium heat until onions are soft (about 10 minutes).

Meanwhile, in a large pot over medium heat, whisk together milk, flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and stir for one minute. Reduce heat and slowly add in cheese, stir constantly until melted. Add cooked onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes; stir well. Heat until all ingredients are warm. Serve with a sprinkling of bacon crumbles.

Variation: For a thicker, creamier soup, puree 2 cups chowder in blender. Pour back into pot and stir thoroughly.

 

 

Friday Night Fiesta

Even though we work on the dairy farm seven days a week, I  always look forward to Friday night. I'm all about celebrating Friday nights with an easy to prepare meal that doesn't require a lot of cooking time or dishpan hands!  Fiesta  Rice Skillet Dinner fits this criteria perfectly!

Fiesta Rice Skillet Dinner originated from Miss Arkansas Rice-Jillian Harper in 2005. Jillian promoted rice in a variety of ways at many activities and functions in Benton County  to inform consumers that Arkansas is number one in rice production and to educate others about rice production and the nutritional value of rice. Fiesta Rice Skillet Dinner is featured as a Dairymom approved recipe along with other tasty nutritious recipes at http://www.midwestdairy.com.

Fiesta Rice Skillet Dinner

3 cups cooked rice (brown or white)
1 lb ground beef**
1 cup onion,diced
1 can black beans,drained and rinsed
1 can whole kernel corn with red and green peppers,drained
1 cup mild picante sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1 cup shredded  Monterey Jack Cheese
1 can Rotel

Brown onion and ground beef together. Drain any excess fat. Add rice,beans,Rotel,corn,picante sauce,and chili powder. Stir to mix well. Heat thoroughly. Remove from heat and sprinkle with cheese. Serve hot as entre,a chili with Fritos or a wrap.

** Options: Substitute 1 lb ground turkey or 1 lb boneless,skinless diced chicken with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in skillet to brown meat.

                              I can't think of a better way to celebrate Rice Month and Friday night!

Dairymom's Paper Power

With the Christmas gifts unwrapped and most of the holiday festivities passed, this dairymom found herself  in the farm office this afternoon facing a badly neglected pile of work on the desk and stacks of papers to be filed. It has become one of my jobs to be in charge of the "papers". The dairy farm requires a variety of different supplies and services which generates many paper receipts. I'm striving to get everything filed before the end of the year in preparation for the new tax year.  Being in charge of the papers is an unending,thankless job but it is an important organizational task for our family farm just as it is for any business.  The upside to my job is the power that I have when anyone needs a paper!

Dairy farming requires a large investment in land,buildings,equipment and feed for the animals. Many family farms that may include multiple generations are organized as corporations for business tax purposes. Even though the look of the family farm and the technologies have changed, we are still committed to providing safe,high-quality milk by taking good care of our cows and land.

I'm already getting excited about the new box of file folders I'll be opening in just a few days when we celebrate  the New Year!

Dairymoms Create and Model Entrepreneurial Style

Dairy farms produce much more than milk--we generate economic activity in our rural communities and invest time and effort into making our communities the best places to live and raise our families. After looking at ways that we might diversify our farming business, Ryan and I decided to launch Anglin Beef. We've always had beef cattle but wanted to try selling packaged frozen beef from our farm to local customers. You will find that there are many farmers who wear the entrepreneurial hat with great style and success.

Hats seem to be a perfect marketing and advertising tool for a farmer so we enlisted our dairymom friend Becky to design a few for our faithful customers. It's the perfect example of entrepreneurial style. Becky lives and works on her family dairy farm in Oklahoma but also is the business owner of Becky's Embroidery Designs. Becky fits the definition of an entrepreneur perfectly--someone who starts a business and is good at finding ways to make money. Modeling my new pink custom embroidered Anglin Beef hat brought smiles and laughter from Becky and our husbands.

I think it is interesting to find out why an entrepreneur selects a particular business. Becky shared with me how she started her embroidery business in 1999. After selling a group of cows, Kenneth and Becky were looking for an investment. Because sewing had always been something she enjoyed, Becky purchased a twelve spool Toyota embroidery machine to begin her embroidery business. Basically, if you need it embroidered, Becky can do the job! Becky organizes and manages her time to keep both customers and her family happy while working on the farm. Just thinking about those twelve different thread spools on that machine and the absolute mess that I could create convinces me that Anglin Beef is the business for me!

Whether it's dairy farming,beef farming or embroidery projects, I would agree completely with what Becky's business card states at the bottom--All things are possible through our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark 10:27! Hope you have a great day!

Birthday Cake Traditions

As I was mixing birthday cake batter for my oldest son's birthday, I thought about the many birthday cakes my mother-in-law baked for our family and friends during her lifetime. For every birthday in our family, she baked an angel food cake and iced it with seven minute frosting. When my sons were little, she would make miniature angel food cakes, frost them and allow the boys to decorate them with sprinkles and eat them with their fingers. Icing would be from head to toe and anything they touched. As the boys grew older, the angel food cake was an expected part of every birthday. Since the passing of my mother-in-law, I now proudly continue the birthday cake tradition. Cody's requested cake today was Chocolate Sheath Cake. I hope that I don't get the request for the seven minute frosting because although it is beautiful to look at, I'm more of a powdered sugar and cream cheese icing kind of dairymom! Chocolate Sheath Cake is a family favorite and a great cake for any occasion.

Chocolate Sheath Cake

Ingredients:

1 stick butter

1/2 cup Crisco

4 Tbsp cocoa

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. soda

2 eggs slightly beaten

Bring butter,Crisco,cocoa and water to a rapid boil. Pour over the sugar and flour and beat well.

Add buttermilk and soda, vanilla and eggs. Beat, then bake at 400 degrees F. in metal loaf pan for 20 minutes. Cover with icing.

Icing:

1 stick butter

4 Tbsp cocoa

6 Tbsp milk

1 cup pecans (optional)

1 tsp. vanilla

3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Bring butter,cocoa, and milk to boil. Add the powdered sugar,vanilla and pecans. Beat well and pour over cake while hot.

Just before serving, add a great big dip of vanilla ice cream!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Last week I was presented with my very own milk can as a remembrance for serving the past two years as Arkansas Farm Bureau Women's Committee Chairwoman. I am thankful for all the Farm Bureau Women that I not only call my friends but for the fact that we share our passion for agriculture through promotion and education in our communities across Arkansas!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful today for all the women working in and for agriculture from production on the farm to promoting and marketing of the safe,affordable and abundant food supply that American farmers produce. Can you imagine a world without dedicated women?

Dairymom's Diet Dash

Get ready,get set,go...it's the new year and for probably the last twenty years, I begin the diet dash to lose weight after the holidays. With age, I am really geting a lot wiser and a bit more serious about the negatives of being what some describe as "too fluffy" or "heavy" or "overweight" or just plain "fat"( My sweet Mother also called it "baby fat")! I could probably be considered an expert of knowing how to diet, I just need to execute the plan. I do have a plan and this is what I have done so far. I first stepped on the scales--that took tremendous courage but a necessary step in beginning the plan. The second step is to keep a food diary. This is a great tool for me because it keeps me honest and it helps me to realize why and when I fall off the diet wagon. I am now ready to throw out all the Christmas and holiday goodies. I am really going for the long term changes to my eating habits, so I am going to use the DASH diet plan. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension(DASH). Although this diet was developed to stop hypertension(high blood pressure), it is recommended for overall health by the American Heart Association and the National Cancer Institute. The eating plan is rich in low fat dairy foods, fruits and vegetables and low in fat,saturated fat and cholesterol. You can find out more about this diet at http://www.dashdiet.org/. If you are considering a diet plan of any kind, check first with your family doctor. Nothing comes easy but good health is worth what ever the plan requires. I am dashing on to good health, how about you?