Vegetable Beef Soup from scratch in the Instant Pot

I can make 6+ quarts of stock in 90 minutes.   Is what sold me on the InstantPot.   I make alot of stock/broth here because I cook with it often.   I also don't have a particular recipe. It's roasted bones, veggies, herbs, water and go.

I've been checking out some instantpot cookbooks and find that many are just recreating stovetop or oven recipes.  Most rarely save much time and easily can ruin meat.   I'm on a FB group for newbie Instantpot owners and few can read directions and don't understand cooking meat.  

So do you need one?  If you don't have one don't go crazy trying to get one now.  Wait they will be cheap at yard sales or thrift shops soon.  I almost got one for $20 this fall.

I have one as I said for making stock/broth.  I also cook alot of large roasts  that need longer cooking times like chuck roasts, stew, pork shoulder and so on.   It's great for cooking dried beans and I've never been able to master that before .  Matt's happy because he loves chili with black beans.
it has a slow cooker feature which I have not used yet.   It has other features that I won't use like for yogurt since I have a yogurt maker or do it the old fashioned way in a thermos.   The rice feature I may use some time although we don't eat much rice here.  

I made vegetable beef soup today in under an hour which used to take all day to simmer away and here's the recipe.   I also include the super simple slow cooker and stove top way to do it.   Anyways I started soup at 11 and ate around noon.  Delicious.


Vegetable Beef Soup for the Instant Pot (or slow cooker or stove top).
I used 1 quart of beef stock as the base.  Make your own or purchase some.   Vegetable stock works great too.

1  package of 2 Meaty Soup Shanks.  OR used 1 pound of stew meat or a chuck roast cut into cubes.
1 quart of beef stock or vegetable stock.  Homemade or bought.
2 medium sized carrots, coarsely chopped
1 stalk of celery chopped
1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic crushed and chopped
1 bay leaf

Optional 1/2 cup dry red wine
Use your instant pot instructions for sauteing.
I cut the meat off the soup shank into small pieces to speed up the cooking.  I then used the saute option and browned the meat and bones in a bit of butter and bacon fat.  I browned it all well, then used some water to deglaze the bottom of the pot and scrape up all the little bits.

 Add in 1 quart of stock, the optional wine if you want to & the carrots, onion, garlic, and bay leaf.  
Pressure cook for 20 minutes.   Do quick release.   Remove the meat and bones.  Remove an extra meat from the bones and and pull apart any larger pieces.  Spoon out the marrow from the bones and add to the pot.  Remove bay leaf.
Add in
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/3 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen green beans- I cut them into smaller pieces easy to spoon up in soup.  
2 small russet potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes-this is optional I just decided to add a little potato for more of a "stew" kind of dish.

Pressure cook again 5 minutes and let do a natural release.  

Season soup to taste.    You can thicken it also to make it more of a stew.

I used a meaty soup shank because I had a package that the seal had broken on plus I like the extra gelatin the marrow bones add.  My knees appreciate it!

SLOW COOKER.   The meat really needs to be browned first then add all the first batch of ingredients to the pot and slow cook 6 or so hours until meat is tender.  The last 1/2 hour or so add in the peas, corn and beans, potatoes.
STOVE TOP, again brown the meat, deglaze the pan, add in all first batch of ingredients and simmer all day.  Add the corn, peas and beans the last 1/2 hour.

FREEZE in 1 cup serving amounts for quick small meals.   Excellent to have on hand when illness hits.  

EAT WELL  BE WELL

OUR FARMSTORE IS OPEN SATURDAY AND SUNDAY  12-2pm.   All winter!  

The Cazenovia Market scheduled this week was cancelled if you hadn't heard.

DRIVE UP for PICKUP!!!     I know many of you cringe at getting out of your car to get meat, who wants to drag the kids out or risk tripping on a snow ball......    Pre-order and when you drive up I will bring it to your car.   Order online with our store and pay online  OR just drop me a message with your order.  I will bring your bag to your car and you can pay from your cozy car.    Where do you get that?  Only here!

ALL ORDERS OVER $20 GET A FREE PACKAGE OF SPARE RIBS!   So you can do some oven roasting of them.

We have a great package this month.
The Creekside Oink and Moo  $150  it's about 16- 17 pounds of meat and fills a plastic grocery bag.
Includes the following:
Beef Short Ribs, Beef Chuck Roast, Meaty Soup Shanks, Shaved Steak, Pork chops (4 chops), Bacon, sweet or hot italian sausage, smoked ham steak, country ribs and 4 pounds of ground beef.

There is a smaller one featuring all the pork cuts from the 5 days of Pastured Pork recipes last week.
$65  Pork Shoulder Roast, Chorizo,  Sweet or Hot Italian sausage, pork chops (4 chops in a pkg), ground beef, ground pork and spare ribs
We also have a larger Beef pack for $200 and a Pork only one for $200  both have about 20 pounds of meat each.   You can combine the 2 for the Hibernation pack for $375 and we'll see you in March!

There are some smaller packages plus a full selection of our retail cuts.  Yes we have beef bones for stock making and a small amount of chicken backs too.    Limited supply so get them and get cooking.
We have managed to lower our price on our ground beef, sweet and hot italian sausage, and a few other cuts.  
on farm purchases this month receive 8% discount at the farm.

https://squareup.com/store/creekside-meadows-farm/

or email is   thefarmer@creeksidemeadowsfarm.com

DELIVERIES NEXT WEEK

Tuesday  from the farm west Tully, Fabius, Otisco, Lafayette, Jamesville, onondaga, navarino, camillus, skaneateles, pompey and areas in between.   No delivery fees just a minimum order of $50 for areas west of I-81.  

Wednesday afternoon   Manlius, Fayetteville, Chittenango    2-4pm drop off.   Veterans can pickup at Clear Path.

Fridays-  Cazenovia area to Morrisville.  

***Some deliveries will be postponed if weather is bad.  Sorry I don't take the truck out in bad weather but I will know the day before if things need to rescheduled.


FARM HAPPENINGS
Yes it's cold out and about to get even colder.   Luckily we may not get the much bigger storm hitting the coast but then again we might if it shifts.
The animals are all in good shape. Eating well and with good shelter so feel confident all is well as it can be.

We've been hearing of farms with frozen livestock waterers and it makes me really glad we never invested in some types  that are causing problems.  You may recall back a few years ago the water line from the well at the house under the road to the barn kept freezing in the winter.   So that was dug up and replaced I think a year and a half ago.  That water line is now larger, plastic and buried about 6 feet under!  The frost free hydrants are 4 feet and 6 feet deep also.  We hope it's enough considering it's recommended to be 3 feet deep as enough.   So those "hydrants" are a steel pipe down in the ground with a lever kind of on off handle above ground.   This we hook a small length of garden hose to and fill a 300-400 gallon poly stock tank.  It has a floating electric heater in it to keep the water warm.  So far we've had no icing at all of the tank and the cows get lots of warm water.
What many farmers use are a self waterer where the cows bump something so water fills a bowl for drinking. Those often have a thermostat in them which always goes bad, some can't find replacements for and so on.  That thermostat runs a heating element to keep it all from freezing.  Well when that isn't working you get frozen water and it ALWAYS happens when it's this cold.  Not just the waterer freezes but it will go down deep underground freezing all the water lines.   It can be replaced if anyone can dig it up in this weather.  
We decided not to buy those types of waterers.   Sure when they work they are great.  But come on things ALWAYS break at the worst times.  We like to have back up plans in place and a 3rd back up too!  Those waterers are $500 on up each and well cough cough..... we aren't spending that soon.

We've been spending some time planning the maple syrup enterprise expansion for this year.  It will involve almost tripling the amount of tree taps we will have and going up the hillside where we've been culling bad trees so the good maples can get more sun.  We have  only 2 small 12 oz jugs of maple syrup left from 2017!  

We hope you enjoy this blog and the recipes.  Send me your recipes and I'll try to feature some of them as we go along.  

Stay warm.  Eat well and nourish your body to fight off those cruddy bugs out there.

TOMORROW

SHAVED STEAK Quesadillas.   yum.  

Updates for January 3rd, 2018

So the New Year has begun and it's freaking cold out most days with more to come this weekend.   It's a tough time of year for any farmer.  I just saw my neighbor's cows be loaded up and leave the farm.  Either to an auction or sold to another farm.   I don't know the whole story but I'd guess the farm is closed.  I dread to see who takes over the land but probably better managed than lately.

It's tough here as I put on many layers to head out and take care of the critters.  Things are set up better than in years past but we still have to haul water to the pigs on the 4 wheeler.  Next year the pond WILL be finished and frost free hydrants set up at the winter pig area for watering them.

We've been chipping more wood for the cows bedding and bought some extra hay in for the pigs to eat and for their bedding.   All are doing well, and sunning themselves at the moment since it's all blue sky this morning.

It's tough on sales with zero income for 3 weeks now.  I have delivery options and farm store is open weekends now so I hope things improve soon.   A reminder what you put in your body is extremely important NOW as the dreaded illness season is here.   Put good food in and meat is very important part of winter nutrition.

A friend has had flu hit their household and she was saying she was so glad she had put up many quarts of chicken stock, chicken soup, beef stock, beef soup in her freezer.     She would get out her instant pot and put in a pork shoulder roast heavily seasoned for spiciness.   Did up a bunch of rice and put in in the fridge.  She said they have been eating well and recovering.
One favorite meal was hot sausage with veggies.  She freezes lots of veggies like I do.   She stir fried/sauteed some beans, peas, carrots, squash, onions, peppers, garlic and potatoes then added in cooked hot sausage.  Pulled out some hot sauce to clear the sinuses and dinner with lunch leftovers.   I made this during the fall at the farmers market for some of us vendors.   Yum.

If you don't have your own veggies frozen consider stocking up with some not just having fresh in the fridge.   Frozen keeps for when you need it.

So I'm going to stress to everyone get some stock made and in the freezer.   Have the pantry and freezer stocked for simple nourishing meals.

I have chicken backs and beef bones at the farm while supplies last.  
Recipe for stock will be out soon along with my favorite beef veggie soup.

We also have lots of all of our cuts and meat packs on the online store.  If  you don't see a cut or size you want just message me as i may just have it just didn't get it updated yet.
Chuck, Rump, Brisket, Stew, Meaty Soup Shanks, Short Ribs, flank steak, sirloin steak, rib steaks, shaved steak, bones, burger.   Pork shoulder and loin roasts, hams, ham steaks, bacons, ground pork, sweet and hot italian sausage, breakfast sausage, chorizo, brats, keilbasa, chops, country ribs, spare ribs ($5 a pound or free package with $20 purchase plus recipe on oven roasting or instant pot cooking them).

Local Delivery in Cazenovia Area is FRIDAY afternoons.  No minimum No delivery fees

https://squareup.com/store/creekside-meadows-farm
 to order for delivery or pickup at the farm.  
I know it's cold out so if  you are picking up at the farm and don't want to get out of the car NO PROBLEM.  Put in your order ahead of time.  I will bag it up and let you know the total. You can pay ahead of time or when you pickup.  I WILL BRING IT TO YOUR CAR when you pull up!

See toot your horn and we bring you good meat.   You can NOT get that anywhere else!

Seriously I know many of you have kids and don't want to drag them out of the car or you are iffy on walking on uneven ground- I've been there a few times.    So let me make it easy for you since I have the heavier winter gear!  

I also have delivery next week east of the farm, west of the farm too.  
Tuesday from the farm west to Skaneateles and Camillus and in between.
Wednesday is Manlius, Fayetteville and Chittenango
Fridays (every friday) is Cazenovia and west to Morrisville.

I also delivery EVERY Friday locally in Caz and Deruyter and other really close areas to us.

Put good food in your body and wash your hands.   Stay well.  See you soon.

The classic pork chop

I adore pork chops, breaded, grilled, pan seared, shakenbake, they are just delicious.  
The key to this love affair is never overcooking them and it is so easy to do with good pasture raised pork.
1.  These chops are NOT packaged in saline and sugar laced "juice".
2.  They come from animals that have been outdoors doing stuff, running around, living it large in the sun and rain and snow and doing pig stuff the way pigs should.  Not in a climate controlled barn over slats of manure pits or or just dark dank barns that I know some local farms do.  
3.  The meat is lean and flavorful it doesn't need much just a light hand cooking it.

Our chops here at Creekside Meadows are the lean center cut, usually bone in although sometimes we do offer boneless.  The tenderloin  is not left on like a t-bone chop.  We usually have them cut at 1" thickness.

I have 2 recipes but only pictures of one because well I had a hankering for breaded chops yesterday and decided to do all of them as breaded but will share the other recipe that I've come to love.  Don't the fancy title (rosemary cream sauce) intimidate you it's really simple.

Okay back to breaded chops.   You can always go the easy way and get a box of ShakeNbake, I do it every once in a while then wonder why did I do that when it has so many additives?

BREADED PORK CHOPS
Thaw the chops either in the fridge or a quick cold water thaw in the package.   Pat them dry and liberally do some coarse salt and ground pepper.   If you like the Syracuse Salt Company try some of their flavored salts like a spicy siracha one or the roasted garlic.  
Let the chops come to room temperature.

This is where I do them differently than most recipes.  I dip them in either melted butter or plain yogurt then roll them in my bread crumb mixture.  Some recipes have you using seasoned flour and eggs for dipping which are all good but I go for simple and less dishes to clean.

3/4 cup bread crumbs - I use seasoned pankos or seasoned bread crumbs.  Plain is fine.  Homemade is even better!
1/4 cup parmesan cheese   (out of the container or fresh grind some if you do that)
1 tablespoon dried parsley.  I've also used italian herb mix, oregano or smoked paprika

roll the buttered or yogurt dipped chops in the breadcrumb mixture.  Press it into the meat.

Place on a wire rack on a cookie sheet/roasting pan and roast at 350F for about 30-40  minutes.  If using thicker chops it will take about 45-60 minutes.  
You want an internal temp of 145, the higher the temp the more likely they will over cook so check them at 30 minutes and see if they need a a few minutes longer.

See how they are still a juicy!  Meaty and crunchy is a good breaded chop.

Note the oven temp is 350F   when most recipes will say 400 or higher but that's for not as good of pork as we have!


BRINING CHOPS

I've only recently played a bit with brining and find that I do like it when I can remember to do it.
This recipe is adapted from Shannon Hayes Long Way on a Little cookbook.   Shannon introduced me to brining and let's all say Thank you!   Brining really makes for a juicier chop and one that is easily pan cooked without drying out plus you can make yummy sauces!

Brined Chops with Rosemary Cream Sauce (it's easy!)
1 3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons coarse salt
3 tablespoons maple sugar, turbinado, sucanat or brown sugar
2-3 chops.   1 inch to 1 1/2 inch thickness (I do 1 inch)
1 tablespoon lard or butter
1 cup dry white wine or meat broth.
1 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
3 tablespoons sour cream

Thaw the chops first.   In a medium bowl mix water, salt and sugar.  Add chops and refrigerate 4-6 hours.  Remove and pat dry.   Dump the brine down the drain.  You can now cook with them or refrigerate them for 1-2 days for later cooking.

Let chops come to room temperature about 30 minutes.  As in lock the dogs OUT of the room because mine love chops (bad dogs with good taste!)

Heat a heavy skillet on high heat.  Melt the lard.  Pat dry the chops and add to the pan.  The pan should be large enough to cook the chops all at once with space between them.  If not then just do 2 batches so they don't crowd and not cook properly.   Or use 2 pans which is what I've done for 4 chops.

Back to the pan full of cooking chops- cook 2-3 minutes each side then lower heat to medium/low, the chops should be doing a gentle sizzle sound if not increase the heat as they will just sweat and dry out.   So listen for the sizzle since I didn't my first time and well we had ruined chops.  It was a bad day.    Cook for about 10 minutes or internal temp of 145.   Remove from pan and set aside.

Delicious & Simple Sauce:  pour extra fat from pan and bring heat to medium-high.  Add wine or broth and rosemary to the pan.  Bring to boil, whisk and scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, simmer until reduced by half and syrup like (5 minutes).  Turn off heat then whisk in the sour cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.  
Pour sauce over chops at serving.    Don't you feel fancy!  When I make a sauce I feel accomplished and hey!  I made a fancy pan sauce like the chefs on TV.

The original recipe calls for carmelized pears but seriously sometimes that's just too much for me to handle.   I rarely have pears on hand unless in the fall and we prefer fresh warm chunky applesauce and some sauted green beans in little garlic butter for sides.



As we end 2017 I'm busy planning more posts packed with things about how we raise the meats we sell and helping make it easier for you to be comfortable cooking them.

I don't focus on the perfectly balanced diet but more of finding balance, eating more with the seasons (and from our freezer) and keeping it simple, doable and delicious.  Putting good food on the table for our family isn't easy with all we do here at the farm and people often expect farmers to have awesome meals all the time.  I'm here to say it AIN'T SO!!!!   We often have burgers of pancakes for dinner because they are fast and simple.   I know some will gasp where are the vegetables??? OMG they are only carnivores.  Ha, yeah no we are harty omnivores.  This blog is focused more on cooking GOOD MEAT from our farm.

See in a few days as I get  some things caught up around the house and plan some more recipes to share that fit January in CNY.  Remember the farm store is open Saturdays and Sundays Jan-April so come get some good meat right from our farm.

www.CreeksideMeadowsFarm.com  
You an email me at :  thefarmer@creeksidemeadowsfarm.com

Chorizo White Bean Stew

Time for a warm you from the inside out simple stew you can make in less than 30 minutes!

We have a fresh Chorizo sausage at the farm custom made with our pork.  It's a mexican style as opposed to the spanish style that I think is a smoked sausage.  
When we started carrying this I was unfamiliar with this seasoning.  I'm a boring Central NYer and little experience with mexican cooking so I've been experimenting with it.   Customers have loved it and it's becoming a very popular sausage for us.
It's spicy but not hot if you know what I mean.  Anyways I often cook it with veggies and potatoes for a quick skillet dish or some in scrambled eggs.  
I found this new recipe from bon Apetit Magazine.   It is really simple so I tried it recently and I think it's a keeper.  It's a very simple one to make and I think it can be added to to improve it.  

The recipe called for white cannellini beans and sadly I couldn't find them at the local swanky health food place so I got some canned Great Northern Beans. Similar and close enough for me.   I'm not sure the taste difference between the two so chime in and inform me if you know.  I do know I really am not a big fan of canned beans much anymore.  You will find them in my own pantry cabinet because it's  good thing to have quick things on hand.   I now use my instantpot to pressure cook dry beans and LOVE IT!   Seriously I don't really care for beans all that much except for green beens from the garden and I think it goes back to canned are just blah to me.  
Anyways I used canned ones this time.  Next time I'll try to cook up some dried ones if I have time.  Key thing being if I have the time, you know how that is.

This dish is spicy but hardy.  If spicy isn't for you please just use some sweet italian sausage and make it yours.  I also think this could have some carrot added to it.   One for the added color and one for some veggies in it.  Those of you who are kale lovers I'm sure would add kale instead of spinach, or brocoli rabe or whatever other green in the fridge.

Chorizo & White Bean Stew

1 pound Creekside Meadows fresh Mexican Chorizo Sausage

1 large onion thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves finely chopped

1 spring of thyme or some dried leaves (about 1/2 teaspoon)

2  15 ounce cans of cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed

   (or cooked equivalent)

2 cups chicken broth (I prefer homemade)

Salt and pepper

Baby Spinach (about 5 ounces)

 (or other greens )

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil, butter or lard in a large skillet on medium heat, add sausage and cook until browned and cooked.  Can also be done in the oven .  I cook the sausage in the casing and slice after cooking.

Add more oil to same skillet.  Add onion, garlic and thyme.   

Cook, often stiring until onions are soft.   Add beans and broth, crush a few beans to thicken sauce. 

  Heat 8-10 minutes so it thickens.   Add spinach, let it wilt about 2 minutes, stir in sliced chorizo.  

Add water if it needs a little thinning.   Salt and pepper to taste but it may not need much since canned beans have salt and chorizo is packed with seasoning.

Can be drizzled with a little olive oil and smoked paprika at serving.

Make it 1/2 hour and in one pan AND with just a few staple ingredients.

I think this is one of those meals to keep some canned beans on hand for and some cooked sliced sausage in the freezer.  

Will kids like it?  If they like spicy then yes.  If they don't like spicy use the sweet italian sausage instead which is what I would do plus again I'd add some thinly sliced and diced or shredded carrot but they I love carrots!

Enjoy.

Day 3 and it's gearing up for New Year's!

I'm getting ready for New Year's eve at the farm. It's not a big day around here, no parties or stuff like that.  We are homebodies but I do tend to do a finger food kind of spread.

I have 2 recipes today because I can't decide which one I like better.


OVEN ROASTED SPARE RIBS

1 rack of Creekside Meadows spare ribs.  Thawed
BBQ dry rub of your choice.   I found a local one that works nicely for us.
It's Wild Billi's and it's from Truxton NY so just around the hill from us.  I found it at the Deruyter BigM but I think Nelson Farms carries it and I'm sure some others.
Anyways it's a low sodium, no msg mix and I have the mild version.   There are spicier ones too.

Back to the ribs.    Pat those ribs dry and liberally cover with your favorite BBQ rub or just go simple with Salt and Pepper.

Preheat oven to 200.  Place on a cookie tray or baking pan and place on middle rack.  On rack below fill a bread pan 1/2 way with water.  This will give some moisture to the roasting and help break down the collagen so they are fall apart tender and moist. I've done it without the water and they were not as juicy so don't forget the pan of water!

Roast about 8 hours.  Then slather with your favorite bbq sauce and finish under the broiler OR fire up the grill for a quick smokey finish (I often do that in the warm months)

This can also be done in the slow cooker, I just add a bit of water in there and let them cook away.

  BONUS TIME!

SWEET and SPICY Mini-Meatballs

I made these last year during the winter farmers market and they were a hit so it wasn't just us who are fans of this one.  It's crazy simple and there are many versions you will find online.   Hands down extremely popular with the kids at the market and hungry farmers sneaking samples!

I make my own meatballs and NEVER ever buy them but you do what you must.  I know we are all busy.  These can easily be made ahead of time and frozen for any meals or snacks like these.

1 pound Creekside Meadows Ground beef

1 pound Creekside Meadows Ground Pork

1 cup breadcrumbs

2/3 cup finely chopped onions

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper

Lard, butter or Olive oil for frying

10 ounces grape jelly (or raspberry)

12 ounces chilli sauce

Mix the meat, breadcrumbs, onion, milk, eggs, worcestershire, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.   Mix well and form into 1 inch size balls.  Cocktail Size and  you should get about 48.

Heat the pan and oil on medium/high heat.  Fry the balls until browned on each side and cooked about 5-7 minutes (145 internal temp).  It may take a bit longer and do this in batches.

Drain on paper towels.

OR

Oven Roast

400F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set a wrack on top (so juices drain from the balls).   Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes, careful not to overcook them.  You want them cooked through with a bit of a crispy edge.  

SAUCE

Mix the chilli sauce and jelly in a saucepan.   Heat on stove until hot.  

Add the meat balls and let them simmer a few minutes to warm through.  

This is where I put it all in the crockpot or other warming dish for serving and keeping warm.  Put out some toothpicks and watch them get snatched up

Do ahead.

Make the meatballs,  cook then freeze.    Just warm them in the sauce before serving. 

Isn't that pretty easy?  Think of how you could prep these for all sorts of dishes and have them frozen for quick meals or snacks.   

Time to make my meatballs because we are snacking on them Sunday night along with some ribs!

Day 2 of the Favorite Creekside Meadows Pasture Pork Recipes

I'm a fan of good food made with high quality ingredients that grow locally.   Fancy ingredients rarely make it to the farm kitchen.  I also like 1 or 2 pot meals that I don't have to tend over AND leftovers are desired!
Many years ago when I first started cooking our own grassfed and pasture raised meats I found many recipes didn't work for our high quality product.   Also many "modern" cookbooks used convenience ingredients like canned soup or dried onion mixes or sauce in a bottle.  It took me a bit of experimenting to make things my own and search out older cookbooks using real ingredients.   I then had to figure out that it's easy to overcook our really good meat.   Those "modern" cookbooks were based on grain fed and finished conventional feedlot meats, not our fresh air grazing free ranging animals.
If you have ever cooked a roast and it's tough you more than likely blamed it on the farmer- maybe that farmer was me.  I'm sorry that I didn't explain the cooking process and make sure you had the right cut for your recipe.   I here to fix that and share what I've learned and help you eat delicious healthy meats.
I've been there cooking a roast using the wrong method, to high a heat and too short a cook time.  Yup, this farmer is not a trained chef but is learning more every day.   It's been a journey and one that's personal.

Nothing like raising the mom cow for 2 years on the farm, breeding her,  waiting 9 months for a calf then raising the calf for 2 years- so almost 5 years of work to get the most nutritionally balanced meat only to ruin it in a few hours because the recipe stated to high a heat with to short a cooking time.   I often just cooked roasts simply with garlic, salt and pepper in the crockpot.  It quickly gets boring but sometimes boring is just a good honest meal that satisfies everyone.
Many years ago at a local conference I met a woman that has literally changed my life and what comes out of my kitchen.   She is not just a mom, wife, daughter of the farmers but a farmer herself, outstanding cook, one of my favorite writers and just a wonderful person.  I call her friend even though I may only see here every other year.  We speak the same language (FarmHer!) and have similar goals.  Not just raise the animals outside on grass with a high quality of life but those animals are to nourish our bodies in the end and we need to do it right from birth to plate.  It's responsibility and our obligation to honor their lives.

We eat meat in our family and years ago made the choice that we could responsibly raise the meat for our family, we then slowly grew that into the business we are so proud of today.

We take a lot of pride in raising clean, healthy, nutritious safe food for our family and yours.   It's a huge responsibility and one our family is devoted to for a long time.

Her cookbooks have really helped me understand cooking different cuts of meats from our animals. One thing you may notice is some cuts of meat we offer are not what you often see in the grocery store so you may not be familiar with cooking them- I've been there too!  I here to share what I've learned so you to can cook our meats correctly.

So was this woman?  Her name is Shannon Hayes.  Her family farm is Sap Bush Hollow in Schoharie County, NY.  Literally back in the hills.

I own all of her cookbooks and have them at the farm for customers.
The Grassfed Gourmet
Farmer and the Grill
Long Way on a Little
Farm Girl Cooks Grassfed Beef

This recipe comes from her first cookbook  The Grassfed Gourmet.
It takes a few pounds of humble sausage and elevates it to an elegant but simple budget friendly meal fit for impressing company if you need to.  I'm a fan of prepping meals then letting it cook an hour or so while I catch up on other things.

The ingredients are ones you most likely already have on hand and it's a one pot meal!

Sausages with Potatoes and Rosemary
from The Grassfed Gourmet   serves about 6

4 Tablespoons lard or butter
2 pounds Creekside Meadows Sweet Italian Sausage in the casing/rope.  Cut into 8 pieces
1/4 cup chopped onion
8 medium sized baking potatoes cut into large wedges.  I use russets but fingerlings would work nicely
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup dry white wine.  Stop in at JS Hight and sons in Caz and ask her some!
4 sprigs fresh rosemary   Or 1 tablespoon dried.

Preheat oven to 350F
heat 2 tablespoons of the fat in a large non-reactive oven proof pot/pan or dutch oven.  Brown sausages 3-5 minutes per side.  Remove and cut into chunks similar in size to the potatoes so they cook evenly, set aside.  Add 2 more Tablespoons fat to the hot pan, add onion and saute until transparent, add potatoes and cook 5 minutes on high heat stirring often to prevent sticking.
Return sausages & their juice to pan, add salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.  Stir in Wine and rosemary.  Cover and bake about 1 hours until potatoes are tender.

Serve with fresh hot apple sauce or roasted butternut squash or salad.

I've done this with our Creekside Meadows Hot Sausage and skipped the cayenne pepper.  It had just the nice kick that my son loves.   Wine can be replaced with vegetable or chicken stock if you prefer.  Maybe even some watered down apple cider?  yum.  
So how was that for easy?   Simple ingredients that you are likely to have on hand in the kitchen.

Tomorrow?    

Oven Roasted Spare Ribs and a bonus recipe just in time for New Years. 

Yes oven roasted and you can still wow everyone when it's only zero outside!

Stop at the Creekside Meadows store Saturday 12-2pm   

Purchases over $20 get a free package of Spare Ribs (1 3/4-2 pound pack!)

or 

Spare Ribs and Baby Back Ribs are now only $5 a pound

www.CreeksideMeadowsFarm.com 

and sign up for our email list for more recipes plus directions to the farm.

A word about sausages.  Our farm raised sausage is much different than what I long ago purchased in the grocery store and still is different from customers telling me.   It's a fine grind with no big chunks of fat or grizzle.  It is also pure meat with just small amounts of fat so you get MEAT and will see little liquid coming from them when cooking.  

Our animals go to a USDA inspected processor/butcher that we've used for 15 years now.   It's what we have to do in order to sell our meats to you the way we do.  It also guarantees both of us it's done safely and of high quality.   The seasonings they use are either a mix or a custom blend.  None contain gluten or milk.   They do contain minute amounts of sugar for depth of flavor and in my opinion necessary for good tasting sausage.  Most sausage you can buy is made with scraps of meat, ours isn't.  We often grind the ham and shoulder and sometimes parts of the loin for our sausages so you get more high quality meat and better flavor. 

The sausage is hand mixed and hand stuffed in casings and this costs us to have it done this way and to have it done by trained individuals that is part of the cost of our sausage.  It's better meat to start with from our pasture woodland raised pigs plus high quality safe processing.  

I'm always confused why some farms offer their sausage so cheaply when in reality it costs alot extra for the processing but then they are using lesser quality of meat.

We know you will taste the difference and notice that not all packages are the same because they are done by hand but done the right way.

If you enjoy making your own sausage or want to give it a try check with us about larger shoulder roasts, or fresh hams you can grind for your own sausage or try some of our ground pork for small batches. It's fun to play around with spices on your own.

www.CreeksideMeadowsFarm.com

Has more about our farm, where to purchase and our online store for quick ordering!

I deliver to Cazenovia every Friday and outside the area once a month plus our Farmstore is open most weekends all winter!  

Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Winter Vegetables

From our Meadows to your Table

5 of our favorite Pasture Woodland Raised Pork Recipes in 5 days.   

Enjoy!

Day 1

Pork Shoulder
I know most think this cut from literally the shoulder of the pig is only for pulled/bbq pork.  Oh people it is sooooo much more!     
 Sure it needs a slow low roast which makes it the best roast for us busy people who love to put a roast in the oven, get on with things come back hours later to perfection.  There there is course the beloved slow cooker to use.  
My son loves pulled pork so I would often cook 2 of these so we had plenty of leftovers.  Hang out with me here often and you'll see my theme... not one meal but many meals from one cooking session.  He likes it with a dry bbq rub or a creole rub or a spicier one or just with BBQ sauce.   It's juicy and so flavorful with just a minimum of seasoning to pop the flavor.
  Anyways, we aren't doing pulled pork because it's not on my menu today.  We can get incredibly busy at the farm and we really often need to be able to come in and dinner be ready. So since my budget does not include a chef or housekeeper I plan ahead alot and use either the oven, the slow cooker or my new instant pot (more on that as I perfect my recipes!).  The men here can cook just not well and it's basics.   Basics get boring after a while so I do most of the cooking.  (until a chef decides to take over for me!)

I happened to have PBS on my little kitchen TV one evening last week and one of my favorite chefs was on, Lidia Bastianich    I love her and grew up not really knowing much about real Italian food  but have learned so much from her over the years.   What she prepared on that show has me a solid devoted fan and a fan or her camera crew!   (Not to mention she featured veterans on a recent show.)
 A roast pork shoulder to drool over......
It was huge and luscious and tender and juicy and well I had to wipe the drool off my chin (sorry but it was so good!)........  that's what we are talking about today  It's my comfort food and a long ago roast my mom used to make but sadly no longer does.  I don't know when she stopped making it but I'm bringing it back because it's time we all appreciate this cut and eat it more often.

Slow Roasted

Creekside Meadows

Pork Shoulder Roast

Lidia's recipe used a higher heat and shorter cooking time.  I've adapted it for our active pasture woodland raised pork that requires a lower and slower cooking time than conventional grocery store meat.  I've kept my seasonings very simple with this recipe so the pure pork flavor can develop.

1 pork shoulder roast.   3-4 pounds (smaller is fine, larger needs more seasoning and time to roast).   Bone in or boneless doesn't matter.  Ours at the farm are usually bone in.  Our sizes usually are 2 1/2 -3 pounds but we do carry the 4-5 pounders often so just ask.  

Liberally rub in coarse salt and fresh ground pepper all over the roast.  Let it come to room temperature about 1/2 to 1 hour.   Heat up a heavy skillet (or dutch oven you plan to cook in the oven with), add 2 tablespoons lard or olive oil until sizzling then brown each side of the roast and the  sides.  A good hot sizzling sear to seal in the juices.
Place roast in a roasting pan that has a good lid.  (or slow cooker or dutch oven)

Pour in 1/3- 1/2 cup dry white wine of your choice or 1/2 cup chicken or mixed meat or veggie stock to deglaze the skillet.  Scrape up all the tidbits and pour over the roast.   
Place carrots, onions, celery and 4 or so cloves of garlic around the roast.    Roast on high 400F for 15 minutes then lower the heat to 300 and cover the roaster with a tight fitting lid.  
Roast until tender falling apart tender.  This usually is 3-4  hours in the oven but sometimes a good pork shoulder from really well raised outdoor pigs can take another hour or so.   
If using the slow cooker I find it takes 5 or so hours on low.   

Once it's done remove all to a hot platter and keep warm.  Pour all drippings into a small sauce pan along with some chicken or all meat stock to make a pan gravy.   
I serve with roasted fingerlings or mashed potatoes.  (The guys here are meat and taters types!)

Notes;  I know such a long roasting time will have the carrots too mushy.  I use them in my recipe for flavor more than an accompaniment.   What I've done is the last hour of roasting I remove the old carrots, add fresh ones along with small red potatoes or small russets or fingerlings (or 2 inch cubes of any potatoes) plus some big pieces of winter squash to roast along with the meat.   (or roast them separately to your liking)  I know not everyone likes their veggies roasting with the meat (my husband!).  I like the one pot kind of meal if I can.

This basic version is just comfort food for me and other seasonings like bay leaf, rosemary, and cloves all go deliciously with this roast.  Start simple and experiment as you roast more.

Leftovers omg these are awesome as a sandwich on some pumpernickel bread with some fresh coleslaw & a dab of bbq sauce or  just tossed in last minute with some stir fry veggies for another great meal from just 1 roast.    
Mine is the oven at the moment so a finished picture will be coming soon.  

www.CreeksideMeadowsFarm.com

Chicken Stock

As we head into winter with all the illnesses and stresses we get hit with it's when I start to think ahead for little things I can do to make healthy and nourishing meal ahead of time.   One thing I've done for years is use an and all bones to make stock with.
I save pork chop bones, steak bones, chicken wing bones, chicken and turkey carcass, everything.   I have gallon ziploc bags ready to hold wilted lettuce, onions peals, apple cores, wimpy spinach, kale stems.    When I'm ready I get out my big stock pot add all the bones and veggies i've set aside then add in whatever else I may need.   This simmers for 2 days before I strain then freeze it.  

Well that is what I USED to do!  Now I have an instantpot and life just got easier plus less electricity use.  
Here's the simple Chicken broth recipe.  If you don't have chicken bones around, luckily we still have some at the farmstore so come get them while they are around.  

1 onion- cut into 8 or so wedges then those cut in half.
3 celetry stalks with leaves, chopped up
2 carrots, chopped up
1-2 bay leaves
a spash of raw cider vinegar or red wine vinegar or some wine!
4 quarts of water
1 chicken carcass or equivalent bones.   If using raw uncooked bones, thaw then briefly roast for about 1/2 hour at 350F to brown the bones and create more flavor.

All this goes in the slow cooker on low for minimum of 12 hours, it's better if it's 24.   I often let it go all night.  
If using the instant pot cover the ingredients with water .   It may only use 3 quarts not the 4 for the simmering recipe.   Set it to the soup setting for 70 minutes.
Strain and put in portion size containers.   Refrigerate and use soon or freeze in portion containers for later use.  
This makes life easy to pull it out for making soups, in rice or base for chicken pot pie or just warm cups to sip.  
Also can be done the same for beef broth just make sure to brown the beef bones in the oven before starting the broth  350F for about 1/2 hour or until nice and browned.

You can add in all sorts of vegetable scraps to your broth and add even more variety of flavor.

We spend so much of our time outdoors on the farm that we know almost every inch of it, or it seems to.   During the warm grazing season I'm out moving the beef herd to fresh grass twice a day and that is a lot of walking the same ground over and over.   I'm looking to see how much the cows grazed that day and how areas they grazed the day before and a week before are recovering.  Is the grass growing like we want it to?   How much did the cows graze?  Did they only take the top half of the plants?   Did they graze things too low?  What didn't they graze?    That last question is an important one.   Are there plants that are over mature and not very palatable?  Like lettuce that has gone bitter.  Sure you can eat it but is it any good for you plus it tastes horrible!  
With cows is a question of the stage of that plants growth, we want it soft, juicy, succulent and high nutrition since they cows are getting all their nutrients for only grass we have to manage grass for their needs.  We also have to balance the needs of the plant and how everything impacts the ecosystem.
We've learned to look for these things and many more.   It makes for a busy mind and body.
It also in the end produces a delicious healthy meat sustainably raised for the long term health of the farm, the land, us the farmers and you who are eating it.
So that's a brief look into some of our grazing practices from 2017.   Enjoy and know that you have a choice where your food comes from, who raised it and know that you impact the local ecosystem.   We don't have a fancy label or marketing team with strategies to make  you feel good about spending your money.
We are honest and open about what we do and why.   We have to make a living just like everyone else.  It's a tough business but one that matters to us.  Profits are slim, suicide rates are the highest of any occupation, stress is daily, rewards are pure clean healthy food that nourishes the body and soul. and land.  Enjoy the clean fresh air and water it's a thing in jeopardy when buying cheap food is so dominant.

Thank you.