view sourceprint? 01 Ramblings from a Ranch Wife: February 2013

Random Thought:

"The darkest nights produce the brightest stars"
~


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Food!

I have a confession to make.  I don't always cook my family dinner from scratch every night.  I teach animal science 2 nights a week at Great Basin College, and generally on those nights, I leave the boys to fend for themselves.  Terrible I know.  I have been feeling pretty guilty about it for awhile now and finally decided to do something about it.

Yesterday morning before leaving to feed I put a roast in the crock pot.  (I found the recipe on Pintrest, Mississippi Roast.  Let me tell you, it is fabulous!  And, even better, it is super simple.

All you need:
1 Beef Roast, I think I used a round roast.  Not really sure, I didn't really check to see!
1 envelope Au Jus
1 envelope Ranch Dressing mix
1 stick of Butter (1/2 cup)
5 or 6 Pepperoncini Peppers, I found them in the pickle section of the grocery store.

What you do:
1.  Put a liner in your crock pot (If I won't cook them dinner, do you really think I'm going to clean up after them?!!)  ;)
2.  Put the roast in the crock pot.  Mine was frozen, so I cooked it longer.
3.  Dump Ranch and Au jus on top of roast.
4.  Put entire stick (remove wrapper first) of butter on top of roast.
5.  Place 5 or 6 Pepperoncini Peppers on top of roast around butter.
6.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  Mine probably cooked for more like 10 or 11 hours, but the roast was also frozen to begin with.

I got home from class last night and my house smelled delicious!  The Cow Boss fried some potatoes to go with it, and TR and QT said it was the best meal they ever ate.  Which surprised me.  TR is pretty picky and usually doesn't like anything that has any flavor whatsoever.  Weirdo.

Today for lunch, I cut up what was left of the roast and made French Dip sandwiches.  I toasted hoagie rolls, and spread them with a little mayonnaise, then filled with meat.  I made another packet of Au jus and added the drippings (minus the grease, since there is 1/2 c. of butter, there is a lot of grease to skim.  I wish I would have been thinking when I put it back in the crock pot this morning before leaving to feed.  I would have pulled off most of the grease while it was solid).  The boys each ate a whole sandwich and the Cow Boss ate 2.

Tonight I am thinking about adding carrots, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and the remaining Au jus to the little bit of left over roast and making a stew for dinner.

Seriously, if you need something fast and easy, try this roast!  I know we will be eating it again.

Liebster Award

So I am way behind on blogging.  I have several posts written on scraps of paper scattered all over my dinning room/office, my laptop, and both my school notebooks.  Hopefully I will get them all on here before too long!



I was very honored this last month to be nominated for the Liebster Award by both Mindy of Rodeo Tales & Gypsy Trails, and Liz from Buckaroo Barbie.  Both are amazing women who I have had to opportunity to meet, and enjoy the heck out of their blogs.  Be sure to stop by and give them a read!

The Liebster award is given to "newer" blogs that have 200 or less followers to help bring awareness to up and coming blogs! The rules are as follows:

  1. You must post 11 random facts about yourself.
  2. You must answer the questions the nominator set for you.
  3. You must create 11 questions for the people you nominate.
  4. You must choose 5-10 blogs that you love (with less than 200 followers), link them to your post and let them know they were nominated. 
  5. No tag backs. 
11 Random Facts About Me:
  1. I love pie.  Almost any kind of pie.
  2. I also love Marie Calendar's Chicken Pot Pie...Maybe because it's a pie?
  3. I'm pretty sure cow #910 isn't bluffing when she acts like she is going to hit me.  I really really don't want to find out for myself either!
  4. I love planting flowers and vegetables.  I have a big rusted out round water trough that I plant my garden in spring.
  5. I really want a greenhouse and have been saving windows to build my own for a year now.
  6. My first horse came from the Reservation.  He was an ugly Appy I called "Chiefaloosy."
  7. My go to drink of choice is tea.  Hot or cold, as long as it has lemon and sugar, I am delighted!
  8. I have my toes in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, but I don't know how to swim.
  9. I'm addicted to Spider Solitaire and play a million games a day.
  10. I have 2 dogs.  My house dog SiSi who is a Rat Terrier, and my cow dog puppy Izzy.
  11. Other than college, I've never lived more than 100 miles from the ranch I grew up on.
Questions from Nominators:

     1.  How did you start blogging and why?
When my boys were little, I was pretty much housebound.  I couldn't do much outside with at 2 year old and a newborn, so I spent a lot of time on the Internet.  Like way too much time on the Internet.  I started reading blogs like Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman.  I thought to myself, I can do that.  I've always liked to write, so why not?  So I started one, and it was pretty negative.  It was kind of a low point in my life, and while getting the words out helped me, I didn't like the way I sounded so I deleted the entire blog.  A few years later Ramblings from a Ranch Wife was born and the rest is history!

There is so much testosterone in my house, if I said half of the things that popped into my head out loud, I'd never hear the end of it.  Blogging gives me a place to say what's on my mind without the eye rolling from my boys.

   2.  What is your most read blog?
A Kick to the Face is my most read blog.  I have to admit that I haven't been able to read it after posting it.  I still get pretty emotional when I think about how bad TR was hurt last summer and how fortunate we are that it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

   3.  What is your favorite hobby or past time?
This is a tough one.  With 2 wild little boys, there isn't much time left over for hobbies etc.  Honestly, I look forward to the days I get to ride with the Cow Boss and doctor yearlings.  It is my few hours of the day (sometimes week) where I am left alone with my thoughts.  I've always enjoyed being on a horse and getting to rope something is a bonus.

   4.  What is your favorite pizza topping?
I am not a huge fan of pizza.  I mostly just like the crust.  Explains a lot huh?  =)  I do like pepperoni and mushroom, or Canadian bacon and pineapple.

   5.  Do you prefer desert or trees?
I prefer the high desert.  For me it is the best of both worlds!  We have gentle mountains, rolling hills, and little bunches of trees.  I grew up in the Great Basin where we have both mountains and trees.  I get lost if I don't have land marks!

   6.  What is your dream job?
I'm living it!  All I've ever wanted was to have a good horse and to be a cowboy-girl.  The fact that I work with my best friend and get to bring my kids with me when its an easy day just makes it better.

   7.  When did you start roping?
I think I was either 5th or 6th grade.  It was pretty disastrous that first time.  I didn't catch a single calf.  My uncle Pete and great uncles Norman and Shorty helped me out a lot and really encouraged me.  We were heeling calves branding one day and the irons were cold.  I was sitting on my gray horse, waiting with the rest of the ropers for the irons to heat up and my Uncle Norman told me to keep roping cause I needed the practice.  (I wasn't smart enough to be insulted at the time)!  So I swung and swung and swung.  By the time I finally caught 2 feet, the irons were hot.  Later that day Norman told me I was doing a good job and to keep practicing and I would be as good as my dad.  It was the best compliment and encouragement I ever received about roping.

   8.  Best Movie Quote:
"Someone oughtta belt you in the mouth.  But I won't.  The hell I won't!"  I love John Wayne and McClintock! is my all time favorite movie!

   9.  What is your favorite book?
I have a tie for favorite books.  The first is Monte Walsh by Jack Schaeffer.  I have read it 5 or 6 times, and cry each time.  The second is Smokey the Cow Horse by Will James.  Guess what?  I cry with it each time I read it too!

  10.  What do you find most attractive in a friend?
There are a lot of qualities I look for in a friend, so it's hard to single out just one.  I'm so lucky to have a handful of very good, very close friends, and one thing that stands out is honesty.  My sister Cara is brutally honest and I appreciate it.  She doesn't worry about hurting feelings if something needs to be said, but she isn't mean about it either.  When I ask, does this make me look fat?  She will honestly tell me yes and I appreciate that.  I have another friend who has always reminded me of a sign I once read.  "Lord, please put your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth."  I've never had a very good filter and she has always been there to pull me aside and say hey, you are getting too loud, or easy now.  She's never done it in a way that was offensive or upsetting either.  I also have a friend I have never met in person, but count her as one of my best.  I can tell her anything and I don't have to worry about being judged.  So, in a nutshell, I like honesty, loyalty, and nonjudgmental!

My nominees:

Elizabeth Martin at Circle the Wagons.  She has fun pictures and great stories

Tina Harrington at Cooking on the Sagebrush Sea.  She must be one amazing cook.  I am friends with her on facebook, and if I have a cooking question and can't get a hold of my mom, she's my go to gal.  I wish she blogged more often!

Faces of Agriculture.  These 2 gals are wonderful.  They are doing an amazing job of getting our Agriculture Stories out where people can read them.  I'm all for anyone that advocates agriculture!

Jessica Hedges Jessica Hedges Cowboy Poetry.  She's a mom, she's a poet, she's a cowgirl.

Questions for Nominees:

  1. What is your least favorite household chore?
  2. What is your favorite book?
  3. Where is the most exotic place you've ever been?
  4. If you could interview anyone past or present, who would it be?
  5. Are you a morning or a night person?
  6. What is your favorite color?
  7. What is your favorite post of all of your blog posts?
  8. What is your favorite dessert?
  9. What is your dream job?
  10. Why do you blog?


     

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Spring Time

Let's talk about smells.  Isn't if strange how certain smells can transport you back to a certain place in time?  Last Friday smelled like spring to me.  TR and I were doing home school while QT napped.  We've all been under the weather and Friday was the first day in weeks that we actually felt like doing much of anything.

We were smack dab in the middle of phonics (YUCK!), when the Cow Boss called me on the cell phone from the round pen.  You have to love technology, I mean 10 years ago he would have actually had to get off his horse and take the 5 steps to get from the round pen to the house!  Apparently my filly "Junie B." was being a challenge and the Cow Boss needed help with her.  So I ran out the door and before I got to the horse corral, spring hit me.

It must have been the combination of horses, manure  mud, hay, and after birth because suddenly I was 12 years old again standing between the grainery and chicken house on my parents ranch.  Petting my favorite gray horse "Rounder" as the sun dipped behind the Independence mountains and the early runoff lazily drifted by us.  I could feel Rounder's silky winter coat under my fingers, feel him nuzzling my back pocket for a treat, and smell spring time in Mountain City.  I was ready to help my dad put heavy cows in the calving barns and feed my 4-H steer before walking back to the house in the dusk for a wonderful dinner.  I was homesick bad to say the least!

I watched the Cow Boss ride my filly around the round pen.  I really wasn't much help.  She is super smart, but is cranky, and they had been making laps around the round pen for about an hour and every time he would try to stop her she would just find a higher gear.  After she got mad at me for being in the round pen, she would actually pin her ears back at me and try to bite me as she went past, the Cow Boss opted to do a running dismount with a duck and cover to avoid being kicked as she went passed.  I really hope she gets over this attitude quickly, because I would like to start riding her, just not until she gets over this!

I should also add that we got a foot of new snow on Saturday.  So even though Friday smelled and reminded me of spring, it is still winter time in Lamoille!