Blog

February 8, 2012 - County 4-H Youth Fair Proud

For the past couple of years I have helped mentor my best friend’s son with his baking and canning projects for our local 4-H Youth Fair. He is a wonderful young man of 16 years and is interested in not only learning the science behind the baking and canning, he wants to carry on these...
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February 6, 2012 - Freezer Meals

Yesterday was the culmination of a four-month plan to have a freezer meal stock up party. I have been an adherent meal freezer for about two years now and have read countless books, articles, and recommendations for one day mass cooking. I have, however, never had the guts, motivation, or willpower to actually pull off...
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February 2, 2012 - MYO Freezer Lunch Entrees!

I don’t know about you, but I have bought hundreds of Lean Cuisines, Smart Ones and Healthy Choice meals over the last 10 years. I shudder to think about the amount of money that I’ve spent on them. And, while they are generally okay, they are also generally lacking in both flavor and quantity. The...
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January 31, 2012 - February 2012 Monthly Contributor Giveaway

Farm Bell Recipes blog contributors are eligible (and automatically entered!) in a giveaway each month in which one contributor will be drawn (by random.org, using the days of the month that posts run) to receive a prize. Each month’s prize (and previous month’s winner) will be listed here, in a blog post on the Farm...
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January 30, 2012 - When Life Gives You Lemons

Skip the lemonade and go directly to preserved lemons. This condiment adds a unique, soft, and subtle flavor to a variety of dishes. Popular in Mediterranean regions from Tunisia to France and Morocco to Spain, these bits of sunshine are also prized in South Indian cuisine. The all-natural fruit lends a brightness to foods such...
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January 25, 2012 - A Healthy and Easy Breakfast Even at 5:30 A.M.

This fall my work schedule changed and I now am blessed with the exercise of getting myself out of bed at 5:30 am several days a week. I know many of us can relate and are probably thinking, “5:30? That’s sleeping in for me!” How do I survive the early hour and make sure I’m...
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January 23, 2012 - A Summer Salad, Even in January

This is a summer dish–a fresh-picked-from-the-garden salad. stock.xchng/awottawa Step carefully through your garden at just the right time of the day. It should be late in the afternoon, when the heat of the sunshine has caused everything there to reach upward toward the sun, and all the leaves are dry. You should have a quaint...
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January 20, 2012 - Pottery and Pasta

This past November, we were fortunate to be invited to sell our rustic furniture at a holiday open house at Hannah’s Pottery in Scott Depot, WV. Hannah specializes in lovely, functional stoneware for the kitchen and outdoor garden and her pieces all have her signature maple leaf design. Every fall she hosts an open house...
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January 18, 2012 - Grammy’s Wood Stove

My maternal grandmother, Elzoda, cooked on a big black cast iron wood-burning kitchen stove all of her life on a farm in rural Maine. The stove was called Modern Clarion, with the name right on the oven door. It was purchased around 1915 when they were first married. The stove in 1941. The stove in...
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January 15, 2012 - I’m Dreaming of Spring

The winds are howling across the pond and snow is coming down in big flakes, but the fireplace is keeping me toasty warm. Our dogs are snoozing at my feet as I sip delicious tea from my favorite rose chintz teacup and dream. The mail man’s delivery has become the favorite part of my day...
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January 11, 2012 - Food Memories

Do you ever have a flash of a food memory? Of food you used to eat, but haven’t for a long time for one reason or another? I flashed back to college. To what I used to call Succotash. I have no idea how or why we named this dish Succotash. According to Wikipedia, “Succotash...
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January 10, 2012 - Easy Herbs for Pork

The other day I posted a recipe for Easy Herbs for Chicken. Here is another meat rub that we love, and that we use a lot. This is my very favorite way to fix pork shoulder chops or even a larger pork roast. As I did with the Chicken Rub recipe, I’ve given you a...
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January 8, 2012 - Easy Herbs for Chicken

I love this herb mix. Whenever we bake a chicken, we cover it in this stuff. We also put a couple of spoons full into our chicken stock. Yum! It’s quick. It’s easy. It doesn’t call for exotic ingredients. I’ve given you two recipes–one for a single use on chicken or in soup and one...
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January 7, 2012 - Success!!

This isn’t a successful cooking post for me. It’s a successful “get my niece to make things from scratch” post. The niece who I figured out the Mocha Frappacino recipe for. And the niece who loves Stacy’s Pita Chips. We’ve been working together cooking new-to-her dishes. She’s always made a mean microwaved frozen dinner, but...
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January 6, 2012 - Venison Jalapeno Poppers!

We got some venison this year from wonderfully generous friends and I have been looking up neat, cool, frugal fun recipes on homesteading sites I visit frequently. Someone suggested making Jalapeno Poppers. This is right up the boys and my alley. And I couldn’t wait to try them! I only made a few since it...
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January 5, 2012 - New Year – New Food!

I’m not one for making New Years Resolutions. Usually they turn out to be something that I can keep for a few weeks, then give up in frustration. But this year is different! This year I will change! This year, I have made TWO resolutions: For 1 month, my husband and I will not succumb...
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January 3, 2012 - My First Taste of Dehydrating

It started several weeks ago. I was bitten by the dehydrating bug. And by bitten, I really mean I got it in my head that I wanted one. I put the call out to my Facebook friends in the form of a status update asking for opinions on brands. Sadly most of the replies consisted...
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January 2, 2012 - Foraging

This year I began to forage over our property and the adjoining county forest. I am amazed at what I found growing here! We have been blessed with so much that we can use, right here at home, overlooked by most of society! The medicinal herbs that grow here are astounding and are just growing...
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January 1, 2012 - A New Year, a New Snack

Happy New Year! A New Year, A New Beginning. Or in this case, a New Snack! I have a new recipe, or rather idea, to share with you today. It’s not mine, it’s my brother John’s. John travels on the road quite a bit while working and quite often eats out of a convenience store....
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December 31, 2011 - January 2012 Monthly Contributor Giveaway

Farm Bell Recipes blog contributors are eligible (and automatically entered!) in a giveaway each month in which one contributor will be drawn (by random.org, using the days of the month that posts run) to receive a prize. Each month’s prize (and previous month’s winner) will be listed here, in a blog post on the Farm...
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December 30, 2011 - No Kids at Home but the Fur Babies

So I made dog treats tonight. I don’t remember where I found the recipe. I have been using it for years and it is in my head. If you know, please tell me so that I can give credit where credit is due. Being alone most of the time this year with Dear Husband on...
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December 29, 2011 - Pickle Pie for the Cheeseburger Loving Crowd

Pickle Pie is a dish that has become one of my family’s favorites. It even gets a thumbs up and requests from the lone non-pickle loving odd ball. It derived from Quick Cheeseburger Pie, but I have since changed it to suit our tastes. It satisfies those cheeseburger cravings during the cold times of the...
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December 28, 2011 - The Goats’ Christmas List

We have twelve little goats at Blue Silo Farm that are hoping for a little something extra at Christmas–maybe a special cookie. I found this recipe at Hobby Farms and it sounds like something they would really like to eat. For their Christmas list, in the addition to the cookies, the goats wanted electric blankets...
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