Category Archives: Recipes

Dutch Oven Pot Roast

One of our very favorite meals in the Z house is a pot roast. As far as the family goes, you can’t get any better than that (well…maybe a good steak).  So, when Mark agreed to cook the meal and I provided the beef, it was a good combination. Something interesting about the roast – it came all the way from Jordan, MT! Yep, we haul hamburger, roasts, steaks and few cube steaks all the way home from Jordan every year. Why? Well because they only have the very best locker in the entire world! We’ve got it down to a science as far as how that frozen meat makes the 2 1/2 day trip without thawing (even when the temps rise sometimes as high as 90+).

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As Promised…Cheesy Potato Soup (and more)

Before I get to the recipe, I wanted to share a couple of items I found the other day while looking for something else. Surely you’ve never done that! The other day, I said something to Callie referring to the tigers which turned to butter in the story, “Little Black Sambo”. That was one I remember my Grandma reading to me and it was a favorite of mine. Callie had no clue what I was talking about and I wanted her to read it. Well, for some reason, it wasn’t in the place I always thought I remembered it being in. Instead, I found these great reminders of days gone by:

This is an old postcard Grandma sent from Regina, Saskatchewan in 1972. Her friend, in turn, returned it to Grandma and then Grandma gave it to me (knowing my love for the harvest). This is what is written on the back in Grandma’s handwriting, “We’ve had a very good year. This is like our 3 machines and we pick wheat up like it shows here in the North Country. Only we have cabs. I LOVE it up here. Pauline”

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Happy Father’s Day!

Father’s Day has come and gone for another year. It was yet another day of nothing happening in camp. Taylor insisted she wanted to make supper for her dad so that’s what she did. She decided it was going to be BBQ meatballs, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. This would have to be one of Jim’s favorite meals – except for roast beef.

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Cherry Pie and more

Things are pretty low-keyed in the Zeorian camp right now.

Yesterday was a day of being on the road. Callie and I left camp yesterday morning and headed for Woodward, OK. Jim and Taylor had left about an hour earlier to get Frank to his appointment with the mechanic. Frank had a leaky wheel seal and a broken spring.  I swear I’ve been treating him nicely…sometimes, though, things start falling apart because of age (believe me, I know).

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Time for a recipe (minus pictures)

I’ve just about got the cakes done! The layers have been put together and all I need to do is add the pretty ”stuff” to the top. I think I’ll do that tomorrow. 11 cakes complete! When they’re all on the table looking beautiful, I’ll share a picture of them with you. This will happen on Saturday. I found one of my favorite Peach Pie recipes and wanted to share it with you. We’re slightly out of fresh peach season so print it off and save it for next summer :)

3/4 c. sugar

3 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

dash salt

dash nutmeg

Combine all the above ingredients and add to 5 cups sliced peaches. Pour peaches  into pie crust and dot with 2 Tbsp of butter/margarine. As I said in a previous pie recipe post, I use the cheap store brand pie shells which are pre-made, rolled and in a box.  Add the top crust, cut slits to allow the steam to escape. Bake 400 degrees for 40-45 mins. You may want to put aluminum foil around the edge of the pie to prevent the crust from burning.

The week is going to go by fast and I can’t wait to see everyone who’s coming to Jamie and Curt’s wedding reception. Pictures coming soon…

A sweet result of the Nebraska City trip

One of the reasons for stopping at the Union Orchard on our way home was to buy the girls a caramel apple. Once I was there, though, I really thought an apple pie sounded good. So, I went to the frozen section of the store and decided that spending $13 for a frozen pie was a little outrageous. Sometimes convenience is a good thing but not this time. Instead, I bought some of their #2 grade apples (with slight damage) at $.69 lb. I had a box of ready-made pie crust in the freezer and opted to put my own apple pie together.

I used to make my pie dough from scratch but after going to all the work of making a pie from scratch and then making the next one with the convenient crust and hearing Jim say he liked the second one better I thought, “well, hey, why go to all the work of making dough when he likes the ready-made one better”. So, I’ve been buying the cheap pie crusts from the dairy freezer ever since. One box equals one pie (top and bottom crusts) and I buy the cheap brand.

A couple more tips: Use a vegetable peeler to peel the apple. It works so much better than a knife and saves the fruit from being thrown away.

When putting the top and bottom crusts together, dampen the edge of the bottom crust before putting the top crust on. After the top is in place, work your way around the pie and pinch the two together before crimping the edge. My grandma gave me that tip.

Here’s my apple pie recipe – simple and GREAT!

6 cups sliced apples                                                  1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup white sugar                                                  1 Tablespoon margarine

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

a pinch of nutmeg

1 Tablespoon cornstarch (maybe just a little more than a tablespoon)

Mix dry ingredients and toss with fruit. Add lemon juice and dot with margarine.  Brush top crust with milk and sprinkle cinnamon/sugar on top. Bake at 425 degrees for 50 – 60 minutes.

 

 

My family’s favorite meatball recipe and other ramblings

I have nothing fun and/or exciting to share with you tonight. I decided that while Jim was doing more combine clean up work, I would start working on the trailer house since I had hot water and a sewer drain. When we get home, I generally unload everything and then clean the trailer house from ceiling to floor. You would be amazed at how dirty this can get with road dirt and cooking. So, I try to thoroughly clean it before it gets put away for the winter. Last year, I put the trailer on a RV site thinking maybe I could sell it. I’ve had a couple of bites on it this summer so maybe if I get it cleaned and someone really wants to look at it, it’ll be in good shape. After it’s completely unloaded and cleaned, we’ll winterize it and put it in a shed we rent for the winter. If there was any one thing I wish Jim had it would be his own shed - with cement floor and heat. He can’t do anything with the equipment in the spring until it warms up and quits raining so he can work in the yard.

I guess the ideal time to have built a shed would have been when we started this business. At one time, our dream was to have 10 acres in the country with a shed and a newer home. At the time, we couldn’t afford 10 acres and then life just happened and the dream didn’t materialize. Now, we’re both older and getting older every day. I sort of think the shed idea probably won’t happen. So, we’ll just continue to rent one and hope that lasts a few years longer.

The house we live in is the one we moved into while I was pregnant with Jamie twenty six years ago. At the time, we thought it really seemed like a lot of house since we were moving from a one bedroom apartment. Then, Jamie came and Jenna shortly after. Taylor and Callie, too. So, at one time there was six of us living in a three bedroom house with just barely 1,000 square ft. But, as the sign in my entryway says, “Love grows in little houses” and it certainly did. Our little beginner home will probably be our finisher home. That’s ok, though, because unless we built a home on the acre we have, I would really HATE leaving my yard. Everything in my yard has been done with my hands except for a couple of nice oak trees that are in the yard. And Jordan is under one of those oaks. I wouldn’t want to leave her.

I made my family’s favorite meatballs for supper tonight. It was a little weird not making the amount I usually do. Even the pan I did make will take Jim forever to eat. Lots of meatball sandwiches :) A funny story to tell you about meatball sandwiches. One of our hired guys came from around home. He was a good kid and would eat just about anything you put in front of him. He also went along with us for two summers. Anyways, it wasn’t until years after he was with us I learned that all the meatball sandwiches I fed him (using leftover meatballs) were eaten but hated. Poor guy! I wish he would have told me how much he disliked them! Sorry Homer!!

MEATBALLS (this recipe can be cut in half for a smaller batch)

3 lbs. ground beef                                          1 – 13 oz. can evaporated milk

2 eggs                                                                             SAUCE

2 cups oatmeal                                               2 cups catsup

1 cup chopped onion                                     1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. garlic powder                                   1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tsp. salt                                                          1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. pepper                                                    1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. chili powder                                          1 Tbsp. prepared mustard

Mix all ingredients together and form into balls. Place in 9 x 13 pan.  For sauce, combine all ingredients. Pour sauce over meatballs. For small meatballs, bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. For large meatballs, bake covered for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees. Small meatballs are great as an appetizer.

Jim was disappointed that I didn’t use the picture of him with his head down by the food with a huge smile on his face. The pictures of the flowers were taken this spring before we left home.

Simple Harvest Nachos

Since I have no harvest pictures to share with you today, I will share what Jim requested for lunch. Taylor and Callie told me that pictures of food go over very well on blogs. They were always putting pictures of food on their “tumblr” accounts. So, I decided I’d put pictures of food on my harvest blog. There is no “real” recipe to share – I just wing it:

Brown at least a pound of hamburger when using a 9 x 13 pan. I season the hamburger with coarse pepper and Tastefully Simple’s “Season Salt” (but I’m sure other seasoned salt will work – just not as well :) )

Spray 9 x 13 pan with nonstick spray. Crush tortilla chips and place in the bottom of the pan:

Layer 1/2 of browned hamburger, chopped onions and shredded cheddar or co-jack cheese:

Place another layer of broken chips, hamburger, onion and top with desired amount of shredded cheese:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat just until cheese is melted and bubbly:

Serve with sour cream, salsa, jalapeno peppers, etc. – anything you, your family or crew would like to top their plate of nachos with. Jim likes his fairly plain:

Funny combination, I know – nachos and fruit salad:

By the way, I am a Tastefully Simple consultant. You can order through my website at: www.tastefullysimple.com/web/tzeorian

GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY!!

Dump Cake

Ok, well, since I’m sitting here wondering what we’re going to get started on first this morning, I thought I’d share a very simple and favorite recipe that was given to my grandma the first year I went on harvest with her. This recipe was given to her by a farmer’s wife from Medicine Lodge, KS (Alma Jester) We used to cut for them and stayed right on the farm:

Grease 9 x 13 pan

Pour into the pan:

1 large can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 large can of cherry pie filling

On top of this, sprinkle one box of yellow or white cake mix (dry) and 1/2 cup chopped nuts (my family doesn’t really care for nuts so I leave these off). Thinly slice one stick of margarine/butter over the top of the dry cake mix.

Bake 350 degrees for 1 hour.

I’ve never tried it, but I don’t know why you couldn’t substitute other flavors of pie filling for a different dessert. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. (homemade whipped cream is the best)

This one’s for you Jean :)

Tater Tot Casserole

1 bag of tater tots

1 1/2 lb. hamburger

1 head of broccoli – chopped up – more or less depending on you liking of broccoli – can substitute frozen chopped broccoli

1 can Durkee onions

2 tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped onion (more or less depending on what you like)

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 can (soup can) of milk

2 cups Shredded cheddar cheese (more of less)

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. pepper

Place tater tots in the bottom and up the sides of 9×13 pan. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 10 mins. Brown hamburger and drain. Place browned hamburger, broccoli, onion and tomatoes layered in the tater tot “shell”. Combine soup, milk, 1 cup cheese and seasonings. Pour over the top of the tater tot mixture. Bake, covered, at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Top with more cheese and Durkee onions. Bake, uncovered, until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Note: Sometimes this dish takes longer than 30 minutes to heat all the way through. After you’ve cooked it once or twice you’ll know a little better how much time it probably needs.  If you use frozen broccoli, less time is needed.