The Pasture

The yucca and sage..

The windmill is pumping...




The cows are happy...


The calves are growing....


The horses have grass bellies.....






She loves to hear my soft voice...

Life is good! :)

Morels

I ran across these pictures from morel season this spring...

I like to dry the morels and use them during the rest of the year. They rehydrate really well.

Smoked Baked Steak and Tatoes

I made a pan of baked steak the other day and instead of baking it in the oven, I put it in my horizontal wood smoker.
First I seasoned the tenderized steaks with kosher salt, cracked black pepper, and a bit of onion and garlic powder.

Rolled them in flour...




Lightly browned in oil...

Made gravy using a small amount of the drippings, flour, beef broth and seasonings...

Added the steak back to the pan of gravy and also added a few morel mushrooms and sliced onions, then placed in the smoker...

I whipped up a batch of biscuits...


Threw in some tatoes seasoned with evoo, cracked black pepper and kosher salt...


I smoked the biscuits for one hour ....this was at about 325 degrees, using hickory.

The baked steak smoked for 2 1/2 hours until cooked though...

The finished meal...


Smothered in the gravy....

Everything tasted great, the steak even had a smoke ring....

New riding buddy

Brought a friend up from the pasture. She hasn't been ridden for a couple of years, but she is a great cow bred girl.

Parmesan shrimp ala DINGLE and smoked catfish

This shrimp recipe belongs to a really great guy and an awesome smoker, that goes by the name of DINGLE. He was kind enough to share this recipe and it has quickly become one of my favorites. :)
The smoked catfish recipe comes from another awesome smoker and forum friend that goes by the name of Seboke.....I owe you both big time. :)

These are some of the catfish caught during my last camp out.

The catfish brine for 4 hours in a mixture of...

1 gal Water

1 cup Kosher Salt (I used 1/4 cup of salt)

1 cup Brown Sugar

8 crushed cloves Garlic

1 small onion, rough chopped

1/4 bell pepper, rough chopped

1 tablespoon Jalapeno hot sauce

1/4 cup teryaki sauce

1 teaspoon bay leaf flakes

I used less salt because I wanted to sprinkle the fish with some of my homemade seasoned salt.

The filets dried and seasoned....

The shrimp cleaned, deveined and ready for the smoke.....


Into the smoker with a bit of hickory...

Take the shrimp out after 30 minutes and cover with a marinara sauce, then top with cheese and parsley. (I used a mixture of parmesan, moz, and provalone...

Back into the smoker until hot and bubbly....

The fish smoked for about 2 1/2 hours....until flaky.

I made some twangy deep fried green tomato dill pickles to go with the meal...

These are some of my home made green tomato dill pickles (in the recipe section).

I used a tempora batter and panko bread crumbs for extra crunch.

The finished shrimp and fish were soooooo goooood!

You can serve the shrimp as an appetizer or over cooked pasta, or my favorite way, standing over the hot pan with a fork. :)

The catfish was flaky, tender and moist....This brine would be great with any kind of fish.

Thank you again DINGLE and Seboke, I owe ya!

My Favorite Tornado Shelter

After three tornado scares while camping, I became very familiar with the storm shelter...aka bath house.
After the second scare, I was in charge of bringing snacks...someone else was in charge of cell phones and t-paper, another was responsible for bringing the ice chest...and so on...



The only problem we ran into was leaving the ice chest in the back of the pickup....no one wanted to venture out to get refills.

Catfish

Almost forgot to add this.... I did fish while camping. :)

Breakfast Burritos

Another favorite camp fire breakfast...easy and tasty.
I fry some potatoes, onions and peppers over the fire.
Add some eggs....

Scramble the eggs and potato mixture together... season with salt and pepper...

Heat up some flour tortillas...

Top the hot tortilla with cheese, add the potato, onion, pepper and egg filling, then roll up.
I like to serve the hot salsa on the side...