Snowed In with Food and Blacksmiths!

What do you do when you're snowed in for the weekend with two blacksmiths? .....eat of course! 

On Saturday Zach and I, and our two friends, Nate and Stacey went to a blacksmith demonstration in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The forecast predicted lots and lots of snow, but they're usually wrong so we decided to chance it.

The blacksmith meeting was really cool!

The host, Scott Lankton of Lankton Metal Design demonstrated a railing technique, and how to forge with silica bronze.

His shop was amazing, (as most blacksmith shops are) full of nooks and crannies, project ideas, tools, metal stuff, several forges and 3 Nazel power hammers.

Zach got to try out the 2 B Nazel

The snow never let up all the while we were at the meeting, and by the time we were ready to leave, we had about 8 inches.

We tossed around the idea of stopping at a restaurant for a bite to eat, but we were afraid to be out in the storm any longer than we had to. So we decided to make a quick stop at the grocery store and have diner at home.

Now, when Stacey and I are presented with the opportunity to make dinner together, we take it seriously. We both love to be in the kitchen, and she is an excellent cook! Check out her blog at Investing in a Delicious Tomorrow.

One recipe that her and Nate enjoy is spaetzle, but it's a tedious recipe without a spaetzle press. Stacey and I thought between the two of us, we could knock it out.

Spaetzle is a long, thin German dumpling, traditionally served in a gravy with breaded pork cutlet. The spaetzle dough is very sticky and is formed in a press and squeezed immediately into boiling broth. Neither of us have a press so we had to make the spaetzle by hand.

Stacey's recipe was delicious!!! We also made breaded porkchops and green bean casserole.

While dinner was cooking Nate, Zach and Oliver shoveled and salted the drive, cut paths to the barn and coop, took care of the animals and made a fire in the wood burning furnace. By the time they came in, dinner was almost done. 

Nate and Stacey decided that it was too dangerous to venture out so they stayed the night.

That night, I needed to make two pecan pies for Zach's dad's birthday party the next day. So Stacey helped. I wanted to try the Miss Kay's Recipe for Honey Pecan Pie. We decided to make one with honey and one with maple syrup. Both were delicious, and recipes are coming soon!

The next morning we woke to a winter wonderland. Zach's grandpa read that our area received 16 inches of snow.

I feel like our yard had more like 12-14, but still, it was a lot.

That morning we made biscuits and gravy.

Stacey makes the most amazing biscuits I've ever had.

Just look at those babies! They're beautiful...flaky and buttery!!!

 Served with Iron Oak Farm honey.

We made the sausage gravy with our own homemade sausage, recipe here.  
And fried potatoes.

While the weather took us by surprise, it made for a fun and delicious weekend!       

Maple Breakfast Sausage Recipe

One of our favorite things to do with our friends Nate and Stacey is to get a whole mess of pork and make sausage together. A couple months ago we got together and made our tried and true Sweet Italian Sausage recipe. This is a recipe that we've been formulating and perfecting over the years and I'm extremely pleased with the flavor and consistency of the sausage each time we make it. Everyone who tastes our sausage loves it and we've passed the recipe on to many of our friends and family.

As both of our household freezers were lacking again in the sausage department, we decided to hold another sausage making night. This time, we wanted also make Breakfast Sausage.

Zach and I have attempted breakfast sausage in the past and each time I haven't been happy with the flavor. But I feel like last night we made a winner!

The original recipe that got us going I found on a site called Coleen's Recipes. We were thankful to find her list of ingredients which we used most of. But after doing several taste testings, we changed the proportions, increased several herbal additions, added maple flavoring and made it our own.

Here's what we came up with:

Maple Breakfast Sausage

6 lbs ground pork (we used a shoulder cut)
8 1/2 tsp dried sage
2 tsp dried savory
2 tsp dried marjoram
5 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground cloves
5 1/2 tsp kosher salt (if you use sea salt decrease the amount)
3 1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
2 tsp maple flavoring (we used McCormick brand found in the baking aisle)
breakfast sausage size collagen casings. (Tell the butcher how much meat you are working with and he/she can help with how many casings you will need.) We always get our casings and bulk spices at Great Lakes Butcher Supply.  

We started by trimming the skin from the pork and removing the meat from the bone. We removed the tough layers of fat and silver skin, and cubed the meat for easy grinding. (Sorry, I don't have any photos of this process, my hands were full of meat!)

Then we fitted the large grind on the hand crank meat grinder and did our first grind.

In a medium bowl whisk together all the spices, salt, sugar and flavorings.

Add it to the meat and work it by hand. We've tried several different ways to make this process more "civilized" but the best method is to just dig in with both hands and work the spices throughout the meat.

Fit the grinder with the smaller attachment and do a second grind. At this point, if your grinder has a small tube attachment, you can begin filing your casings. Our's doesn't so we had to use our Jerky Press Tube. It works best as a two person job, one squeezing the gun and another twisting the links.

When it was all done we finished with
90 Breakfast Sausage links plus extra for patties.
50 Sweet Italian links

Nothing was wasted in this process. I baked the skins and cartilage until much of the fat had rendered. The dried skins I saved for Oliver to chew as a treat and the bones I put in the crock pot with onions, celery, garlic, and parsley from the garden to make a rich pork bone stock.

Field Trip: Grand Rapids/Grand Haven Michigan

Zach and I had an amazing Saturday this past weekend! Monday is Zach's birthday and one of things he wanted to do was go for a day trip. Extended vacations are a thing of our past now that we have a farm full of animals that need feeding and watering day and night. So instead, we enjoy mini day trips when we can. Luckily, we live in a state where it's easy to try new things within a short distance. You can spend the day in the city enjoying art and culture, and in 30 minutes you can be at a state park in the woods, on the dunes, or on the shore of one of the Great Lakes. 

Yesterday, Zach got off work at noon and when he got home we headed out to Grand Rapids, Mi. The  first stop was the Fredrik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. This is an amazing place for a plant and art lover. The gardens span acres and acres of land holding a collection of different themed gardens including The Winter Shade Garden, The Farm Garden, The Children's Garden, a Bulb Garden and the up-and-coming Japanese Garden.

There is also a Sculpture garden which Zach took particular interest in as most of the pieces were formed from metal.

Being a blacksmith/sculpture himself, he enjoys mentally dissecting the pieces and tries to figure out how the artist constructed the final art. 

The grounds also boast a 5 story Tropical Conservatory with full size palms, tropical birds,

a waterfall and a stream with bridges.

My favorite part of the experience was the Carnivorous Plant conservatory

and the Succulent greenhouse.

There were so many varieties that I'd like to share,

I might break these two rooms into separate posts.

We also enjoyed a tour through the gallery featuring the work of David Nash. His exhibition seemed to be themed around trees, which was an appropriate study for a Garden atmosphere. 

After leaving the Gardens, we headed for downtown Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids is an eclectic town filled with a mix of inner city culture and industry which sets it apart from it's farm land outer reaches. Within the city you get a real mix of culture. There might be a soup kitchen two doors down from a 4 star restaurant. One thing is for sure, Grand Rapids is a food lover's dream! Tucked in the buildings that line the brick covered streets are gourmet bakeries, pasta shops, artisinal cheese and sausage shops and lots and lots of local breweries.

One of our favorite places was the Grand Rapids DowntownMarket. The whole place has a very epicurean feel. All of the vendors are of the highest quality and specialize in their product of choice. There was a raw juice bar, a chocolatier, artisian breads, a fish monger, butcher, fresh produce stand, spice merchant, wine cellar, imported cheeses and sausages, Gelato and many, many more.

We decided that we couldn't leave the market without bringing home some treats so we got a sampling of cookies from Sweet-licious Bakery which included Oatmeal Raisen with Butterscotch Chips and Maple Glaze, a Peanut Butter and a Chocolate Dollar which is like a gooey brownie. We also sampled the Molasses which might be the best cookie I've ever had. Molasses is my favorite though...so I might be biased. It took all my will power not to bring home one of the berry pies. But I reminded myself that we are planning on berry picking soon, so we will have more than enough berries to make desserts at home.

My favorite part of the market was the Old World Olive Co. Talk about fun! This vendor sells infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars that are absolutely amazing! The best part is that you get to sample all their different varieties. The flavors explode in your mouth. I never realized how complex and interesting a vinegar can be. With much debating and hemming and hawing between the 18 year Balsamic, the Espresso Balsamic, and the Dark Chocolate we decided on the Dark Chocolate which I plan on pairing with some grilled steaks tonight for dinner tonight. We were also impressed with the Wild Mushroom and Sage Olive oil, which would be amazing on roasted potatoes.

After we left the market we decided we needed some dinner. Zach wanted sushi for his birthday dinner so we decided to try Rockwell Republic, a restaurant that prides itself on using local ingredients and also has an awesome sushi menu.

We started with the Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps and then shared three rolls of sushi. The first was a Wagyu Steak with Soft Shell Crab and Spicy Mayo. Second, Smoked Duck with Shitake Mushrooms and Siracha and then we tried the roll on special, a Shrimp and Asparagus Roll with a Miso, Ginger Gaze. We finished it up with a Goat Cheese, Cheese Cake with Blueberries. The dessert was delicious, it had that lovely tang from the goat cheese which we loved!

After dinner, we headed to Grand Haven to watch the sunset on Lake Michigan.

I dipped my toes in the lake and it was FREEZING! I'm glad we brought sweatshirts because the wind coming off the lake was cold as well.

We enjoyed watching a few sailboats pass by in the sunset and relaxed on the beach in the cool evening air.

Such a wonderful day!         

CC Post: Scotch Eggs

Have you ever had Scotch Eggs? Delicious eggs wrapped in sausage and a crispy outer coating!!! Check out my latest Community Chickens post Scotch Eggs for a traditional recipe and a bit about the trip back in time where I first tried this rustic dish.

DIY Chicken Sausage, Part 3:Smoked to Deliciousness!

Check out the final post on sausage making DIY Chicken Sausage, Part 3: Smoked to Deliciousness!

DIY Chicken Sausage, Part 2: Making the Links

Are you grilling out for the 4th? Then check out my latest Community Chickens post DIY Chicken Sausage, Part 2: Making the Links and make this homemade treat part of your outdoor celebration!

Tough Meat, Tough Descisions: Intro to Homemade Chicken Sausage

Want to learn how to make homemade chicken sausage? Then follow along with my next few Community Chickens post, beginning with what started it all.  Tough Meat, Tough Decisions: Intro to Homemade Chicken Sausage.

Maple Syrup Success!

We did it! This weekend we boiled down some of our sap.

So far, we have around 15 gallons between our two large maples.

We boiled down about a gallon or two and got around a pint. Our syrup has a definite maple flavor, but it has slight notes of honey. We're thinking is due to the fact that we tapped a Red Maple as opposed to a Sugar Maple. But it's delicious!

My brother, niece and nephew came over to watch the fun. They stayed the night and we had pancakes and homemade breakfast sausage the next morning with our syrup.

Sweet Italian Sausage

Zach and I made this Italian sausage in a trial and error sort of way. We've tried the pre-packaged spice blends, but no matter how "all natural" they claim to be, there's always an artificial aftertaste that sort of takes away from that homemade satisfaction. So we went online and did a recipe search for sweet Italian, and to be honest, after tasting a few, they were quite bland. The majority of the ingredients you find on-line is parsley, salt and fennel. So we took that and jazzed it up a bit. When you make sausage, before you fill all your casings, take a little dab and throw it into the frying pan to see if you like it. If you think it needs something, you can still add it.

The recipe I give here is for 4 lbs of pork. We actually made 12 lbs total. But 4 lbs is a good manageable amount. You can double it, triple it, halve it...what ever works for you.

The pork we used was boneless country rib. We cut it up into approximately 1 inch cubes. LEAVE THE FAT!!! We made the mistake of cutting all the fat off of our first sausage, and it was dry like sawdust. Yum! The fat gets churned in and keeps the sausage moist. Most of it will cook out.

We feed the pork into our hand crank meat grinder and while Zach cranked the first grind, I soaked the casings.

We use all natural pork casings, yes, it's what you think it is. But I figure it this way, we eat all the rest of the pig, what's the difference really? And at least it's not synthetic silicone. The casings we get are packed in salt and they're kind of dehydrated and leathery. I soak them for a half hour, which softens them, then rinse once or twice.

Once the meat goes through the first large grind we season.  

Our concoction, going clockwise was chopped fresh parsley, fennel seeds chopped, salt, fresh cracked pepper, brown sugar, and minced garlic. Since this original post, we've tweaked the recipe to include sage, thyme and pepper flakes. 

Then we stirred it well and put it through the grinder again, with a finer grind plate.

While Zach was grinding for a second time, (he's such a trooper) I fitted the nozzle with the casing and tied the knot. The casing can be hard to open up at the end. If you hold the tip under running water, sometimes the water will catch the lip and inflate the casing, and you can find the opening.

We stuff the casings from our grinder. We attach the nozzle and grind the sausage through. As it comes out it turns into sausage.

When you fill one long casing, The sausage can then be twisted into links. Pinch it a bit before you twist because it's easy to break the casing. We leave the sausage in the fridge overnight, then cut them into individual pieces. The time in the fridge seems to firm everything up and the casings don't open up when cut.  


Recipe: (New and improved with a bit more herbs and a kick of spice.)

• 4 Lbs pork shoulder country rib
• 6 Tbsp brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh cracked pepper
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. chopped fennel seeds
• 3 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 Tbsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tsp chopped fresh sage