SLOW COOKED TEXAS BEEF BRISKET

This is a "low and slow" recipe I've had for years, and over time, I've tweaked it a bit here and there.  I have no idea where it originally came from, a newspaper as I recall, but after you tweak it and make it your own, I guess it becomes your own huh?  I'll post pictures of each step, and then I'll put the ingredients and/or what to do next to each one.

Dry Rub Ingredients:

2 tbsp salt

 1 tbsp pepper

 5 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 cup brown sugar

Put it all in a Ziploc bag and mix it up.  I do this so that cleanup is easier and let's face it, one less bowl to wash is always a good thing.

Next, get a 4-5 lb beef brisket.

Spread the rub all over the brisket,

being sure to coat both sides.  Let it rest for a few minutes while you prepare the next ingredients.

Next batch of ingredients:

1/4 cup soy sauce

3/4 cup strong black coffee

 1/3 cup Cider Vinegar

1 yellow onion

2-3 jalapeno peppers (optional)

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup liquid smoke

1/4 cup ketchup (not pictured)
Mix all together and set aside.

Chop the onions and slice the jalapenos.  Reserve a few jalapenos for later use and place the remaining peppers and all the onions in the bottom of the pan.

Pour the liquid ingredients you just mixed up over the onions and peppers...

Place brisket, fat side up.  You should always do this on briskets so that fat melts down through the meat.  Put it on top of onion/liquid mixture and top with a few of the reserved, sliced peppers.  Cover, and roast on low, 250 degrees, for about 4 hours...remove and check for doneness...it might need to go for another 30 mins/ 1 hour
(I said this was low and slow!)

When you remove the lid at the end, you should see something like this.  Check to make sure it's done and of course that it's super tender.

If desired, you can take these yummy drippings and simmer until reduced to make a sauce, 20 minutes or so on the stove top over low heat...or you can just pour it, as is, over the meat after you slice it up.

Let the brisket rest for about 10 minutes after removing from pan to allow juices to remain inside.  Here is a close-up.  It's brown and flavorful and ready to be sliced...

Slice across the grain, top with pan drippings/sauce if desired, and enjoy!

VIOLETS

"I smelt the violets in her hand and asked, half in words, half in signs, a question which meant "Is love the sweetness of flowers?"
                                                              ...Helen Keller

WEEKEND UPDATE

Neighbor's cattle

Where oh where were we this weekend?  At the farm?  In the city?

Alas we didn't make it to the farm, we stayed in town.  A combination of unexpected work, a minor plumbing problem at the house, and the Houston Texans playing in a playoff game.

Sadly, work was no fun, the plumbing problem was no fun, and the Texans were no fun.  I won't bore you with details but imagine a bad day at work, water on your kitchen floor, and your hometown team losing a pivotal game.

We would much rather have been here:

Rocking chairs on porch

I had hoped to get a lot of new pictures to share, but of course didn't.

Oh well, that will have to come this coming weekend.  We have SO much to do and now between the holidays and this, I feel like we're running behind, but I suppose we don't have to be in that much of a hurry.  It is only
mid-January after all.

The garden plans are coming along, that's the biggest priority I believe.  I just need some manual labor to get it started, namely, my own.  And then we've got the front living room full of books and other stuff to take out there, so we'll get things moving along again in the new year, just one week later than we had planned, ha.

VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY

Vintage Garden Poster, Grow Your Own Vegetables

This Sunday's vintage gardening poster is a neat one.  "Dig For Victory"....For their sake - grow your own vegetables."

I'm not sure if the victory relates to the war and winning the war helps the children, or if digging in to help out, means that children will eat better?  Either way, it's a message that, as often is the case with these, just as relevant today.

If more of us grew veggies, we'd have kids eating healthier.

More cauliflower and kale and less mcnuggets and french fries...for their sake!

Enjoy!

KEEPING YOUR SHEET PAN CLEAN DURING ROASTING

This might seem like an odd post, but 2nd Man asked that I post it for him so he could share his own little tip and trick.  We frequently roast food in the oven, chicken, pork chops, steaks, veggies, etc.

Roasting on a sheet pan can invariably create a lot of cleanup and scrubbing and with our recent drought, using lots of water washing it up afterward.

So this is our trick for easier and faster cleanup:

We put down some heavy duty foil (it's thicker and more durable), making sure it overlaps the edge a bit, and then lay a piece of parchment on top of that.  Then when your dish is done, simply fold it up, carefully of course, and throw away. 

Foil, Parchment and lots of bits and fat

Fold up carefully into a packet shape, juices and all.

Almost clean

A clean sheet pan ready to put in the cabinet

Now, we don't do this EVERY time we roast something, but when we're pressed for time or have company coming over, it's certainly a time saver.

Plus it keeps 2nd Man's pans looking good as new, so he can use them for other baking projects.

HOUSTON WATER RESTRICTIONS LIFTED

We got an email from the City of Houston, saying that because of the recent heavy rains and the cooler weather, they have lifted the water restrictions.

 That's good news of course, though my guess is that it's short lived.  They are talking about the drought continuing into next Summer, so any rains we get until then will just replenish what we lost and not even get us back to the pre-drought levels.  But still, it's good and welcome news.

 In their email, they asked people to voluntarily continue to conserve water and seeing that it's such a precious commodity, I agree 100%.  They sent out a list of tips on water conservation and so I thought I would share.

Every drop is precious

 Ways to use water wisely:

• Keep showers under five minutes.  Water save: 2 to 5 gallons per minute
• Remember to turn off water while brushing your teeth
• Wash only full loads of dishes or clothes
• Replace older model shower heads and faucet aerators with new low-flow models and install low water use toilets
• Inspect toilets for silent leaks by putting food coloring in the toilet tank.  If colored water leaks into the toilet bowl before flushing, water is being lost due to a worn our flapper
• Refrain from washing any vehicle or motorbike unless the dirt poses a driving hazard
• Refrain from washing down any sidewalk, walkway, driveway, parking lot or any other hard surfaced area
• Refrain from filling, refilling, or adding water to any indoor or outdoor swimming pool or spa

A CAUTIONARY TALE, FRIDAY FUNNY

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Two friars decide to open a florist shop.  Everyone wants to buy flowers from them so business is quickly booming.

The florist across town sees a huge drop in sales and asks the two friars to close their shop, but they refuse.

A few weeks later the florist again begs them to close because he's having trouble feeding his family.

Once again the friars refuse, so the florist hires Hugh McTaggert.

Hugh is the meanest, toughest thug in town and is asked to "persuade" the friars to close.  When they first refuse, he threatens to beat them up and says he will trash their shop every day that they remain open, so finally, they close.

Once again, this proves that Hugh and only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

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INSPIRATION THURSDAY, HEIRLOOM TOMATOES

Heirloom Tomatoes, image courtesy of Design Sponge

Sometimes, an inspiration can come from the oddest image.  I saw this picture online and it really made me want to grow heirloom tomatoes.  Not only for their unique qualities and tastes, but for their beauty and variety as well.

So I saved the image and now that we have gardens in the planning stage, I'm thinking a couple of beds full of heirlooms might just be the thing we need.

Have a great day and see ya round here tomorrow!

RAIN BARREL OUR WINTER PROJECT / RESOLUTION / GOAL

Now that the garden area is planned and clearing should begin soon, I need to move ahead with some other stuff for Spring plans.  With the new year here, and time for resolutions goals, I'm going to make this one of the must do things on the list:

Did you know that a 1000 square foot roof, with just 1/2 inch of rain, can provide you with 300 HUNDRED gallons of water?  With Houston's record breaking drought still ongoing, and worries it might persist into next year, we are strongly leaning toward getting a rain barrel, or perhaps even several. 

As you can see in this photo, this is the back corner (one of them anyway) of our house and we think it's the perfect spot to collect all the "free water" that falls from the sky.

Rain Barrel location?

The first thing we need to do is have gutters put on the house.  It's never had them.  Setting aside the water conservation advantages, since we just had the foundation repaired earlier this summer, it's best not to have water standing around the piers anyway.  Gutters are a necessity.

Here is a nice little graphic that shows how a rain barrel works:

If you click HERE, you will find an awesome little Rainfall Harvest Calculator.


Just put in your roof's length and width, the amount of rainfall, and it calculates how much water you can save from that rainfall.  You might be amazed at how much free water falls from the sky, even in a small rainstorm.

We haven't decided if we are going to buy a prefab barrel or make our own, there are instructions all over the Internet.  Of course I lean toward making our own because I love re-purposing things and doing DIY type stuff.

Another neat thing with them is that they can be linked together to increase the amount of water you can save.  We've got room for that too!

 
Here are two examples of more than one barrel linked together (or at least placed together).


You can even buy them ready to go at many places like this one at Home Depot.

They can also be painted, if you are so inclined, to bring out your artistic side.  Check this one out, so neat!

Here is a painted and decorated rain barrel picture I found online

This will be one of my early on projects now that we have the house back to ourselves. Well, I guess as soon as gutters go up would be the FIRST step, and then I'll work on the rain barrel project.  I guess I could have the barrels ready to go in the meantime, which might be a better process, then the gutters can be installed to match the height of the barrels.  Of course, as I will always do, once we start doing our own, I'll post step by step details of the process so that we can share with everyone.

UPDATE: Summer 2012 -  As those of you who follow the blog know, and for those who aren't here regularly, we didn't get to the garden project.  So we've put this project on our 2013 list.  Fingers crossed.  Check back soon!

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS

In Houston anyway!

An example of what our flooding does to our freeways

This morning we awoke to major storms moving in from overnight and we've had it all today...hail, lightning, high winds, funnel clouds, possible tornadoes, and of course, MAJOR flooding of roadways.  Of course, as usually happens, it hits, it's horrible and then it goes away and the water slowly recedes.  We've gotten in excess of 5 inches of rain, some places much more than that, so that's good.  We'll take the rain, but don't really want or need all of that other nonsense.

If anyone is curious about crazy weather in another part of the world, ha, you can read an article at the Houston Chronicle website HERE.


EVENING UPDATE:  Just heard on the news that today's rainfall was our heaviest rainfall in EIGHTEEN MONTHS.  That's right, we haven't had this much rain in one day in a year and a half.  We used to get these types of heavy rains several times per year.  That's astonishing.

NEW KITCHENAID 7 QUART MIXER



Kitchenaid 7 quart Mixer in the box



2nd Man keeps asking me if I posted about his Christmas present yet.  So here is 2nd Man's sort of Christmas present.  I say sort of because we bought this before Christmas and he said he didn't need anything else for Christmas, after of course I had already Santa had delivered presents.

Unboxing the Mixer

It's a new Kitchenaid Mixer.  With two kitchens for the foreseeable future, the mixer is not one of those things we can easily move back and forth as we need it.  So we moved one of these, the older one we've had for years, out to the farm (you probably saw it in the recent kitchen pictures) and we bought this one.  It's a new version they have, it's commercial quality, and has a 7 quart bowl, with the largest motor they have ever made, 1.3 hp!  It's also the quietest one they have ever made, and trust me, as great a product it is, they've never been on the "quiet side".  They really changed it with this new one.  Running on high, you can't even hear it in other parts of the house.

Kitchenaid Mixers, Old and New

Here they are side by side (new one on the right), before they were separated, ha.  We decided to stick with white, it goes with most anything, and since we have new, white appliances out there, it was the best choice.

Me: "Wow, you sure got a nice early present"

Him: "It's for us, not just me"

Me: "How do you figure that?"

Him: "Because you get to eat the results that come from the mixer"

How can I argue with that logic?  It's absolutely true!  LOL!

Of course, still not to the point where he can go out there and cook and bake, on a regular basis, but that will be coming, soon.

And you'll have a front row seat (and recipes)!

60000 PAGE VIEWS

60,000 page views.  Wow, just wow!

THANK YOU!

THANK YOU!

THANK YOU!

VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY

Victory Garden Poster

This poster is kind of fun.  I believe it dates from WWI, and there was even something called the "National War Garden Commission".  You gotta love a government agency with that title.

And what's not to like about marching alongside potatoes, carrots, beets (or are those radishes) and pumpkins?  I'm not sure, but I think this came after the end of the war, to celebrate victory.  It's a cute poster.

Remember, for those of you new to this feature, click on the the "history" label below (or to the right) and you can see all the posters I've found online so far.

Enjoy!

COW HAS QUADRUPLET BABIES

Mother cow and her FOUR babies

It's been awhile since I posted a 'random cuteness' photo.  I've posted a picture of a cute baby calf before, but when we saw this on the news last night, we thought it was so adorable we just had to share.

You can read the ARTICLE HERE.

Long story short, a cow at a dairy farm in Southern California gave birth to FOUR healthy, female babies.  Two are identical twins, the other two are fraternal twins.  The odds of quads being born, all female, and all alive, are almost 1 in 180,000,000.

Too cute!

EAT LOCALLY, LOCAL HARVEST WEBSITE

Here is a very cool website I recently discovered.  It's caled Local Harvest, and is an AWESOME online resource for eating and shopping for food locally.  In you aren't sure what that is or what that means, essentially it's a movement that is trying to get people to eat food from local suppliers.  That means you will get the best food, the freshest food, and best of all, you will support your local farmers, and that's always an important thing.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT LOCALHARVEST.ORG


At their WEBSITE, they have this awesome map that is interactive, meaning you can click and zoom down to where you live and see what's around you.  All those dots on the map are farms, farmer's markets, co ops, meat processors, even restaurants serving it, that are local to the area you are in.

Did you know that when you buy food at the grocery store, only 18 cents of your dollar goes to the actual farmer/grower and the other 82 cents goes to various middlemen who were involved in shipping the food?  In a perfect world, we could all do this all the time.  But I know it's not always easy, it's not always cheapest, it's not always convenient, but if you can do even a little bit and cut out the middlemen and support your local growers, that would be a huge step forward.  Every journey begins with a single step.





Buy Fresh Buy Local

Be a LOCAVORE!

INSPIRATION THURSDAY, BIRDBATH AMONG TULIPS

Tulips, Flowers and Birdbath

Love the flowers in this picture I found online.  It's nice to see flowering perennial bushes mixed in with bulbs.  I'll have to remember to hide some bulbs in the borders so they'll pop up at an unexpected time during the growing season.

You could even do that for Spring AND Fall bulbs.  It's always nice to get some color when you least expect it.

Have a good day and we'll see you back here tomorrow.

ZOMBIE BEES

Bee with Fly Parasite on its back

Now this story is quite alarming.  Scientists have discovered a tiny fly that deposits its eggs in the abdomen of honeybees, and the gestating larvae take over the bees brains, essentially turning them, for lack of a better term, into "zombies".  This causes them to go mad and become suicidal.

I know it sounds like something from a bad Sci Fi movie, but it's real and it's happening in California now.:

READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE

This is not the CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) that has been in the media the last few years, this is apparently a completely NEW thing they discovered that is affecting bees.  It is still unclear if this is a culprit for CCD as well.


Either way, it's a very real threat to our way of life as people don't realize how much we depend on the honeybee for the pollination of so many of our crops.  They are an important link in our food chain which, if eliminated or, in the least, vastly depopulated, would lead to major problems with our food supply.

 We need to keep all the bees healthy and happy!

BOOKCASES ARE IN THE LIVING ROOM

We finally got all of the bookcases out to the farm.  Without a "farm truck", we had to use 2nd Man's car but fortunately, it's a large Jeep and the bookcases fit perfectly...ONE AT A TIME, LOL. So three trips later, we got these out there and in place.  The chairs are temporary, it's where they ended up as they are the only places we have to sit out there currently.

Can't wait to fill these up with books, which are still slowly being gone through.  Hope to start carrying out loads of them this coming weekend.  I was slightly disappointed though because at the house now, they were all on one wall in a row and fit perfectly, but in this configuration, they don't quite meet up, creating a bit of a gap in the corner.  Oh well, they still look great and are exactly what we wanted for the living room.

DIFFERENT VARIETIES AND TYPES OF HONEY

Honey Varieties

After I recently blogged about taking a BEE CLASS, and my desire to have our own hives, I've been doing lots of reading about bees and beekeeping and of course, the BENEFITS OF HONEY.  

During my reading, I found this interesting information about the varieties of honey, and how the color and flavor is affected by the main source of the bees' pollen.  As you can see, honey can be different shades and colors, and even have different flavors.

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Clover, Sweet

Clover yields massive amounts of nectar popular with beekeepers as a source; white in color and mild in flavor.

Clover, White

Most-used east of the Mississippi; color is white to extra-light amber with a mild, delicious flavor.

Cotton

Used mostly in Texas now; light in color with a mild flavor

Dandelion

Honey is yellow with a strong flavor.

Eucalyptus

Varies in color and flavor but is overall bold with a slightly medicinal aftertaste.

Fireweed

Light in color and mild in flavor.

Gallberry

A Southern U.S. favorite; light amber with a pleasant aromatic flavor; does not crystallize making it a good candidate for chunk honey.

Goldenrod

Popular in Northern U.S. and Eastern Canada; yellow with a rich flavor.

Horsemint

White to light-amber with a minty flavor; may have a strong odor

Maple

Light amber to slightly darker; good flavor.

Mesquite

Light amber to white; usually mixed with others.

Orange and Citrus

A major source; white in color, mild flavor with delicate citrus blossom aroma.

Raspberry

White with a delicious flavor.

Saw Palmetto

Often considered the best in Florida; rich yellow in color.

Sourwood

Considered the most delicious in the eastern states; water-white with a mild, delicious flavor; sold mostly as comb honey or chunk comb honey.

Spanish Needles

Golden yellow with a pronounced flavor; can be mixed with white clover honey to obtain a mild, golden-tinted honey.

Sumac

Light amber with an excellent flavor.

Sweet Pepper Bush

Light yellow with a mild flavor and aroma of the bloom; marketed under the scientific name of Clethra.

Tulip Poplar

Red-amber with good flavor.

Tupelo

Popular in Georgia and Florida; light amber with a mild flavor and heavy body, does not granulate.

Vetch

Water-white, mild; wide selection of flavors, colors, and textures.

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Enjoy!

TEACUP BIRDFEEDERS

 This is a neat craft project and it's pretty simple too.  I don't have step by step pictures, because I haven't made one yet, but the instructions are pretty clear.  You simply glue a teacup to a saucer using some glue...

Lightly sand the bottom of the cup so that it will make a stronger bond to the saucer....

 E6000 Craft Adhesive (available most anywhere) would be the best type of glue to use...glue the cup to the saucer, let set, and if putting a spoon on it, repeat steps for that as well.  Let dry for 24 hours (I know, waiting is the hardest part).  Then get a 1/2" copper cap, sand the top of it and glue it to the bottom of the saucer.  This must also wait for 24 hours, and be sure to use lots of glue, it's the part of the project that needs the strongest bond. 

After the cap is good and stuck, insert a length of 1/2" copper pipe into the cap (this is what holds it on) or you can use a wooden dowel that fits the cap as was done here.  Then you simply insert the pipe into the ground or a potted plant.  Fill with water and/or birdseed and you're good to go!

As the pictures on this page show, you can do water only and just use it for the passing thirsty bird...or you can put birdseed only in the cup and leave the saucer empty for the passing hungry bird... 

Or best of all, you can put water in the cup and birdseed around the bottom edge, giving you have a combination feeder and waterer.

Whatever you do, it's a sure bet that your birds will love you for it.

VINTAGE POSTER SUNDAY

Vintage Garden Poster, World Cry, FOOD

Today is New Years Day, and it's also my vintage poster Sunday feature, and I thought this seemed appropriate for both.  There is something about this one that makes me think of a New Year.  

This vintage poster is from 1918, WWI of course.  The US Food Administration put this poster out to remind people that the world cry was for food...and the home front needed to keep the gardens going.

I think the world cry has always been for food, then and now, and the more of us growing our own in our own gardens, the better.

Here's to a bountiful 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

Hope you and your family have/had a wonderful New Year's holiday.  I chose this image because it reminds me of why we're doing all this gardening and farming, to have, hopefully, results like this!

So let's make 2012 the best gardening year ever!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!