🦌Mini Cheddar Meatloaves | Cooking With Venison | Large Family Freezer Meal

Meatloaf sure does get a bad rap.  But it shouldn't.  If you haven't had meatloaf since childhood it's time to give it a try now as an adult.  There are so many yummy recipes out there for meatloaf, but if you like cheese as much as I do this is the one you'll want to try.

If you've been following along with me on YouTube you'll know that I rarely make a single recipe of anything.  This is another large family sized recipe.  Enough to make some for tonight's supper and then flash freeze the rest.  Pull those out of the freezer on an exceptionally busy day for an easy supper.

Mini Cheddar Meatloaves (makes 42-48)

7 pounds ground venison (or meat of choice)

6 eggs

4 1/2 cups milk

6 cups shredded cheddar cheese

3 cups oatmeal

3 cups onion

6 tsp. salt (regular, seasoned, garlic - whatever you like)

Mix together in giant bowl with clean hands.  Shape into small oval loaves.  

Place on parchment paper lined baking sheets and freeze.  Transfer to freezer bags.

If making some tonight.  Place on parchment paper lined baking sheets and top with ketchup topping.

Topping: (enough for about 8 loaves)

2/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. yellow mustard

Whisk together and spread over mini meatloaves.  Bake uncovered for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

If preparing from frozen I set out a bag at lunchtime to thaw slightly.  Make ketchup topping and bake at 350 for about 1 hour and 15 minutes until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees.

For the full YouTube video tutorial click here.  

How to Make a Rhubarb Pie & Homemade Pie Crust

Who doesn't love pie?

I love pie so much.

And if you love pie as much as I do you are going to want to learn how to make them homemade because have you looked at the price of a bakery pie?  OMG - they are crazy expensive or unthinkably small.  

Does baking a pie scare you?  It shouldn't.  It definitely isn't difficult, just a little time consuming.  In an effort to be always efficient today we made TEN pies at once.  It helps to enlist a few extra hands and in my case I grabbed three unsuspecting TV watching nappers and put them to work.  It wasn't long and we were filling the freezer with rhubarb pies.

Let's talk about crust.  It needs to be flaky and light.  The best way I've found to get the most desirable crust is to use lard.  Yes, lard.

This recipe makes enough crust for 2 double crust pies or 4 single crust pies.  It also freezes well so if you don't use it all just shape a crust size amount of dough into a small round, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.  

Best Ever Pie Crust

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup + 2 T. lard

5 T. water

1 T. vinegar

1 egg

Combine dry ingredients.  Cut in lard until crumbly.  Whisk wet ingredients and stir into flour mixture.  Stir together just until mixed.  Divide dough and roll out using a little extra flour.

That's it.  I'm sure you can do it, just don't over mix or you'll get tough dough.

On this particular day I made two different rhubarb pie recipes so we could compare and see which one we liked better.  Since this was my first time freezing rhubarb pies I wasn't sure if they would get too juicy and need a little extra flour.  (They didn't)

Rhubarb Pie

3 cups sliced rhubarb

1 cup sugar

sprinkle of nutmeg

1 egg

3 T. flour

Mix all together and pour into unbaked pie crust.

Topping:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter

Mix flour and sugar; cut in butter until crumbly.  I use my food processor to make quick work out of this.  Spread over rhubarb mixture.  Place in 2 gallon freezer bag and freeze.  May stack after all pies are froze solid.

(Repeat for each pie you're making.)

Rhubarb Nut Pie

3 cups rhubarb

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

1/2 cup flour

Layer rhubarb, nuts and brown sugar in unbaked pie crust.  Beat together eggs and melted butter.  Add white sugar and flour.  Mix well and pour over rhubarb.  Place in 2 gallon freezer bag, freeze, may stack once completely frozen.

Baking frozen pies

Do not thaw.  Place frozen pie in 350 degree pre-heated oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.  Turn off oven; leave pie in for another 10-15 minutes.  Both pies can be served warm, room temperature or cold - whatever you prefer.

If you'd prefer to watch the making of these pies in action check out my YouTube video.  Click here.

Tell me, are you a pie baker?  What's your favorite pie?

OR

Haven't you taken the plunge into baking pies?  Why not?

Homesteading Mishaps

The reality is I will never be going off the grid by choice.  As much as I love the word homesteading and try my hardest to act like a homesteader, I'm simply not one.

I do love gardening in a soft cotton dress.  I love the taste of pure maple syrup.  I love, love, love canning vegetables, jams, and juices.  I love the flavor of fresh eggs in hues of brown, blue, and green.  I love butchering*, grinding, and wrapping fresh venison in the fall.  I love baking bread in a pan found in my grandparents' basement.  I love blackberry picking along our woods trails.  And I love a well-worn apron.

*For the record, Warren and the kids do the butchering.

Homesteading and getting it right is hard work.  Years ago my canning goal was to put up 52 quarts of whatever I was making.  One quart a week of tomato juice, salsa, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, green beans, cranberry sauce, pickles.  As our family grew and appetites increased, so did the number of outside activities, loads of laundry, and time spent cooking.  I really should be putting up double, but finding time for a garden that size is hard.  And some days I'm just not up to the challenge.

A number of us were feeling under the weather this week and a pot of Hug and Kiss Soup is the perfect remedy.  Sadly, though, those two empty jars were the last of my supply of tomato juice.  We still have plenty of soup and chili days ahead of us here in Wisconsin and leave it to me to run out of tomato juice - the starter for both.  #homesteadinghardships #notselfreliantenough

And this beautiful picture has a very sad ending.  Sunday was finally the day to cook down the sap.  At the beginning of the season my goal was to make 2 quarts.  Not much, but about 7 times as much as Sam and I made last year.  Sam and I had the sap boiling away and came in to make supper.  We took turns checking on it every 20-30 minutes.  I checked on it.  It's getting close when it really starts smelling like maple syrup, which it did.  I ran in the house for something, decided to put away the leftover brats so I could take the boiling liquid outside to dump.  That's when I saw it - the fireball inside the kettle.  Before charring the syrup, it looked like we were going to have about 12-14 oz.  Last year our entire production amounted to only 6 oz.  Back to square one, but now the weather isn't conducive for a good sap run.

On a positive note, Nick filled the freezer for our Lenten fish fries.  Add to it the Northern Pike caught up North this winter and we're set for seven weeks of fish.  #homesteadingforLent

Share your best homesteading tips.  I need all the help I can get.

Hold your hat on, it's a blustery day out there.

EXTREMELY small Batch Maple Syrup Making

I shared a picture from last week's tap setting, and now I have the rest of the story.

Sam has been learning all he can about maple syrup making in Wisconsin so he can write the winning essay for the Ag in the Classroom essay contest.  I don't know of any better way to learn than to jump in and learn as we go.  Here's a picture diary of the process.

Drilling for the first tap.

Setting the tap.

We're in business!

Running to the next Maple tree.

Little brothers helping?  getting in the way?

Now we wait for the first few drops of spring tonic.

Our sap running weather was very short and we only put out two taps, so not much sap before the cold weather set in again.  We got 2.5 gallons of sap and did a quick calculation:

                                                                1 gallon syrup            x

                                                               -------------------   =  ---------------

                                                               40 gallons sap          2.5 gallons sap

                                                                                         x  =  .0625 gallons

One more proportion to convert gallons to cups and we should yield a whopping 1 cup of pure maple syrup.  Let's see what happened.

We strained out bits of bark from the sap.

We assessed the strainings and felt slightly guilty for using a $1.59 filter for this tiny amount of sap.

This is a costly way of cooking down sap, but for our first time and such a small amount of  sap, and I couldn't spend a lot of time outside boiling with Sam, it worked best to have him close to the house in case he had questions or needed me.

Once it started boiling, Sam was sure it would only take a few minutes.  He was in for a surprise when after 30 minutes he was still hunched over the pot.  He must have realized he was going to be there a while because at one point I looked out and saw him dragging a lawn chair to his watch spot.  He stirred and checked the thermometer and stirred some more.  It cooked down so low that the thermometer wouldn't even reach.  Even funnier is we didn't even have enough syrup to check it's density using the hydrometer.  Finally it was time to finish it in the house in a wee sized kettle.

 And here you have it!  Our first taste of our own maple syrup.  Almost 1 full cup.

And for the record, it tasted so good on homemade waffles this morning.

Daytime temps are moderating again; the buckets are out again!

Linking up with

Trying Our Hand At Maple Syrup Making

Sam is working on the Ag in the Classroom essay contest.  This year's topic is making maple syrup in Wisconsin.  What better way is there to learn about maple syrup than to tap a couple trees and make some syrup of our own.  Sam's been reading about small batch maple syrup making on the Whole Fed Homestead blog.  Today we tapped a couple trees....can't wait to see what's in the bucket tomorrow.

Reading story books is helping us all learn more about the art of making maple syrup.  Here are our favorites from today:

Do you have any maple syrup making tips for us newbies?  Please share.  We're at the bottom of our learning curve.  

The Making of Cranberry Sauce....(in pictures)

Did you stock up on cranberries in October?  Did you toss them in your freezer with big plans for using them in muffins and breads and salad fluffs?  Are they still there?  Right where they landed?

Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Since we grow cranberries, my idea of stocking up means 225 pounds of cranberries fill my freezer(s).  It was time to use some up, so I pulled out the stockpot and Back to Basics Strainer and Berry Screen.  Time to make some cranberry sauce.  I like making a large batch of cranberry sauce.  One, because we like it.  Two, because there's a lot of us.  Three, because I don't like washing the food strainer very often. 

 Here's what I do:

Bring 8 cups water and almost 8 cups sugar to a hard boil over high heat.  Boil for 5 minutes.  Now, I understand that 8 cups of sugar is A LOT, however, when it comes to fruit gelling, sugar is a necessary component.  If you do want to cut back on the sugar, do so in 1/4 cup increments and expect your sauce to be softer set.  

As the sugar solution is boiling, measure out 16 FULL cups of cranberries.  I always use frozen fruit.

Add cranberries to sugar water.

Stir in the fruit with a wooden spoon.  The frozen cranberries will be coated in sugar water and be very shiny and beautiful.  Return to boil.  Reduce heat to a slow boil and cook for 15-20 minutes.  

 The berries should pop (skins are split) and the mixture should be slightly thickened.  It will also look frothy.  This is completely normal.  I don't bother with skimming this off, even though many recipes call for it.  Stir once every 5 minutes or so.

While the cranberries are cooking, set up the strainer.  If you don't want to invest in a food strainer, a mesh strainer and wooden spoon work well, albeit much slower, but less to wash up in the end.  I'm able to fit half of the sauce in the hopper at a time.  Strain into large bowl.

  

Repeat with remaining sauce.  Stir well to combine liquid and pulp.

 Pour prepared sauce into wide mouth canning jars.  

Place lids and rings on jars.  Place in rack.  Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.  The cranberry sauce is now shelf stable and can be stored in a cool, dry location for up to 1 year (or more).  Or, even easier is to just store jars in your refrigerator.  This will stay fresh just as long as any jelly. I'm guessing 3-4 months.

There's always a little sauce that can be scraped from the bowl.  Don't waste this warm, sweet, yet tart, goodness.  Spread it on a slice of buttered bread and enjoy.  I had freshly made poppyseed egg bread on the counter.  Yum!

My sauce if fully gelled by the next morning.  Ready to enjoy!

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Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce

We've had a garden every summer since 1996.  The vegetables grown have varied, except for tomatoes.  I always grow tomatoes.  I've never canned spaghetti sauce.  Never.

Tomato Juice?  Yes
Salsa?  Yes
Pizza Sauce?  Yes (once)
Spaghetti Sauce?  No Never

Until this year.  The tomato plants just won't (present tense) quit producing tomatoes.  So I decided to finally try my hand at making spaghetti sauce.  We're not huge spaghetti w/ meat sauce eaters, but I think that's about to change.  I like to write just how I think, so here goes.

My friend makes spaghetti sauce so I asked her for the recipe.  She obliged and emailed it right over. The email began with, "I loosely follow this recipe."   Then she went on to share her directions.  My first time.  Loose directions.  More directions.  The original recipe starts with canned tomatoes, but I'm supposed to convert that into garden fresh tomatoes.  I just couldn't do it, so I did what any woman with an entire cabinet full of cookbooks, canning manuals, and food magazines would do.....I Googled "Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce".  I found a recipe with similar ingredients to the original "loosely followed recipe" only this one started with a 1/2 bushel of garden fresh tomatoes.  Now that I can understand.  Even better it claimed to take only 3 hours.  Perfect!  Because that's exactly the amount of time I'm willing to spend on this project.

Approximately 32 hours later, I began ladling spaghetti sauce into clean, hot Kerr jars.  I'm not sure where exactly the "3 hours" number came from.  Maybe they assumed the tomatoes were already picked, washed, weighed, and quartered.  Maybe they thought my food press was hooked up to an electric crank with endless energy for cranking and saucing tomatoes.  Maybe they were home alone without any butts to wipe, books to read, writing assignments to edit, clothes to wash, lunch to make, dinner to make.  Maybe they were simply in a time warp.  I'm going with the last one.

Anyway, the sauce is on the canning shelf ready for our next spaghetti supper, which looks to be sometime in December based on our spaghetti eating history.

Here's the picture version of what I did...basically.

By the way, more tomatoes await picking.

The recipe I used, which I followed to the "T" came from food.com.

As always HAPPY CANNING!

Canning Jalapenos

We love spicy food so it only seems natural to preserve any extra jalapenos the garden produces.

I simply wash and slice the peppers into rings.  Most of the pepper's heat comes from the seeds so I leave the seeds right where they are.

I then pack them tightly into half pint jars.  Remember to wear rubber gloves otherwise later in the evening when you're feeling a bit sleepy you'll rub your eyes and then they'll start burning so you'll rub them a little more and they'll burn some more and then you'll wonder what's going on and after a quick replay of the day you'll realize you sliced 40 jalapenos without gloves and now your eyes and probably even finger tips are burning and nothing will bring relief except time.  It's happened to me.  Learn from my mistakes; wear gloves!

Next I boil up a solution of 6 cups vinegar, 2 cups water and a couple of smashed garlic cloves.  Once it boils, simmer for 5 minutes.  Discard garlic and pour brine over jalapenos, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Adjust two-piece caps and process in boiling water canner for about 10 minutes.  Remaining vinegar mixture can be saved in a tightly covered jar for 10 days.

A favorite Packer Sunday tradition is to make a huge plate of nachos with all the fixins, and these jalapenos top it off nicely.  

Other ways to eat these up

Top a hamburger with a few peppers and a slice of cheese

Dice up jalapenos and an onion, saute; then add BBQ sauce and whiskey - top a hamburger with this mixture

Add to scrambled eggs with a little cheese and onion

Use as a topping for tacos

We have been enjoying a rainy week so far.  I know for Warren and all those who work outside it's screwed things up a bit, but we are still grateful for the much needed rain.

I'm linking up with The Art of Home-Making Mondays.

Delicious Frozen Sweet Corn

Nothing tastes more like summer than fresh picked sweet corn in August.  Don't you wish you could get that flavor in January?  I do.  And with the help of a recipe from an old-fashioned cookbook, Chit Chat Homemakers, you can too.

For you local folks, head over to Nekoosa and pick up some super sweet corn from a disabled vet.  I talked to him yesterday and he relies on sweet corn sales for a good portion of his income.  It is some of the best I've ever had.   FYI:  he's located on the street across from Beaver's, sort of.  I bought 5 bags which pencils out to 70 ears of corn.  We ate about a dozen with our tacos last night and then froze the rest.

Here's my method for freezing corn.  I've adapted the original recipe to suit our tastes.  I'll share my version of the recipe after the pictures.

Step 1 - Shuck the corn, remove all silks.

Step 2 - It's time to cut the kernels from the cob.  In the past I've stabled the cob on a cutting board and cut the kernels letting them fall.  It makes a huge mess.  This time I was thinking I needed a way to balance the cob and then a bowl to catch the kernels.  Looking through the cupboards I found my angel food cake pan.  The center opening was too large and as the kernels were removed the cob kept pushing through the opening.  The idea was right, just the wrong pan.  So I grabbed my bundt pan and it worked perfectly.

 The cob balanced easily in the opening and the kernels fell in the pan.  Hardly any mess at all.  I also tried my Rada bread knife and it worked like a dream.

And then in no time (a little more than an hour even with lots of distractions) your counter will be covered in bowls of corn.

Step 3 - Cook corn with water, salt, sugar and.  At this point the distractions ramped up so I don't have anymore pictures.  But basically you bring the corn to barely a boil for 2 minutes.  Then add butter.  Cool slightly.  Pack into freezer bags or containers.  Cool a little more and freeze.  When you take these out of the freezer in the dead of winter, thaw and heat until hot you will be taken right back to summer.  It's so good. (please excuse the dirty stove top, it's been working a lot of overtime hours)

Fresh Frozen Corn

6 cups sweet corn kernels

1 1/2 c. water

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 T. sugar

2 T. butter

Place corn, water, salt, and sugar in pot.  Bring to a slight boil for two minutes, stirring often.  Add butter, stir to melt.  Cool slightly.  Pack in family size portions.  Note:  I double this recipe and cook in my large pots.  If suppose you could cook this in a huge canning kettle, but it would need constant stirring.  I just can't commit to that so I cook it in smaller batches in multiple pots on the stove at one time.  

And since apple time is near, another recipe you might enjoy.

Rustic Apple Pie

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