Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Sweet Rice!!!! Arkansas Grown!

With the hustle and bustle of school back in full swing, I thought I would share with you one of my go-to breakfast "treats" for the kiddos.  They are rice lovers and as some of you already know, Arkansas is the nation's largest rice growing state and we love to support local!!!!! GO ARKANSAS!!!!!!! Arkansas Grown!!!!

Anyhow, back on topic.  To make this recipe easy peasy, I simply make a double batch of rice for dinner the night before and set half of it in the refrigerator.  So this is great on taco night, just remember to set aside the rice ahead of time or your vermin kids will eat the rice and this plan won't work.

I usually set aside about 3-4 cups cooked rice.  We usually use brown rice, but on this particular occasion, we had white rice for whatever reason.  Either is fine.  Don't kill over with the details here.

When I sleepily awake, I preheat the oven to 350 degrees


I then generously butter a 9x9 Pyrex pan. A round glass pan works fine too. Don't get caught up in the details here.  Use what you have on hand.  If you are anti-butter, use non-stick spray.

At this point, I again get creative. Depending on what you have on hand and what you prefer in taste is what you can use.  We are sugar-free around here, so our mix is a bit different.  If you aren't, then tweak it a bit with milk and a bit of sugar.  (I didn't die growing up and that was what my mom used.)  The combo we use is as follows - 1 cup coconut milk, 1 cup whole milk, 2-4 tablespoons honey depending on if you like sweet or not, 1 tablespoon good vanilla, 1 good dash of cinnamon and a sprinkle of nutmeg and cloves.  Stir it together.  It will be a bit soupy.  Rice is starchy so it will absorb more of the liquids as it bakes and thicken slightly.

Pour into your baking dish.  Add a few dollops of butter (or not if you aren't into that kind of thing).  It just kind of melts into the sauce and makes it a bit richer.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes till it starts to get bubbly around the edges.  If you want to hurry this process along a bit more, you can raise the oven temp to 375 degrees during the last 10 minutes of baking for a more golden brown topping on the rice.  Just be warned, the edges will also brown a bit more.


Dish into bowls and watch your kiddos lap up like little kittens.  I serve this with scrambled eggs and toast to round out the meal.  This is such a treat.

PS - all the prep work for this can be done the night before and simply placed in the oven while you are scurrying around getting the kiddos ready for school.  Seriously, it's that easy.  Just be warned, your kids might love you a little more and think you are a super fab mom after this and you might get morning kisses with bad kid breath!



Sweet Rice Recipe
Ingredients
3-4 Cups Rice (brown or white)
2 cups milk type liquid (we use 1 cup coconut milk & 1 cup whole milk)
2-4 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon good vanilla
1 good dash cinnamon
sprinkle of nutmeg & cloves
Few dollops of butter for top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9x9 dish. Mix all ingredients.  Pour ingredients into pan. Place dollops of butter on top.  Bake 20-25 minutes till bubbly around edges. Serve in bowls.  Accept hugs gratefully.

Thoughts from the farm 8.30.16 NEVER GIVE UP

Thoughts from the farm this morning. Sometimes it takes someone showing us how much they care for us for us to recognize that it is ok to love ourselves. Loving ourselves despite our weaknesses and failures is tough, sometimes impossible. It's like trying to cook the perfect fried egg on a rusted out old, unseasoned cast iron skillet. It's near impossible, but with some ingenuity it might happen. I saw a friend of mine turn one upside down, coat it in aluminum foil and problem solved, while camping one time. 


Yesterday was full of little reminders of how full my life is of people who have loved me and still love me and that giving up is never an option. Just look at that pie pan. I wonder how many pies my grandma made in that and how many of life's problems were solved sitting around that very pie plate eating every crumb of those delicious pies she baked. I know Adam's world felt right last night. At least his 23rd thank you might have indicated that lol. 


Have a great day ya'll and remember NEVER GIVE UP! I know at least two people who love and care about you...me and God!


Monday, August 29, 2016

The Jam Junkie Alert!

I just wanted to take a quick minute to say THANK YOU for giving Bald Knob Farm a GREAT YEAR thus far!  YOU my farm friends have been great and inspiring support for our farm.  Just yesterday we had a couple stop by the farm and remind us that they are expecting to see us again at Easter and that is "their families tradition" to visit our farm.  It is interesting to hear all the stories from all of our farm friends through the years.  Keep them coming.  They put a smile on our face.  Well, our season is nearing a close, and it's hard to believe.  We are only 7-8 weeks away from season's end and that means NO MORE fresh veggies from the farm and NO MORE jams or jellies at farmer's market!  That's right!!!!  You should know, we HATE season's end.  It means we go for months without seeing your smiling faces and it also means that if I don't sell all these little beautiful jars of goodness, they will sit on my shelves and nobody will get to enjoy them quite like they should be enjoyed.  So, over the next few weeks, I am going to be doing something I've never done before.  I am going to be offering these once a week in special and unique packages like these here.  I will post them with a link and you can simply go in, select what you might like and make arrangements for either pickup here at the farm or directly from farmer's market.  The packages are a SUPER fab way to try new and exciting flavors that you might otherwise shy away from OR a great way to buy ahead for Christmas gifts.  I appreciate you supporting our FARM and our FAMILY and most importantly keeping your money LOCAL!!!!

So, here is the link for this week's Jam Junkie Alert . . .  Click Here for The Jam Junkie's LIMITED EDITION Specials for August 29th!