12 Game Day Recipes That Score Every Time! March Madness Recipe Roundup

Recently, the State of Indiana declared that ALL people living in our state were to be known henceforth and forever as Hoosiers.  Now, let me tell you something.  I have laid pretty low on all the political back and forth hullabaloo, but I just have to come out and declare my TOTAL OPPOSITION to this name, at least for a few days out of the year.  During those few days, I renounce the name of Hoosier in favor of my preferred name, BOILERMAKER, and those days are the ones when Purdue and IU square off in a game of sport!

A few years ago Miss K and her 6th grade team got to go on the floor of Mackey and shoot a free throw after a women's game.  K make her shot!  *Editor's note:  They were only wearing red and white jerseys because they are Sacred Heart's colors

32 years ago on February 24, a day that lives in infamy for all Boilermakers, a coach by the name of Bobby Knight threw a chair onto the basketball court to show his displeasure with a called foul.  That little burst of temper earned him a quick ticket out of the gymnasium, being he had already been T-ed up once. T-ed up means already received a technical foul. A second technical foul earns the offender an ejection from the game.  The rivalry that Coach Keady and Coach Knight created lives on today. Families will divide, couples, neighbors....There aren't too many people living in Indiana who have a neutral stance when the Black and Gold meet the Crimson and Cream.

In Indiana, we really live for this stuff.  The PU vs. IU rivalry knows no bounds, but our two main grudge matches usually occur on the football field and basketball court.  While the good people of New Orleans are wrapping up celebrating Mardi Gras, a large percentage of people in Indiana will be hunkered down with their favorite drinks and food in living rooms and local establishments glued to their television or other media screens watching the game.  This is the BIG one for basketball fans in our state.  Not even the POTUS can interfere with watching the game.

Our state's obsession carries right over to the Big Ten Tourney and the next three weeks of March Madness also know as the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament!  We schedule life events around these games..... I'm serious!

For those hosting parties to watch the game, I have gathered recipes from my own stash and those of my good friends who know how to cook and who are Purdue graduates and/or bleed Black and Gold!

By the way, I was born and raised in Tippecanoe County, home of Purdue University!  While I did leave to earn my English/Secondary Education Major and French minor at Ball State University, and I did start my MS at Butler, I moved back home and finished my MS in English/secondary Education at Purdue in 1988.  

Okay, no back to eating some great Game Day foods perfect for tonight and the oncoming Madness of March!  From my stash of recipes....

1.  Spicy Chicken Queso Dip

2. Fan Favorite 7 Layer Mexican Dip

3.  Caramel Apple Dippers

And now from some great Purdue alumni and fans!

With both an MS(2007) and Ph.D.(2010) from Purdue, Marybeth, at My Fearless Kitchen, her husband, and his family hold several degrees from Purdue!

4.  Slow Cooker Cranberry Meatballs

Another Tippecanoe native and Purdue grad, Class of '06 is Liz Woodruff Kelsay from The Farmwife Cooks who offers up a yummy beef and rice dip.

5.  Crock Pot Beet Enchilada and Rice Dip

From the Class of 2009, Claire from her blog, Bloom, shows us how to use some her canned salsa to make...

6. Summer Salsa Queso

Since Claire's husband and mother-in-law also graduated from Purdue, she offers up an awesome sandwich idea from her blog, Broken Arrow Acres.

7. Slow Cooker Cuban Sandwiches

Miss Elaine, from Fit Farm Family, is keeping a healthy option on her Purdue Black & Gold table with

8.  Elaine's Cowboy Caviar

Miss Jeanette's life is now focused on Indiana Pork, but once upon a time in 1997 she graduated from Purdue and found herself working for Purdue from 2004-2015 as Director of Indiana Wines.  She writes at Fence Row to Fence Row and offers us another sandwich option.

9.  Quick and Easy Cheesy Beef Sandwiches

My friend, Miss Sarah, from Farmwife Crafts, is a huge Purdue fan and adds a yummy appetizer.

10.  Sweet and Spicy Meatballs

Even though she is from Illinois, Crystal, at Chasing Saturdays, roots for the Black and Gold as does her Purdue grad husband.  Crystal brings another appetizer to our table.

11.  Bacon-Wrapped Smokies

Stacy, blogging at The Backroad Life and a December 2005 Purdue alumni, finishes off our Boilermaker Party table with a dish to complement all of our sandwich recipes. 

12.  Garden Salad Pasta

Ok!  There you go. Peeps!  Run to the grocery on your way home and snatch up ingredients you will need to make a few or all of these great Game Day recipes, and let the best team win  HAMMER DOWN BOILER UP!

Until next time, Peeps, have a great 

BLACK & GOLD day and go make a 

possitive difference in someone's day!

(Maybe you could cheer up a sad IU fan tomorrow, 

and buy him/her a cup of coffee.)

$35 Dollars Well Spent

$35.00.......  That's a good amount of money to plot out a fun day.  Take a friend out to lunch.  Go see a movie. Splurge on a new shirt.  The possibilities are endless, but how many of us take the time to do any of these things?  I'm talking to the moms out there.  The ladies who are taking care of flu-sick families, cleaning up after everyone, running healthy kiddos to basketball practices, attending school and volunteer meetings, packing inspiring lunches, and creating mouth-watering meals for supper time.

Know anyone like that?

Yeah, Me neither.  (Ha Ha!)

Some of us are doing all this on top of a job that takes us away from the home.  My hat is off to those special moms!

I have some advice that I finally took myself:  Make a little time to do something for yourself!  Make $35 your limit or $40, and find a way to spend it so that you come back from your experience a happier, calmer, better mom.

Well, after rescheduling my $35 plan two times to help others in my family do what they needed to do, I finally kept my appointment yesterday.  The crazy thing is I almost called and canceled again because staying at home for just a bit sounded so tempting and peaceful, but I'm glad summoned up the energy to put myself in the van and head south 25 miles for this:

Yes, those are my little piggies.  Did you know that it is hard to take a picture of your toes?  Yep, They want to do all sorts of crazy things like spread apart, or hide behind each other.  Come to think of it, that's about how real piggies act.....  Anywho, you get the idea.  I went and had a pedicure!

Now if you don't like people messing with your toes, you could try a manicure, but this was one hour of heaven for me!  My pedi included a foot and lower leg massage, a water massage for my feet, and the whole time I was sitting in an electric massage chair with several settings so I could find just the right soothing effect.   Some minutes were spent with Taylor, the bright young lady working hard to make my toes pretty, and I chatting, but about half the time was spent in pleasant silence.

Mommas out there, I strongly encourage you to take $35 and spend on yourselves in an effort to grab a bit of calm and well-deserved peace for yourself.  Shoot, there might be some thing you want to do that fits this bill and is free! Having a pedi did the trick for me.  The pink makes me smile, and I came home totally relaxed..... well until everyone started coming in the door with all the tales and stresses of their days.  I could honestly smile and give an understanding ear to all the news of the day because under the table my little piggies were still enjoying the afterglow of their spa time.

I would love to hear how you give yourself a bit of pampering and "Me" time.  Please share them in the comments below!

Promise me, or rather, promise yourself you will grab a bit of time just for you.  You are worth it!

Chocolate Mint Truffles Just in Time for Valentine's Day or Any Time You Need CHOCOLATE!

Which type of chocolate do you prefer?  Dark?  Semi-sweet?  Milk?  

Whatever your answer is, this recipe for Chocolate Mint Truffles is one that will make you all happy because you can adjust the type of chocolate to your preference.  It's so darn easy to make that you can leave this recipe out, and your kiddos and even your husband can make them for their favorite Valentine, that's YOU, without any worries in the kitchen.  It's a pretty much no-fail recipe!

I have a confession to make.....I have a special sweet tooth reserved for CHOCOLATE!  Shhhhhh! In the world of chocolate, DARK chocolate is my favorite.  This is a great thing because no one else in my family is a big fan of this delicious bit of heaven, so it's mine....all mine! (insert maniacle crazy voice).

~Farm News~

There sure is love in the air around here in the cow lot.  Mommas are lovin' on their babies.  We are up to six new calves: 5 little ladies and one little gentleman.  Our newest momma is very protective of her calf.  Last year, her calf was born breach and did not survive.  It seemed that she then appointed herself "Auntie" of the lot and watched over all the other youngins. Tall Guy and I are very excited that she has a little one this year to care for, but she will have to be watched carefully when we are in the lot.  She must be watched because she tends to charge anyone trying to get too close to her or her calf.  I appreciate a protective momma, but I also value our safety out on the lot.

Alrighty.  Since most the mommas are happy out in the lot, it's time to make this momma happy and make some little balls of chocolate mint heaven.  Are you ready?

All the ingredients you probably have in your kitchen already.  That's a huge star in my recipe book. Here they are:  

Cream Cheese:  I used the "original" Kraft Cream Cheese, but I'm sure you could also use the low-fat version.

Chocolate Bar:  The recipe calls for 70% dark chocolate, and I went to my favorite maker, Ghirardelli! Any type of chocolate would work, so pick the brand and type you like!

And the rest are:

Sugar*

Peppermint Oil

Cocoa Powder**

Powdered Sugar*

Easy Peasy right?  The original recipe didn't call for the Powdered Sugar, but after eating the truffle rolled in just cocoa, I thought the first taste was a bit bitter to my liking, so I took each ball for a little spin in a bowl of the white fluffy stuff.  May I just say.....PERFECT!

*For those of you trying to cut out sugar, you can use special sugars in place of the old standards. Try Swerve Confectioners and Swerve Granular Sugar.   You won't know the difference, promise!

** For the cocoa powder, I went with 1/2 good old Hershey's Cocoa Powder and half of their NEW Hershey's Special Dark Cacao Powder.  This is a head's up for all my fellow dark chocolate lovers!

Printable Recipe

Chocolate Mint Truffles      

Ingredients

• 8 oz. Cream Cheese
• 4 oz. Dark Chocolate                Can use Ghirardelli
• 2 Tbsp. Granulated Sugar      Can use  Swerve Granular Sugar
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. Peppermint Oil
• 2 Tbsp. Cocoa                              Can use half Hershey's Cocoa Powder and half Hershey's Special                                                           Dark Cacao Powder
• Powdered Sugar                         Can use Swerve Confectioners 

Cooking Directions

1. Let the cream cheese sit out until room temperature, or put it in the microwave, and stir after 15-second intervals until warm and soft.
2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave and once melted, let cool to the same temp as the cream cheese. (HINT: Melt the chocolate part way, and stir until the rest of the chocolate is melted. May have to reheat if it all doesn't melt the first time.)
3. Add chocolate to the cream cheese, then add the rest of the ingredients. Mix until all are combined. If you do not have the mint taste you like, add more in small amounts until it suits you.
4. Cool this mixture in the refrigerator until firm enough to roll into balls.
5. Spoon dough out, roll into small balls, and let these truffles cool in the refrigerator again.
6. Dust with cocoa powder and powdered sugar, and enjoy!

While these little round pieces of heaven make great Valentine's Day goodies, please don't wait a whole year to make them again.  We all need a bit of chocolate in our day to pick us up and take us to a happy place.  24/7365,  It's always chocolate time in my house.

Until next time Peeps, have a wonderful day,

and go make a positive difference

in someone's life!

Pan-Fried Pork Tenderloins and Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Freezer meals are the best gift you can give to yourself.  In our house, even though the farming part of our lives has slowed a bit, we are still waiting on two calves to be born, finishing a painting project in the entryway, and spending about 3-5 nights watching Miss K play basketball.  Take all that, and throw in some extra night meetings, and you have our usual nights of crazy, fast-paced chaos. 

It is on these nights that I love knowing I can run to my freezer and pull out a meal that will take less than thirty minutes to make.  Thanks to my girlfriends, I now have many more selections to chose from when time is tight.

This post is sponsored by Indiana's Family of Farmers.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.  Referral links are used in this post.

My contribution to the food table was a very easy, inexpensive meal of a pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon and roasted Brussel sprouts.  If you pull the meat out of the freezer the night before you want to eat them, then cooking everything will be a snap for the next night's meal.

First, you need to purchase your pork tenderloin, and this is a different cut of meat than a regular pork loin.   Pork chops can be made out of pork loin, and that's the only way I buy mine.  Bring home a big loin, cut it up to the thickness you like, and POOF! You have instant pork chops to eat or freeze for later.  I can get about 4 meals out of a large loin to serve my family of four.  BUT this recipe calls for the tenderloin, the cut that some say is the best part of a hog.  In the beef world, we would call this a filet minion, so you know this meat is going to be tender and juicy and melt in your mouth with every bite.

You can control the portion size of your cuts.  I can still usually get eight pieces of meat out of a loin, and yes I keep the two slabs of meat together when I wrap them in bacon so that the complete wrapped package is about 6 ozs. of delicious pork.

We all know that bacon shrinks when it is cooked, but did you know you can also stretch bacon?  I take each strip of bacon that I am going to use, lay it out flat, then start with my two index fingers in the middle of the strip and push out to each end.  It helps the bacon wrap around the tenderloin with some extra to spare so you can secure it with a toothpick and keep the two pieces secured together.

Once you have your loins wrapped (yes, you can giggle at that), you can do one of two things.

You can package them in freezer bags, making sure that you remove as much air as possible from the bag as you seal it so it will stay fresh and prevent any freezer burn.

Or.........

You can grab your favorite grill pan and start cooking!

I love my Swiss Diamond Non-stick Grill Fry Pan, and I pull it out a lot during the cold months when no one wants to go out and fire up the real grill.  It gives that grilled look without freezing your toes off outside.  

I place the bacon-wrapped pork loins onto the pan, and cook them five minutes on each side to sear each side and keep the juices inside.

After both sides are seared to keep the juices in.....

I pour some water into the pan........

and cover it until the water is just about gone.  It's a good idea to use a meat thermometer to check that the loins are done.  Pork is considered "done" when the internal temp reaches 145 degrees.  If you want your bacon a bit crispy, you can turn the loins on their sides and turn them as the bacon reaches the way you like it.

Now, we kind of need to back up the truck.  Before starting these yummy pork loins, we had to do some prep work on the Brussel sprouts so they can be roasting while the loins are cooking/grilling.   I love to buy Brussel sprouts at the grocery store n the veggie isle.  They are usually packaged in plastic mesh bags, and we go through about two of those bags for a meal.   I wash them and then remove the bottoms and any old leaves that I don't like.  After that, cut them in half and put them in a bowl.

When they are all cut, it's time to pour olive oil over the sprouts and add some seasonings.

First, I add a healthy amount of minced garlic,

Then I add some of my favorite seasoning, Farm Dust.

If you cannot find this particular seasoning, Italian seasoning with a bit of salt would also work, or your own favorite seasoning will do just fine.

Stir together, and pour onto a roasting pan or stone.

They go in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Check on them after that and continue to roast until the outer leaves are brown.

With a keen eye on the time, you should be able to spoon these yummy vegetables onto the plate where your bacon wrapped pork loin is resting, and your meal is done!

For even more ideas on how to create your own freezer meal party, visit Cheri Lowe's tips for a successful Freezer Meal Day here on her blog, Queen of Free.  She has some great ideas on how to make this day easy and cost-effective!

Printable Recipe

Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloins

Ingredients

• 1 Pork Tenderloin
• 1 pound Bacon
• toothpicks

Cooking Directions

1. Cut pork tenderloin into 1 1/2 inch thick sections, keeping the two loins together as they were packaged.
2. Wrap each tenderloin in bacon, and secure with a toothpick.
3. At this point, you may package the loins into two freezer quart bags, 4 in each bag.
4. To cook, place 4 tenderloins in a grill pan and sear 5 minutes on each side.
5. Pour a cup of water into the pan, cover, and let steam cook until an inserted meat thermometer reads 145 degrees.
6. Remove meat from the pan and let rest for 3 minutes.

Printable Recipe

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients

• 2 packages Brussel Sprouts, from the vegetable section of the grocery store
• 1/4 - 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
• to taste Garlic, minced
• to taste Italian Seasonings or Farm Fresh

Cooking Directions

1. Clean Brussel sprouts by cutting off ends and peeling off any damaged leaves.
2. Cut each sprout in half, and put into a large mixing bowl.
3. Pour oil over vegetables, and add garlic and spices.
4. Stir together, and pour onto a roasting pan or stone.
5. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, stir, and continue roasting until leaves brown to your liking.
6. Remove from the oven, serve, and enjoy!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and all the other recipes made at our Freezer Meal Day.  Click here for a link to all the recipes made on this special Freezer Meal Day!

Until next time Peeps, have a wonderful day,

and go make a positive difference

in someone's life!

Farmer Friday: Oh Baby! Baby! Baby!

Well, now....... Look what we have going on out in the barns!  Hope you can handle all this cuteness. So far we have four calves skipping around their mommas and four to five still to come.  Yeah, I can't keep the number straight in my head, and I'm too comfy to get up and check.  It's an awesome, rare sunny day out here on the Ridge, and I'm working in the sun room to enjoy it without freezing in the windy 20 something degree air.  Gotta love all these southern windows!

Let's check and see how the little ones are doing.  All of the births so far have been quite easy on both mommas and their calves.  Three of the four have occurred in the wee hours and greeted Tall Guy as he did his morning checks in the maternity pen before heading out for chores.

~Photography Tip~

For these pictures I was NOT as close to the animals as it may seem.  ALWAYS assume that all mommas are protective by nature, and stay a safe distance away.  I used my Tamron 18-270mm  lens to get up close, and then I cropped pictures to bring the cows in even closer. If you are using a smartphone, your natural instinct is to zoom in on your subject, but doing that messes with the quality of your picture.  Instead, snap the picture WITHOUT zooming, then zoom in or crop on that picture in your photo editor of choice, and you will have a better quality picture.  Try it both ways to see what I mean.

The first two pictures are of Ms. Melania, or Mel as we have been calling her.  She is doing just fine, and will probably be our Queen Bee on the lot when she is older since she was the first calf born,

Hot on Mel's heels, however, was this little lady.  Believe it or not, she is nameless as of yet.   Miss K is supposed to do the honors, but she has been pretty busy running up and down the basketball court, so we will be patient a bit longer.  You can't tell it, but this calf is much smaller compared to her other girlfriends.  i will try to get a picture of them all together very soon.

Yep, I said girlfriends because all four new calves are heifers!  Not sure why that is, but sometimes you see big families with all girls or all boys.  Ok, I had to move from my sun seat so I checked on the remaining ladies "in waiting."

We have four more calves to add to this year's group, so there is still a chance there will be a boy or two or even four in the mix. Number 13-7 is "open."  That means she did not conceive with the bull. She did, however, have a calf last year, so we will give her another year to see if her not being able to conceive was just a fluke.

I had to save the cutest one for last, and she is the newest calf on the lot.  She was born January 31, and Momma is still very protective of her.  Want to see just how cute this one is up close?????

Ready?

Ok. Scroll down to the next picture.

Ta Da!  How stinkin' cute is she?  LOVE that little face and the different colors in her hair.

I would love to name this one Fancy.  What do you think?  Do you have any names you would like to throw in the hat for these last two girls?  Please share them with me, and we will see how they fit.

Until next time Peeps, have a wonderful day, 

and go make a positive difference 

in someone's life!

Holy Cow! We're Pregnant!

     One of the best events to happen when a woman is pregnant for the first time, in fact, every time she is pregnant is getting that first look at her baby.  I'm sure new parents are expecting to see fingers and toes and that very important part or lack thereof,  but for those of us who have "been there done that," thanks to ultra sound images, we start to understand why several babies are called "Peanut."

Would you believe it goes the same way for Momma Cows?

     Two summers ago, we asked a crew from Purdue University to come out and check to see IF our heifers were pregnant.  The farm term is "Preg Check."  I emphasize the if part because until they are well along, it's hard to tell if cows are pregnant, and it's even harder to determine how far along they are.  As you can imagine, the ladies are not very forthcoming with details, and the bull had a smile on his face from start to his last day in the pasture with his harem.  For the last two years we have placed a bull out with our heifers/cows around the middle of April, and we let them freely "visit" with each other for two to three months. While we usually use a "sleeve" to determine if they are carrying a baby, the vet techs brought out with them an ultra sound to help see what exactly was inside.

Yeah, there might be a reason most ultrasounds are viewed in a dark room.  There is quite a bit of glare, but you can tell that there is definitely a calf in there!

The concerns with baby calves and baby humans are about the same.  When we check our pregnant mommas, we are looking for position and the possibility of twins.  There is a difference, though, if twins are found.  In a set of twin calves, if there is a heifer (female), she is probably sterile.  In cow lingo, she would be called a "Free-martin."

If the twins are bull & heifer, the heifer has a good chance to be sterile, but not always!! It depends on what kind of twins you have. If it is a male and a female, the male hormones in the developing calves will get into the blood stream of the femalecalf and prevent complete female organ development.

Are twin calves sterile? - Rural Heritage - Front Porch

https://ruralheritage.com/messageboard/frontporch/7802.htm

This apparently only happens in the animal world with cattle.

Position concerns for cattle are somewhat the same for human babies, but those long legs of calves can get in some difficult angles.  Just like our babies, we don't get too concerned about positioning until the last stages.  That would be when an ultrasound machine would be helpful to have here at the farm, but since that technology isn't quite feasible for small cattle operations, we (and by "we" I mean Tall Guy) put on a long plastic sleeve and figure things out by touch and feel.

While all babies usually come out of the birth canal head first, they can also come hindparts first, breech, and this also happens with calves.  In either case, this positioning is a dangerous situation. Our babies come out head first if all is going according to plan with a bit of a twist.  The first parts of a newborn calf visible at a normal birth are two hooves, and you immediately look to see if they are pointing up.  Calves are born in the same position as a diver going into the water; Front legs should come first with the head tucked, and then the rest just kind of slides on out.  If a farmer sees hooves pointing down, he knows the wrong legs, the back ones, are coming out, and that is time to call all hands on desk to help the momma and baby both survive a difficult birth.

So far this year we have had two successful births.  Our first calf, a heifer, was born on Inauguration Day, so we named her "Melania," since she was our First Lady born this new year.

The second one arrived two days later, also a heifer.  

She is small but healthy, and we haven't quite decided on her name yet.  Any ideas????

It is my hope that this new to us technology of portable ultra sound machines becomes affordable to rural veterinarians so that we can better monitor our herd as the mommas near their calving time, as well as using them to determine when the calves will be born. Innovations like this can only help herdsmen to improve delivery of live calves and prevent harm to the mommas.