Wordless Wednesday: Puzzled

It came, it came!

If you are a fan of GOODEness Gracious on Facebook you already know that I have another great Gooseberry Patch surprise for you!

My dear friends at Gooseberry Patch sent me a sneak peek at their newest cookbook Quick and Easy Autumn to review and gave me another to give to one of you!

This baby isn't available to the masses until May, so let's me and you peruse some of the great recipes and pick a few for me to review this weekend and next week I will share it all with you along with an opportunity for you to win this baby before you can buy it! (You CAN pre-order it here if you'd like.)

Before we dive too deep into the book I need your help choosing a dip... ya see my friend, the Saucy Dipper is holding another Dipstock and I just gots to join in. Below are some great dip choices from this new book. Please vote on your favorites. The recipe with the most votes by 9 PM Wednesday will be my choice of dip.

Then we move on to Breakfast, Main and Dessert choices... from those, I will select your favorites to cook up this weekend and share with you next week. These recipes will be selected by 9 PM on Friday.

Once the votes are in, I will share those recipes here with you next week!

Help me choose and let's get a cookin'! (Psst... use the little scroll bar to see all of your choices on the last question)

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Tomato Beef Stew

Since Mother Nature hasn't gotten the memo that IT IS SPRING, how about something to warm your belly?

This recipe for Tomato-Beef Stew by Carol Fulton of Idaho Falls, ID  is from my Goode & Gooseberry Patch Project.

I started out with the typical aromatic veggies or if you want to channel your inner Julia, is I believe the French term is Mirepoix... 

For the rest of us... that just means carrots, celery and onion...

Slice'em up... note I did not mess with the color in this photo... those carrots were THAT orange... it was beautiful!

Also chop up some taters... I used my family staple: Red Potatoes

Now boil it all up until tender.

Boil, baby, boil

Once tender, drain...

And grab your favorite red steak sauce or grab some chili sauce like I did. I so heart chili sauce.

Now add 1 cup chili sauce and 16 oz tomatoes.

Add 1 1/2 lbs of browned ground beef. Salt and pepper to taste, stir it up and heat through!

Enjoy!

(NOTE: To print the recipe card only, click on the card and then right click to save or print the card only.)

Delightful Country Cook

Real Farmwives of America & Friends: Cycle of Life

Today's joint post for the Real Farmwives of America & Friends is The Cycle of Life.

As I mentioned several months ago, my family used to raise beef cattle and one very fertile summer I got very acquainted with the cycle of life... just sayin'

Besides the cattle, I do recall many a vacation waiting on the hay to: 
a. Be ready to cutb. Be dry enough to balec. Be timed perfectly to get me on the beach as soon as possible!
I have distinct memories of riding it the truck with dad as he made such determinations while I sat there with my fingers crossed that the field would be vacation friendly... ya know, priorities baby ;)
These days, off the farm, the cycle of life is centering around a pretty big deal at our house.
P-Dab (or Goode Baby #2) is due in November and we just couldn't be happier. Miss Add is adamant that she is having a baby brother... I guess we'll see on that...
Make sure to check out the other Real Farmwives & Friends posts about the cycle of life on their farms. You are likely to hear about piglets, calves, lambs, corn, soybeans, etc. Check out our Facebook page (if necessary click "Go to Facebook") to meet all these fabulous ladies.

Also, we now have a twitter handle! Follow us @realfarmwives.

Chicken Florentine

Tonight's recipe is a creation based off of those awesome new cremes that ya see in the cream cheese section.

The savory garlic creme had a Chicken Florentine recipe that I altered to match watch I had in my pantry:)

Turns out that my new recipe was the perfect candidate for Ott, A's Red Gold Iron Chef Challenge.

I started with a couple Tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet.

Then I cubed up two chicken breasts and seasoned with Lawry's salt.

Then 1/2 of a red pepper all chopped up.

and a can of diced tomatoes...

Now cook that up until the chicken is cooked through and the peppers are tender.

Now add in 1/2 bag fresh spinach

Cook it down until wilted.

Now add in your creme

Stir it up and cook through

Now add in 2 cups cooked rotini

Mix 'er up...

Oh my... I am in LOVE. I will so be buying every flavor of this stuff. Yummy!

Enjoy!

(NOTE: To print the recipe card only, click on the card and then right click to save or print the card only.)

Special thanks to Red Gold for the awesome package of GOODeIES from Red Gold... including this little car that Miss Add hasn't put down...

You see Veggie Tales Junior and Larry here off to see Bob the Tomato... presumably at Red Gold...

Sunshine in a Glass

This morning's Goode & Gooseberry Patch Project Recipe is: Sunshine in a Glass

And, let me tell you... these babies pack a punch. If you be lackin' any vitamin C or you are feelin' a cold comin' on... skip those Airborne tablets and grab a glass of this stuff... wooowee!

Grab 1 cup of partially thawed juice concentrate...

1/2 Cup of Milk

1 t. Vanilla

10-12 Ice Cubes

Blend until smooth...

Drink it up baby!

(NOTE: To print the recipe card only, click on the card and then right click to save or print the card only.)

In other beverage news... we purchased a soda machine...

Puddie's co-workers rave about it, so we thought we'd give it a try... I am not so interested in the traditional soda mixes, but rather adding a little fizz to my juices to make my healthy drinks a little more fun.

I have been experimenting with some homemade recipes and have a couple winners... look for them in the future.