Hunk of Meat Mondays: the Jucy Lucy

I am joining the Hunk of Meat Mondays brigade started by blogger Leah Beyer. I am remiss, however. I have no pictures. And technically, this probably should not be MY hunk of meat post, but rather my husband's, since he is the one who "creates" this particular "hunk of meat." He saw it on an episode of Man Versus Food,  and Food Wars on the Travel Channel and decided to try it: The Jucy Lucy.

There is even a Wikipedia entry about it you can find here.

Here is the ingredient list for our take on the Jucy Lucy:
3 pounds of 80-20 ground chuck
Peppercorns, ground
Lawry's Seasoned Salt (to taste)
Cheese (whatever your favorite might be)
Any other spices and "fillings" you like in a burger. (My son likes onions, my husband likes mushrooms)

Take approximately 1/3 of a pound, gently flatten it, being careful not to work the meat too much. Place at least two slices of cheese in the middle, some ground pepper to taste, a little Lawry's to taste and your other favorite fillings. Gently flatten another 1/3 pound of ground chuck and place over the other patty with filling and pinch together. Repeat, until you've used up all the chuck.

Grill approximately 7 minutes per side, or until the meat reaches desired doneness.

Here is another blog about it

This is good stuff! Enjoy!!! I know I did!

Dawn

Why don't I make them?

I love Scotcheroos. I had one when my husband and I went for knoephla, kraut and sausage at the White House Cafeteria the other day, and I bought one at Scheels the next day and scarfed it down.

My mom makes Scotcheroos regularly, so when we go to visit, I usually manage to get my fill.

But I never make them. In fact, I don't think I've EVER made them.

It's kind of a curious thing.

I mean, for someone who will ALWAYS take a Scotcheroo if offered, I find it extremely odd that I'm not even sure how to make them. I haven't even asked my mother for her Scotcheroo recipe, and of course they are the best ones I've EVER tasted.

So again, I ask, "Why don't I make them?"

Are they really hard to make? I doubt it.

Is it time consuming? Maybe a little, but no more than waffle cookies in a waffle maker during a tornado warning! That really seemed to take forever!!

Could it be that I'm really just afraid that I will have more willpower to EAT all the Scotcheroos than willpower to NOT eat all the Scotcheroos?

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

But I'm going to keep telling myself that I don't make them because my daughter doesn't really like Scotcheroos and why would I make goodies that some of my family members don't really care to eat?

Just in case, however, I ever get the hankerin' (and the ingredients) to make them, do you have a "best Scotcheroos ever" recipe you'd care to share?

Dawn

Wordless Wednesday - Are we enjoying winter yet?

A Monday full of Meat

Don't let the Meatless Monday campaign folks try telling you it's just about celebrating the role that fruits and veggies play as part of a healthy diet.

According to a news release I got from the Animal Agriculture Alliance today, Meatless Monday is a "movement to discredit the healthfulness of meat, milk, and eggs in an extreme quest to convert our nation into vegans, one small step at a time.

"(Interestingly enough, its key messages are eerily similar to “The Great American Meatout”, the anti-animal agriculture effort that former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm got mixed up with last March.)

"The campaign is promoted by the GRACE project- of “Meatrix” fame- and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Collectively, these two groups receive more than $2 million each year from benefactor Helaine Lerner in order to aggressively attack the animal agriculture industry while promoting an animal rights agenda."

I tend to agree with what these folks say. If it really was about celebrating the role of fruits and vegetables in a healthy diet, why didn't they just call it Fruit and Veggie Monday?

So, I don't know what YOU are going to do with this information, but I'm going to go home and make a healthy meal brimming with meat AND vegetables!!

Dawn

North Dakota value...

Got this joke, that, come to think of it, is not so much a joke as an appropriate illustration of fact! It highlights the value of North Dakota:

A man in Topeka , Kansas decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started by flying to San Francisco and started working east from there.


Going to a very large church, he began taking photographs and making notes.

He spotted a golden telephone on the vestibule wall and was intrigued with a sign, which read:  Calls: $10,000 a minute.

Seeking out the pastor he asked about the phone and the sign. The pastor answered that this golden phone is, in fact, a direct line to heaven and if he pays the price he can talk directly to God.

The man thanked the pastor and continued on his way.

As he continued to visit churches in Seattle , Denver , St. Louis , Chicago , Milwaukee , and around the United States, he found more phones, with the same sign, and the same answer from each pastor.

Finally, he arrived in North Dakota. Upon entering a church in Hazen, behold, he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read: Calls: 35 cents.

Fascinated, he asked to talk to the pastor.

"Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I have found this golden telephone and have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to Ged, but in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads only 35 cents a call. Why?"

The pastor, smiling replied, "Son, you're in North Dakota now. You're in God's Country, It's a local call."

American by Birth, A North Dakotan by the Grace of God.

Amen!

Dawn

Tools

My  husband reminds me often that using the right tool for a job is three-quarters of the battle.

That means I really need to stop using the end of a butter knife to tighten screws. Or pounding nails with the flat part of a wrench.

In a lot of cases, it's easy to determine the right tool for the job. When it comes to working with people, however, and creating a broader knowledge among non-farmers about farming, it seems the tools are as varied as the people.

You can "tweet" everything to one person, yet have the next ask you, "Why are you talking about birds so much?" You can give a child a "I met a farmer" sticker and have them thinking you are the coolest person on the planet, and turn around and have someone else tell you that you are destroying the planet by growing food to feed the people on said planet.

I have read a lot of surveys about attitudes toward farmers, but never have I heard a better summation of the situation than what Mike Rowe told those attending the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting in Atlanta during a snowstorm: "We are not sufficiently astounded that you guys feed [the world] every day."

I just blogged about it last week, but it's such an important point, I keep coming back to it over and over: "We are not sufficiently astounded that you guys feed [the world] every day."

Isn't that something when you think about it? We aren't astounded, but we expect plentiful, inexpensive food.

So it really behooves us (isn't THAT a great word?) to explain, explain, explain, on a daily basis, what farmers and ranchers do and why they do it.

In a way, I'm kind of a tool for farmers and ranchers. I write stories about them. I "tweet" and "post" and do what I can to help create that broader knowledge about farming and ranching.

But when it comes right down to it, the best spokesman are the people who do the jobs. That's why I'm so thrilled when I see more North Dakota farmers and ranchers decide to blog or "tweet." I'd like to see even more, because I truly feel those blogs and tweets are a powerful tool for farmers and ranchers to tell their stories.

So if you are a North Dakota farmer or rancher and you blog or tweet or need a few more "likers," please let me know. Just add a comment here and I'll help spread the word!

Thanks, from the tool!

Dawn

Snow, already!!!

Someone told me the other day that it has snowed XX number of days in a row where they lived. I can't remember who told me or how many days it was, but it got me to thinking, because I don't remember the last time I saw the actual sun.

In the dead of winter in North Dakota, there aren't that many daylight hours in the first place. Then when the sun is obscured by a blanket of clouds day after day, the general mood can get a little, well, cranky.

Last night, my daughter thought we should draw some pictures of space with aliens in them, since we were going to a restaurant with an aliens in space theme.

I chose to draw the solar system, with a decidedly green bug-like alien in a George Jetson ship. But I couldn't remember what the sun looked like, so I did an Internet search for sun images.

Did I mention that I don't remember the last time I saw the sun?

And, surprise, surprise; as I write this, it's snowing again. Not a lot, mind you. Just enough to be annoying.

But you know what? We may not have sun, but if we did, it would probably be much colder. That layer of cloudiness tends to keep it from being super-duper frigid, I think. (Disclaimer: The aforementioned statement is not an official weather statement, but rather, a general observation made by an arm-chair weather enthusiast.)

So we either get sun and super-duper (or is that super-dooper? No, it's definitely super-duper. I did a search) cold or snow and less than super-duper-cold.

Now that I think of it, it would probably be in my own best interest to quit complaining about the snow and keep looking at sun pictures on the Internet.

Snow, already!!!!

Dawn

The bad dog chronicles

I have decided to photograph our family dog each time he takes someone's shoe, or shock or whatever it is that he decides looks good for the taking, and put together a photo book called The bad dog chronicles. It will basically just feature our Springer Spaniel holding the "goods" in his mouth with some witty comment under each of the pictures.

More often than not, said Springer disappears into his kennel with the goods and sometimes waits for one of us to look for him, or starts tearing into the "goods." You can never be sure which choice he will make, so you always want to be quick getting to him, just in case he chooses the latter and the result is yet another mismatched sock. Needless to say, many socks have been purchased recently to replace the dwindling supply.

Said Springer has even been so bold as to open the washing machine door with his nose (it's one of those front loader models) and take a sock right out of there.

I have come to realize that if he isn't underfoot or begging for food, chances are, he's ripping apart something he is not supposed to be ripping apart. So you always have to be on your toes with this one. Which means, you should always have enough socks.

I think there's a lesson here, but I'm just not sure what it is.

Here's hoping all your socks have mates!

Dawn

How an adjective can change everything

I just finished reading an editorial by a long-time friend (and former employee) of Farm Bureau, Stewart Truelsen, about the words "family farm" and "factory farm."

It's a good read, and I encourage you to do so, by clicking here.

That really got me thinking. A "factory" farm used to be good and now it's derogatory. Some could say it's because we're so much more educated now than we were in the '30s.

Maybe.

Truth? I think it's because we're "entitled" and "removed" from agriculture and how important all forms of agriculture are to feeding the world. It's easy to think something is "bad" when your exposure to it is someone else's sound bite.

That's why I was so impressed with Mike Rowe. He spoke at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, and pointed out that, “Our country is asking you to do more with less every single year and I see a lot of other agendas pushing at you. The rest of the country needs to understand what you guys do on a day-to-day basis. We are not sufficiently astounded that you guys feed [the world] every day.”

It's true. Until you are out there pulling a calf or castrating the lambs, you can't possibly understand what is humane or what is not. Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs has done an excellent job of showing how it really is.

Maybe it's time for more people to spend time on a farm, getting dirty and doing chores.

Any volunteers?

Dawn

Thank you, kind people of Atlanta

You know, I like to think I'm technology savvy, and maybe even pretty adequate in the common sense department, but I have to tell you, if it wouldn't have been for SEVERAL very nice people in Atlanta, I never would have figured out the MARTA, and how to get to the airport to make my flight back home.

I left my hotel a little after 10 a.m. on Tuesday to make the trip to the nearest MARTA station (Atlanta's city rail service) so I could get to the airport for a 2:40 p.m. flight. I was by myself, so I only had my own wits to use in the navigation process. This is not always a good thing.

I asked at the hotel registration desk for directions. They kind man gave me a map and explained everything in detail. Details, in rapid succession, are lost on my "Give me the big picture," brain. I nodded dumbly and thought, "It will all make sense when I get outside."

It did. Kinda. I headed the direction I assumed to be the correct direction, lugging my 60-pound suitcase. Okay, maybe it wasn't 60 pounds, but I have a new respect for the meaning of "luggage."

Lug: to carry around something full of more junk than you need
Age: What you feel after carrying around something full of more junk than you need.

When I got to the MARTA entrance, there was one guy standing there. One guy. He couldn't get his card to work. I didn't know I needed a card. He explained it all to me and helped me get a card so I could get through the turnstile. As I am descending more stairs in this desolate place, all I can think is, "Am I actually in the right place, or did I just pay $2.50 to get into h-e-double hockey sticks?"

I got to the place where the train is supposed to stop and I see one other person there. I ask if this train is going to the airport. He says, "You think you're going to fly out today?" I say, "Yes." He shakes his head and says, "I doubt it. But good luck."

I smile and nod, but inside I'm totally thinking, "I don't care. I'm going to the airport. I will spend however long I need to spend in the airport --even if it's five days -- just to not carry this stupid luggage around anymore."

He took me to a map on the wall, and pointed to where we were and where I needed to go and how I needed to switch trains at the next stop. I thanked him and he walked away. A few minutes later, the train came and I got on.

I still must have looked either panicked or confused or just plain incapable, because even after I got on the train, a nice lady said she'd show me how to get where I needed to go. She even introduced me to another couple (who she didn't know) because they also had luggage and looked like they were going to the airport (and maybe looked a little less panicked and lost than me.) The kind lady got on a train going the other way, smiled and waved goodbye. I waved back.

So I made it to the airport thanks to three very kind Atlanta folks who took the time to show me how to navigate the MARTA. This North Dakotan who drives herself everywhere and doesn't know MARTA from Martha Washington, just wants to take a moment to say, "Thank you, kind strangers!"

Dawn

Atlanta freeze

I'm in Atlanta. During a winter storm. They have cancelled most of the flights out of here for today. The morning news was all about the weather.

I understand that they aren't equipped to deal with snow and ice down here, like we are in North Dakota. But the snow and ice -- well, maybe not so much the ice, because USUALLY it's too cold to have ice -- are such a regular part of our lives that we tend to look at what is going on down here as an "overreaction."

But when you aren't used to something, there is always a learning curve. We even tend to overreact during the first snow or freeze in North Dakota, too. We have to "relearn" how to drive in bad weather.

So even though we like to brag about how we are tougher than these folks here, I think it's all relative.

As we flew in, I marvelled at the lights as far as the eye could see and wondered how people could stand living in such a busy place. Riding in the van from the airport to the hotel, all I could think of was, "Boy, I'm glad I don't have to deal with a morning commute like this!"

So I put up with a little more snow and ice and less traffic and congestion.

And that's just the way I like it.

It's fun to visit these places, even when they have bad weather, because it reminds me of how much I love home.

I'm itching to get back to you, North Dakota! Hope to see you soon!

Dawn

Fly girl

I'm not a good flyer. Oh, I don't get sick or anything. At least not unless I'm in a very small plane, looking through a video camera lens trying to spot deer on the ground, on a very windy day, where the plane is bumping around like a kite. Ewww! Just writing that makes my stomach a little queasy.

But I digress.

I'm not a good flyer because I'm not very patient, I guess. I find the "hurry up and get there then wait for an hour and a half to board" extremely tedious. Oh, I get the reasons for all of it. I just don't like it. That's probably why I fly as little as possible.

But at least once every two years, I am on the rotation to fly to the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting. So I fly out. Tomorrow.

While I know the convention will be interesting and even fun (Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs is the keynote speaker) the getting there and getting back, particularly the getting back part, is always stressful to me. I'm sure it will all be fine, and that I won't miss a connecting flight, and I won't get stranded somewhere because of bad weather. But those are the things I worry about.

It's times like these that I really wish we had Star Trek transporter technology. It would be so awesome. I'd just say, "Beam me up, Scotty," and I'd be where I needed to be. I could even beam home to tuck my kids into bed.

But, I'd probably start worrying about transporter stuff, like materializing in the right place or something equally silly.

So I guess I'll just have to sit back and enjoy the ride. Or I guess in this case, the fly.

Happy travels!

Dawn

Stom'ache

I have coined a new word. Or maybe somebody already thought of it.

And all because I have once again eaten too many dried applies.

I was going to write that I had a "stomach ache" when I realized that, if you combined the two words, you'd have the word "stom'ache" which seems much more efficient. Are we SURE no one has thought of this before?

My dad makes killer dried applies. And they gave me an ice cream bucket full of them for Christmas.

There aren't many left.

I  know better than to founder myself on these things. I hide them behind a bunch of other things in the cupboard to make it harder for me to get at them. But then I get the munchies and I justify digging them out of the cupboard and ingesting a pile of them, because, "Hey they're healthier than a handful of chips."

So that's why I have a "stom'ache." It actually sounds kind of poetic, doesn't it? (Or is the delirium from the ache clouding my judgment?)

Thankfully, I only exhibit this complete lack of willpower every once in awhile, because, try as I may, I haven't yet made a batch of dried apples as good as my dad's. (But isn't that the way it is with food? It ALWAYS tastes better when someone else prepares it. Well, except maybe for my manicotti. I REALLY like my manicotti.)

So I have a stom'ache from killer apples. And truthfully? I couldn't be happier!!

Dawn