The Little Farm House

Hola friends! Can you ever have to much pasta or bread... asking for a friend. So I go through banana phases where all I want for a snack is a banana. After a week I burn myself out and I end up with a few stragglers that never got eaten. As I was paging through my recipe book this morning I came across my Great Grandma Dorothy's Sour Cream Banana Bread. I thought to myself "Is this God telling me to use those 3 browning bananas on my counter that have been eyeing me the last 4 days??" Since it snowing out (whats's new) and since calving season is approaching I'm stuck to the farm house and the barn. S o I figured why not whip up a batch in the few hours I have between calf checks and get those guys used up. So that is what went down after chores. I first mash my bananas on a plate with a fork. I have learned to not "puree" them, leave some chunks. From there I cream together the sour cream and sugar. After that is done I add 2 e...

Hola friends! Lets talk some fruit and veggies!   If I get the opportunity to buy organic food, I often times take it. For the simple reason is there is often times less ingredients and they are normally cleaner (as in less processed/ preservatives).  I live in a tiny rural town in North Dakota that has a population of about three thousand, so our grocery store is pretty small. I will give them props because they are getting more and more organic options all the time! But when it comes to fruit and veggies its slim pickins. Have you ever heard of the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15?    The Environmental Working Group (EWG) release an annual list of foods with the most pesticide residue aka Dirty Dozen. On the flip side they also have a Clean 15 List which are foods that tend to have the least pesticide residues. Now, if you are in my position and can't buy organic fruit and veggies all the time, ...

Hola friends! When I was younger my Ma would make homemade chicken strips that were fantastic! She came across this recipe for fried chicken in one of our old farm house cook books and played around with it and formed this recipe that we have come to love today. This is a pantry staple in our house (along with our bulk taco seasoning.) We not only use it on chicken but its lovely on fish too! All the spices blend together so nicely and the flour and corn meal create a crunchy crust.  A little goes a long way with this dry mix, so a jar will last you a long time. Which, who doesn't love something that lasts a long time? Ok lets dig into this! Ingredients for Fried Chicken Dry Mix 2 cups Flour 1/2 Cup Corn Meal 1 Tbs salt 2 Tbs Paprika 3/4 Tbs Celery Salt 2 Tbs Dry Mustard 1 Tbs Garlic Salt 1 Tbs Pepper 1/2 tsp Dried Thyme    1 tsp Ground Ginger 1/2 tsp Oregano Mix and Store in a quart jar. To use just place a little into...

Hola friends! Continuing on with my favorite kitchen items and how to care for them I'm super pumped to talk about Cast Iron care. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But it is not easy or  convenient I acquired my 1st skillet when I was in college. I believe it was a Christmas present from my parents. I was defiantly intimidated by it because it came with rules! What pan has rules like it has to be "seasoned" before you use it or that you can't use soap in it?? Everything about this pan just sounded complicated. We had one at the farm when I was growing up. My parents used it all the time. But me being that lazy college kid I didn't feel the need to use it when I had the cheapy Teflon non stick pans that did the job just fine.  Come to find out Teflon isn't the greatest for your health... it can leach icky things into your food when you cook on ...

Hola friends! If you are anything like me you LOVE to have a clean sink! I have a problem with cleaning..  I guess you could say I love to clean and organize things. To me it makes me feel like my life is in order even its its a wreck, mind over matter right? I have been using the Soft Scrub with the bleach for as long as I can remember. Who doesn't love some bleach cleaning? This was one of the hardest products to let go of when I was cutting out toxins and other junk products. But I finally had my moment! I was cleaning my sink after breakfast one morning. I used a scrubby brush so my hands wouldn't touch the paste because bleach makes my hands irritated. Well later that day I could smell bleach and was confused because I wasn't around any. Well I smelled my hands and they were the culprit! I seriously couldn't believe it. I finally said enough is enough and threw the bottle in the garbage. Bleach is rough on my skin to begin with but to stay on my hands all...