Fajitas

We are having a sale. Two new beef will be slaughtered Wednesday and we need to make room in the freezer. These two will be sold as split halves and will be ready after they hang for 21 days. Let us know if you are interested. We have an abundance of round steaks, arm roasts, and chuck roasts in the freezer right now. Our round steaks are tenderized and come two to a package. Each steak is quite large. These make great fajitas. Just get some onions, peppers, and a seasoning packet. Cut up the meat and vegetables and cook it all up. You can have a package of round steaks for $8. We are offering chuck and arm roasts for $11. This week I will post some recipes that use these three pieces of meat. If you would like to help us clear the freezer just let us know and we'll be glad to get you some meat.  Give us a call or text at 660-864-7130.

Tuna Gravy

I'm sorry that time has gotten away from me. I've decided that in the future I'm going to post a new post on Mondays. Today's post, as promised, is tuna gravy. Some people find this to be a strange dish but our family loves it. Give it a try sometime on the Utah Ready Quick Mix biscuits. It is delicious. 

Tuna Gravy

Melt 4 Tablespoons butter in a large saucepan.

Add 8 Tablespoons of flour and mix it up really well and fast.

Slowly stir in 4 cups milk while stirring well and constantly.

Continue stirring constantly until the gravy boils and thickens. 

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add two 5 ounce cans of tuna well drained.  

For pictures today I only have one of our cat. It fits because she loves to drink the water that is drained from the cans of tuna. She now thinks that every time the can opener turns we are having tuna and she has to come and check it out.  

Ready Quick Mix (like Bisquick)

We use a lot of Bisquick in our house. I have a canister that is just for Bisquick along with my flour and sugar canisters. I found a great copy-cat recipe that I've been using recently and we enjoy it. With this recipe our pancakes don't need milk as an ingredient. It is published by the Utah State University Cooperative Extension and a book can be found here: http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/fnp_102.pdf

I mixed up the larger batch. Here is a picture of the ingredients.

First you mix all your dry ingredients   Next you add your Crisco into your flour mixture. I used my favorite big spoon with the holes. Eventually you just need to get your hands in there and mix it up until it is tiny little pieces of Crisco.

After it is all mixed up I added it to my Bisquick container. I guess I need to change the label. Oh well.  There was a little more than would fit in my container so we made a batch of drop biscuits with the extra and had tuna gravy the night I made the batch.  I'll post a recipe for tuna gravy in a few days. It is a family favorite.

This stuff turns out to be cheaper than Bisquick from Wal-Mart but I can't give you exact prices because there were no prices on the shelves at the store the day I went to snap this picture.  I haven't bought Bisquick for a while now.  

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.

Pot Roast

The other night we had something I've had many times before but we did it a little different and it was yummy. Mom always said when cooking a roast in the crockpot to add plenty of water. Well I cooked one the other night based on an online recipe with only a stick of butter. I think it had more flavor than one cooked in lots of water.

I took a thawed chuck roast that was about three pounds. I put it in the crockpot with a packet of brown gravy and a packet of Ranch dip on top. Then I put the stick  of butter right on top of that. I cooked my roast for 4 and a half hours on high. It turned out great.

If you would like a chuck or an arm roast we have three pound roasts available just like the one I used for $15 plus $.48 tax. Just let me know if you want one and we can deliver in Johnson County or any county that touches Johnson for free.  Text or call 660-864-7130.

Homemade Foaming Hand Soap

I love foaming hand soap. It lasts longer and doesn't leave little globs of soap in the sink. Did you know that the foaming soap is actually all about the bottle and that it is really cheap to make? Just take an empty bottle and add about a Tablespoon of dish soap or liquid hand soap. Fill the rest of the bottle with water and gently shake. Now you have foaming soap. Remember though that you have to use a bottle that was originally made for foaming soap.  

Now if I could figure out how to keep the little globs of toothpaste out of the sink.

Free Eye Glasses Cleaner

This is going to be short.

Did you know that you can get free eye glasses cleaner at the Wal-Mart? I'd heard rumors about this so I went and asked my local Wal-Mart optical center for the details.  If you buy their smaller bottle that is 2 ounces of spray for $1.97 then they will refill your empty bottle for free.

I have also heard rumors that Costco does the same thing but I haven't verified that because I go to Costco about twice a year.

What free tips do you know about?

This Old House

Have you ever watched This Old House on PBS? There are times when their projects seem really cool and you learn things. There are also times when I wonder why they bother. Wouldn't it be much cheaper to start from scratch and build a home with all the amenities of a new home and the charm of an old home?

I think of this because this month in our water bill we got a page about the Sedalia Public Library. The beautiful Carnegie building was built in 1901. It was the first Carnegie library in the state of Missouri.  The building was closed recently because engineers said it was in immanent danger of collapse because of the drought we suffered this past summer.  Several buildings in downtown did collapse.  A proposed property tax increase is going to be on the ballot in April to save the building.  The 1.5 million needed will cost the tax payer $0.07 per $100 assessed valuation. The flyer discusses how it will be much cheaper to repair the Carnegie building than it would be to build a new building that would replicate the size of our current library.  I think it sounds like a good idea that will only raise my tax bill by about $10 a year.

Saving buildings has me thinking about the old one-room schoolhouse that sits on our farm.  My sisters and I would like to save the building but we have no idea how.  We are not carpenters and we cannot rely on dad to help us with this one.  It has me thinking of those This Old House programs and wondering if the work would be worth it.  I remember standing on the platform in the old building when I was a child and playing school.  I would stand there teaching my imaginary students.  My favorite thing to do was write them grade cards.  The building holds memories for many people but I don't know what to do about it.    

What are your thoughts about saving old buildings?  What buildings have you seen in disrepair that you wished you could save?  

     Not so bad looking from this side.

This side could use a lot more work.  The front that is about to fall off isn't original to the building anyway.