It Was a Busy Week!

Last weekend was...busy. To put it mildly. And things still haven't let up.

Wynter always enjoyed her treats!

But it's all good!

Let's see...it began with negotiating a deal to buy our place in the Hills...

And then Wynter...

And then WINTER!

But I still found time to try a new (delicious) recipe!

After months of looking, we have finally found our place in the Hills. We spent last weekend going back and forth in negotiations...and we came to an agreement! We'll be moving sometime this summer, if everything falls into place. I hope to have pictures to share soon, but until then I'll leave you with this tantalizing view.

Yes, we'll be able to see Mt. Rushmore from our new place! (Not this close, of course...)

And then Wynter.

She was such a good dog, even though she really didn't like strangers! She started her life in Kentucky, moved to Kansas with us, and then to South Dakota.

And she loved hiking in the Hills...until her arthritis got too severe.

A good dog. But at 14 years old, she was tired and sore, and the dementia was beginning to bother her. Her anxiety was heartbreaking in her last few days, so we made the hardest and most loving decision a pet owner ever has to make.

We'll miss her. Thatcher is still grieving, and so are we.

But the next day, WINTER came back! Not the fuzzy one - the snowy one!

With this spring storm, we experienced the difference between snowfall and snow accumulation!

Of course, it was a blizzard (lots of wind and blowing snow,) so we can only estimate. But based on measurements in the areas around our house, I think we got about 24 inches of snowfall, and about 12 inches of accumulation.

Part of my estimate comes from pictures like the one of our grill. On the deck, the grill got cold faster than the ground, so more snow piled up. We had a couple days of 70° weather before the storm, so a lot of the snow fall melted rather than accumulated. But that's at least 20 inches of snow on the grill!

And with a blizzard, you get drifts! This one outside the front window was about 24 to 30 inches high.

This was a two-and-a-half-day storm. We didn't go anywhere. The interstate was closed from Rapid City to the Minnesota state line - that's 350 miles - and there was "no travel advised" warnings everywhere else. Everything was closed - schools, stores, the post office... This was a serious storm.

But we did what South Dakotans do. No frenzied rush to the grocery store. No panicked drivers clogging up the streets.

We settled in and enjoyed the time to read and catch up on the indoor chores. :-)

By Friday, the sun was out. Yesterday the temperatures reached 50°. The April storm is over!

During the storm, I tried a new recipe. We need to clean out our freezer and pantry with our pending move, and I found a great dish that used what I had on hand.

Easy Beef and Broccoli

ingredients:

2 pounds beef (chuck roast, steak, flank steak, or whatever you have) cut into thin strips

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons sesame oil (if you don't have sesame oil, increase the olive oil)

1 medium onion, diced

1 cup beef broth

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1/2 cup soy sauce (I used low-sodium)

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 package (10 - 12 ounce size) frozen broccoli florets

Serve with rice (I used Jasmine rice)

Do all of your slicing and dicing first. The meat should be cut against the grain in thin slices, and the onion should be chopped. I use my cereal bowls for prep bowls, just like on the TV cooking shows, but put your meat in a larger bowl - you'll see why in the next paragraph.

Then, in another bowl, combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and beef broth with a whisk. Pour the mixture over the meat (this is why you need the larger bowl!) and set aside. Let it marinate for five to ten minutes.

(This is a good time to start cooking your rice.)

By the way, you can cook this in your Instant Pot, or on the stove.

Put the oils in your pot and heat for a minute or so. Add the onions and saute until they are translucent, then add the meat and marinade.

On the stove, let the meat mixture cook for about an hour, simmering until the meat is tender.

In the Instant Pot, cook at high pressure for 10 minutes, then quick release the pressure.

Carefully remove about 1/3 cup of the juices and add the cornstarch. Mix with a whisk until combined, then add it back to the meat mixture. Stir occasionally (low heat on your stove, the "keep warm" setting on your IP) as it thickens.

Meanwhile, cook the broccoli according to the package directions, then add it to the meat mixture.

Serve the Beef and Broccoli over rice.

It was delicious!

I hope your week wasn't as crazy as mine, but I'm expecting this week to be worse. We need to put our house on the market before the end of the month, so we're cleaning, painting, and staging the house to make it look its best. New carpeting will be installed in a couple weeks, and then let the buyers come! I hope they enjoy this house as much as we have!

Jan Drexler spent her childhood dreaming of living in the Wild West and is now thrilled to call the Black Hills of South Dakota her home. When she isn’t writing she spends much of her time satisfying her cross-stitch addiction or hiking and enjoying the Black Hills with her husband of more than thirty-six years. Her writing partner is her corgi, Thatcher, who makes life…interesting.

Braised Short Ribs

I love short ribs. They're like a decadent comfort food. And I've had some sitting in my freezer for months, just awaiting that perfect day when I was motivated enough to take the time to fix them. Well, that day came this past weekend. It's not that they're difficult to make, but the prep does take a little time. Of course, once the prep is done, that's about it. They cook, you serve. Easy peasy.

Here's what you'll need for these deliciously braised short ribs:

• 3-4 lbs. short ribs, you can use boneless or bone-in
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/3 cup flour
• Bacon, cut into small pieces (about 4 strips if you're using thick-sliced like I did or 6 regular slices)
• 2-3 tablespoons cooking oil 
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 32 oz beef broth
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Season your ribs with salt and pepper.

Then lightly dredge in flour.

Set aside.

In a large Dutch oven, over medium heat, cook the bacon until all of the fat is rendered and the meat is crispy, but not burned.

Remove bacon to paper towel.

Crank up the heat to high and add your oil to the bacon fat. Brown the ribs in batches.

Remove from pan and set aside.

Lower the heat and add the carrots, onion and garlic.

Stir that around for a minute or so, then add a little bit of the beef broth, scraping the bottom of the pan to incorporate all those little bits of meat.

Add the remainder of the broth, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste and bring to a boil.

Now add your browned ribs and top with thyme and rosemary.

And don't forget about that cooked bacon.

Cover and place pot in oven for two-and-half to three hours.

Remove from oven and allow to rest with the lid on for at least 20 minutes.

Oh, the aromas of this feast will have you counting the seconds.

I like to whip up a batch of creamy cheese grits to serve with these. You can find that recipe here. But if you prefer, mashed potatoes are an option, too.

So here we are, two weeks into 2019. Life has been fairly peaceful here at the ranch, which is good since I have proposal due at the end of this month and I'm also working through line edits. Though I did have to pause to celebrate my baby's birthday Sunday. How he can be 20, I have no idea. It seems like only yesterday I was cradling him in my arms. Time sure has a way of flying by, making me realize just how important it is to savor every moment. Something that's hard to wrap your head around when you're dealing with the terrible twos or three AM feedings. Then one day you wake up and realize those challenges may not have been so bad after all. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

Now it's your turn. What are some of your favorite comfort foods? Do you have a favorite dish you love to indulge in but don't make it very often because it requires too much effort? 

Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com 

  

Easiest Pot Roast Ever Makes for TWO Great Meals

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday mornings is to watch the Food Network. If I'm cleaning or working around the house, I like to have it on because I never know what I might discover. Like this totally different pot roast recipe.

You can find all the details here: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mississippi-pot-roast-3517283

Though it's still done in a Crock Pot, this is not your typical brown gravy, onions/carrots/potatoes roast beef. Aside from being uber easy, it has a unique flavor that lends itself to some wonderful leftover possibilities.

Gather all of your ingredients.

Place the roast in the bottom of your slow-cooker and simply toss the other ingredients on top of it.

Put the lid on and cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove roast to plate and allow to rest 10-15 minutes.

Now, armed with a couple of forks, simply pull the roast apart and serve as you like.

Depending on the size of your roast and how many people you're feeding, you'll likely have leftovers. I always get a roast that's slightly bigger than I need so I'll be guaranteed to have leftovers for another quick and easy meal.

A couple of days later, it was time for roast beef sandwiches. However, since the flavors of this roast are so different and a little bit tangy, this calls for a different kind of roast beef sandwich.

Melt some butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add two slices of rye bread.

Top each with a slice of provolone cheese. I picked provolone because it's a mellow Italian cheese, perfect with the flavors of the meat.

Add some of your leftover roast to one side. Be sure to get some of the pepperoncini in there.

Cover with the other side and grill until both sides are toasted to a golden brown.

Since was for dinner, I cooked up some sweet potato fries as a side dish. The sweetness of the fries was a perfect match for the tanginess of the sandwich.

Now that's some good eatin'. Best of all, I had two meals that involved very little effort on my part, which gave me more time to write. 

Well, we finally got a tiny bit of rain here at the ranch. Emphasis on tiny, though it was a very soothing rain. And with the sun still shining, made for a nice photo op. 

That's Spanish moss dripping from the trees, but if you look closely, especially there on the bark of that darker limb, you'll see little diagonal lines. That's our rain.

So what do you think about this variation on your typical pot roast? Would you give it a try?

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Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus, lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children, two dogs and countless cattle. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining and sometimes adventurous manner. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at mindyobenhaus.com.