Houston for Spring Break and the Chicken Spaghetti Saga Continues....

March is here and with that is our annual trip south to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  Each spring our show season for the winter comes to an end with our cattle at one of the biggest shows in the nation in H-Town. Houston is the culmination of show season for many kids from our part of Texas as our county fairs are held in the fall of each year.  Houston with it's big city lights, world famous rodeo and livestock shows are always a great way to ring in our spring break even with a few hiccups here and there.

So thankful for sweet friends who capture the picture off the internet for me of the live show feed!

Pulling into first place in her class!

For more years than I can honestly count, our girls have shown in Houston with our Hereford cattle and competed in their Agricultural Speaking Contest.  With the show usually falling right smack middle of our spring break, it's always been a blessing that our girls did not have to miss school.  One side bar of competing at these events is making sure your first priority of your education is taken care of. Thankfully our little district and our great teachers understand whole- heartedly realize the premier growth and leadership opportunities that our kids get to experience from these contest. So, ultimately when school is missed as this week when spring break fell a week later than Houston for us, they are more than accommodating and supportive our our FFA students.  Not every school is that lucky and thank you to our administrators and our fantastic teachers!

These girls are just going in and coming out from speaking as I type this post!
Wishing them all the best at the largest speaking contest in the USA!

This past week our daughter Audrey and our Gilmer FFA show team traveled to Houston to compete in the Junior Beef Heifer Show with her Hereford female, NH She's A Treasure.  From the name you can tell we think a lot of this new little heifer and she was a substitution for the show due to her heifer she had previously won Grand Champion with at Fort Worth calving with her little bull calf.  She's A Treasure has been up in our barn since she was weaned and it a heifer we are all excited about.

Waiting to take backdrop photo.

Audrey's first inaugural show with her went surprisingly well and she garnered a Division Championship in the middle division. With three divisions chosen, this meant that Audrey and her calf were in the Grand Champion drive again for the year.  That in itself was very exciting for our Audrey and family to have happen twice in the same year and something we honestly do not take for granted. It's taken a lot of years to breed our cattle to what we hoped would stand well in the ring.  All those last placed, second to last and middle class placings built character, perseverance and helped build our cattle herd in the process.  Our girls have learned that the lessons you learn first in the barn are those that carry you forth in the ring and later on in life.  For all those times, we grew as a family and slowly, slowly built our herd to one that thankfully was more competitive and above all else docile enough that we knew our daughters could handle them in the ring.  Our Hereford breed has given us more than we could have ever imagined over the years.

Two Houston H's. One for 1st in class and then the second for Division Champion.

Family photo with another smiling shot of dad!

Audrey and Ag. Advisor Kyle

Audrey with Bethany

Audrey with Ilissa

Audrey and proud Scott

As always at these shows, it is a tradition of mine to cook one day. Each year I plan, purchase, prep and pack everything we need in my big, black, cooking box on wheels.  Years ago I remember how excited I was when my husband Scott came dragging in the barn my first black box on wheels proudly smiling and saying, "Here you go!  Your very own cooking box on wheels!"  Now, some women might not have been as thrilled as me with a cooking box to store their wares, but cooking is and will always be my way to share and give to others.  So this rolling cooking box was definitely one of my favorite gifts he has ever given me.  To date I have cooked my fair share of meals for our hungry show team and fellow Hereford friends with this year was no exception.  However, what we didn't realize initially was what was left at home...

Chicken spaghetti is on! This was on my Instagram story for Saturday.

 Click here to follow The Ranch Kitchen's Instagram page!

Unloading at any stock show is a big event.  Trailers line up the night before, sit through until the light of dawn and gradually begin to file into the barn as the rooster crows.  This year much to our delight, dear family friend Grant Bitner made sure he was on the Houston Livestock Show Volunteer Welcoming Committee and had not one, but three tractors to unload all our gear.

Wish you could see a larger, more expansive picture of trailers unloading...

Grant, Grant as we call him has been one of our oldest daughter Ilissa's dearest friends since they were Texas FFA State Officers together their freshmen year of college.  They just clicked, attended Texas A&M together and has remained a dear family friend ever since. Grant and the over 40,000 volunteers for the three weeks of this event, make the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo run like none other for no pay other than the thank you from participants and visitors.  I am always amazed at the time and effort this show puts in to making everyone feel welcome and the world class event anything associated with HLSR is.  Thank you from all of us!  You all make this show a pleasure to attend each year!

Our Grant, Grant - Grant Bitner! 

This year after everything was unloaded and Scott walked in to check our stalling location, he called me a little frantic as my Bethany and I drove down after my work at 8:30 p.m.  "You're not cooking chicken spaghetti this year if we can't find your roaster!", he boomed over the phone.  I was like surely we packed it and he said he thought he saw it unloaded and placed out back with our table and chairs.  Many years before sadly, my favorite portable rocking chair had been stolen.  In my heart of hearts, I hoped this was not the same thing happening again.  Scott continued looking and Bethany started Googling for a Walmart on our route.  I knew innately how hard it was to buy one of these large 'turkey' roasters out of season and knew if we found one, we'd be lucky.

You see the saga of the chicken spaghetti was striking again!  First it was Fort Worth and now it was like the Houston of a year ago all over again.  Chicken spaghetti lunch was becoming more of a hassle than a positive.

Click here for the recipe for
The Ranch Kitchen's Chicken Spaghetti for a Crowd" - jumbo version!

Several years back while at Fort Worth, they stopped letting us cook in the barns to allow more money to be spent with the food vendors on the site.  While we all understood that, it just made us get a little more creative in how we fed our hungry crews of kids and adults.  One year in an effort to get my chicken spaghetti cooked in and in the barn and cooking it in the rental house before, I may or may not have parked my car just outside our barn and left it for a few seconds to cart in my roaster...  Just as I rounded the corner to our stalls a very overzealous police officer told me to move my suburban now or go to jail.... I was like seriously, I'm going to jail over my darn chicken spaghetti, this can't be real. Anger, tears, a few words about power going to someones head came out of my mouth and thankfully when I looked behind me after a feverish prayer, the cop was gone.  For the next few days the barn superintendents were so apologetic to me and thankful they also got a few bowls of my chicken spaghetti!  They are more hardened criminals running the streets than a woman carting chicken spaghetti in to a barn I promise you!

At Houston thankfully they still allow us to cook for our students in the barns.  We now have been moved to the outer edges and loading dock walkways to set up our 'camping' areas as they call them, but I am not complaining.  Each year mom's rush to find the spot with electrical outlets to plug in Crock Pot after Crock Pot.  Just this past years as I was cutting up my chicken spaghetti's onions, out at of the corner of my eye here come the Fire Marshall.  I thought, "Oh, good Lord....why me"... and yep, they were coming just for me out of an entire row a football field long line of mom's with Crock Pots and roasters!  I guess I must look approachable, but after they told me I had to turn off my roaster because I needed a surge protector, I quickly went into Moma Bear mode and pointedly told me if I went down, every lovely lady on the entire block was going down! I had some seriously hungry kids from the barn and especially their dad's would be sadly disappointed if they did not let me continue to cook.

As the saga continues this year, finding a plug meant cooking on top of the cooler for a bit to find a hot electrical outlet!  And yes...Fire Marshall found me again and I had to move.  LOL! You have to laugh...because in the grand scope of things, it's all small stuff!

Audrey and her fellow district officer Anna eating my chicken spaghetti!

I think as women get older, we don't take as much off people as we used too.  That day, as I turned to face a group of several maintenance workers and Fire Marshall and started pointing my finger at them excitedly, I must have looked quite a sight with the onion knife in my other hand.  I remember vaguely my Bethany taking it out of my hand and saying, "Just let me have that...."  Oh my...the memories....but you don't mess with chicken spaghetti day at the stock show around me!  Needless to say, I got to continue cooking... ;o)

Well, the saga continued this year with the missing roaster.  What could have been a small hiccup and expensive lunch for all on the grounds, thankfully turned out alright.  A new Oyster Roaster was found last minute at a Walmart on the outskirts of Houston and my chicken spaghetti for lunch on Saturday was on again.

Click here to buy your own from Walmart

Add liquid 3/4th of the way up the pan and gradually add noodles on highest setting until soft.

Spices in and ready to add cheese!  Almost lunch!

Life will throw you curves.  Although my chicken spaghetti curves are minor in the grand scheme of life, they have brought humor to my life in many ways.  I've fed many a hungry kid and parent over the years and met some of the nicest people as we share recipes from our cooking setups.  To me, cooking has always been a way to bring people together. My The Ranch Kitchen's Chicken Spaghetti for a Crowd is that recipe I know I'll always be remembered by.

And yes, in regards to the chicken, we are ranchers that proudly raise beef cattle and cook far more beef than any other meat.  But, my a bowl of chicken spaghetti will probably be etched on my tombstone one day!

Click here for The Ranch Kitchen's Chicken Spaghetti - family portion recipe (smaller sized)

So, today as I sit here supporting our Audrey and friends Jaici and McKenzie with her Ag. Advisor Sue Witt in her sixth Houston Agricultural Public Speaking Contest as her father and the rest of our crew loads our cattle and leaves for the ranch, I'm so extremely thankful for the life we lead.  The sometimes funny, stressful ups and downs of the show road with shenanigans like my chicken spaghetti make me realize how lucky we are to be involved in an industry we hold near and dear to our hearts. 

Audrey with her Ag. Advisor Sue Witt and friends Jaici and McKenzie!
They have competed for years together in FFA speaking contest! 

We go fast and we go hard, spending as much time as we can with our daughters and doing what we love, all while teaching them all we can in the process. Life is meant to be lived and we are trying to live it as fast and hard as we can. In life it's the small things that you look back on that make you laugh, smile and think what a great life we live even in the midst of a chicken spaghetti fiasco or two, or three!

Alise Nolan
The Ranch Kitchen

P.S.... as always you can also follow me on my The Ranch Kitchen Facebook page and Twitter for my newest recipes!

Whole30 Southwestern Meatloaf and Beef Recipes!

Sometimes you just need a little comfort food. Some of you may remember the old beef campaign from years ago... "Beef. It's What's For Dinner!"  Thankfully beef is on the menu for Whole30 and that is no surprise to us.  As ranchers, we realize first hand not only the heritage behind raising our own beef but the health benefits from a great cut of lean beef.  Our ranch raises Hereford cattle and it's the only beef we serve on our table.  There simply is nothing better in our estimation than a flavorful Hereford Ribeye steak, cheeseburger, or recipe made with our delicious farm raised beef!

As a rancher and former President of the National Hereford Women, I would be totally remiss if I did not post a blog with ways to incorporate beef or our beloved Hereford beef into your month of Whole30.  My recipes from my blog and recipes from Certified Hereford Beef are staples in homes across the US and world for that matter.  Hereford cattle, their associations on the state and national level and their wonderful people are what helped raise our daughters into what they are today.  For that, we will be forever thankful.  The beef cattle industry has instilled both work ethic and family values on a daily basis.  Beef is on our table most nights for more reasons than one.

For more beef recipes click here for Certified Hereford Beef's Recipe website

As you look through my recipes on and off the Whole30 tab, you'll see many, many beef recipes.  As my daughter Bethany and I continue our second month on the Whole30, we are creating new recipes daily that incorporate healthy and lean beef.

For today's post and to kick your week off, we wanted to share with you a piece of not only our heritage but yet another meal we served our family and rancher, daddy, husband Scott to raves review.

     

The Ranch Kitchen's Whole30 Southwestern Meatloaf is just that and Ranchman - husband Scott approved. Baked in your cupcake or muffin tins, these little meatloaves are full of flavor and something we think you will add to your recipe list.  These flavorful, mini meatloaves are perfect to serve your hungry family or for yourself as a wonderful evening meal or lunch the next day as you meal prep to be successful on the Whole30.

Click here for the recipe for Whole30 Southwestern Meatloaf

Since flour and bread are off-limits on the Whole30, you must be creative when finding substitutes.  For us, Almond flour was our go to as an ingredient to bind recipes together as in our Whole30 Southwestern Meatloaf,  To be honest, we did not even miss the torn bread bits I put normally in my meatloaf, and the almond flour was a wonderful substitution.

To add a southwestern flavor, I used fresh, chopped green chile such as Poblano's (you can use canned if compliant) and then a really wonderful sugar-free - compliant BBQ sauce.  It was a wonderful substitute for the sugary ketchup I normally place both inside and on top of this meatloaf.

Along with chopped onions and garlic powder, salt, and pepper, these little meatloaves were both filling and made almost two muffin tins.  We had enough for both dinner that night and a few lunches for the next two days.

Do make sure as you combine the meat with the other ingredient and that you do not overwork the mixture as it will toughen your meat and make it chewy after cooking.  Just gently combine until all ingredients are worked through and then place in your lightly greased muffin tins.  I used extra virgin olive oil for my muffin tins.

We served our Whole30 Southwestern Meatloaf with our Whole30 Mashed Potatoes and a side of grilled asparagus with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.  We were all totally filled up afterward and loved this wonderful meal.

Click here for the recipe for Whole30 Mashed Potatoes

Throughout the week ahead we will post several of our Whole30 beef recipes for you to add to your weekly meal plans.  Beef and it's flavorful cuts are the perfect addition to both your diet and meals as you plan ahead.  It is also so simple to reinvent a great steak into fajitas the next night or a quick beef stew.

To help you with meal prepping, here is a sampling of some Whole30 compliant recipes we've added to our site recently.  They are all Ranchman approved and loved by everyone in our family because Whole30 for us had to be tasty and feel like we weren't missing a thing.

Click here for the recipe for Whole30 Ground Beef Hash

Click here for the recipe for Whole30 Rustic Shepherd's Pie

So, remember that healthy beef is on the table at our ranch and just plain good for you!

I'll leave you with one of my very favorite beef campaigns of years ago...

Have a great week ahead and stay warm out there!

Alise & Bethany

Whole30 Rustic Shepherd's Pie and Sauteed Green Beans with Bacon

If you are trying to think of just what to cook for dinner while on the Whole30, then look no further. Here's a super simple recipe that everyone will really love full protein and healthy ingredients and our favorite Hereford beef.  Planning is essential to be successful on the Whole30.  Prepping meals and doing your grocery shopping a week or few days ahead of time will help you stay true to the program with no slip ups.  Leftovers are great for lunch or dinners the next few days as well. 

Click here for the recipe for Whole30 Rustic Sheherd's Pie

Colorful and full of flavor, this rendition on traditional Shepherd's Pie is anything but boring!  Halfway through our Whole30 journey, I created this Rustic Shepherd's Pie for my hungry husband who had been a real sport while my daughter Bethany and I were on the program.  I wanted something that was deceivingly healthy...and this recipe was just the one!

Click here for the recipe for Whole30 Rustic Shepherd's Pie

Our green beans were super simple to make with just Extra Virgin Olive Oil to saute the fresh green beans in with small chunks of bacon, salt and pepper. Just cook until crisp and tender.  Make sure the green beans are Whole30 compliant with no added sugar or preservatives.  We luckily use pork raised by our local FFA, Future Farmers of America students who sold at our local county fair.

Click here for the recipe for Sauteed Green Beans with Bacon

So, here's to your Whole30 journey. Let us know how you like this recipe and check out our growing selection of Whole30 recipes on The Ranch Kitchen Whole30 tab.  

Alise and Bethany

Whole30 Must Haves

Whole 30...you've either started or are gearing up for your next thirty days. The response we've received from friends and family who are joining us on Whole30 this month has been absolutely wonderful.  As we continue to place recipes online on The Ranch Kitchen site under our new Whole30 tab, we are blogging with a post as well to give you tips and tricks that helped us stay 'compliant' while on Whole30.

For today's blog post, we wanted to share with you our 'must haves' while on the program. The list below was the things that will now be staples in our kitchen as we continue to prepare healthier recipes that are Whole30 compliant.

So as you begin either your pre-planning stage or you've jumped right in and need a list to start your shopping with, see below.  This list of will help you with meal prepping for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks and get you through the weeks ahead.

WHOLE30 MUST HAVES:

ALISE'S MUSH HAVE LIST:

Larabars:  These little bars are protein-rich and delicious. You will feel like you are cheating, but you are not.  Not all, however, are compliant on Whole30, so read, read the labels.  We absolutely loved the Pecan Pie, Cherry Pie, and Cashew Cookie Bars...delicious! We took a stab at the RX Bars that everyone raved over, but they were too chewy and dry for our taste.  Click here for a link to Amazon to purchase your own.  The neat thing is Amazon makes a Whole30 option on a couple of different products (Larabars, jerky, etc.) that make it easy to stay compliant.



Fresh Fruit: Bananas for a quick breakfast and for snacks I turned to grapes, tangerines, oranges and fresh pineapple that were huge for me while on Whole30.  I also realized halfway in that I could have the Dole Fruit Cups with natural juices that were downright amazing too.  Tangerines would give me that afternoon snack and natural sugar I needed around 4:30 - 5 each day and were great for a late night snack.  As I'd cook dinner, having grapes on hand were a sweet treat as well.



Earl Grey or Chai Tea - My morning or evening pick-me-up without sugar of course!  Love, love my Yeti cup that kept it hot or cold all day.  Being a Southern gal, we love our sweet tea...but I finally did learn to enjoy tea without sugar!  The added cinnamon in the Chai tea made me feel like I was having a treat and it also was a nice in the afternoons when my energy would sink.

       

Sweet Potatoes - We ate them with everything from the bottom layer of a breakfast casserole to the placing shredded chicken on top of it, or making a sweet potato hash with a fried egg that was really wonderful!

Sweet Potato Hash using Hereford Beef.
This was one of the first recipes we created and probably our very favorite.

Beef - For that matter Hereford Beef off our ranch.  As those who follow my blog know, we are ranchers.  We raise our own Hereford beef and proudly serve it to our family. Whole30 does not limit beef and the ability to continue the tradition of serving beef on our table was a must for me.  For recipes, check out Certified Hereford Beef for a multitude of ways you can create compliant recipes.

Picture compliments of Certified Hereford Beef

BETHANY'S MUST HAVE LIST: 

Avocado Oil - A new oil for our family.  After doing much research, Bethany saw that this was a great oil to use to cooking. You can find this at most grocery stores.

LaCroix - This was huge for my Bethany who loves her carbonation in her drinks. It would get her through her day and the carbonation - fizziness was a must for her.  Her favorite flavors are Pamplemousse, Lime and Lemon.  If you link to the LaCroix site, you'll see that they are a partner with Whole30 as well.

Kombucha - This fermented tea is compliant for Whole30 and made her feel like she was 'almost' having a glass of wine at night!  She would even pour it in a wine glass to give herself the thought that she was having a cocktail! Other benefits include stomach health with this increasingly popular tea.  We found ours at Natural Grocers in our neighboring town. ***Make sure that it is Whole30 compliant as some Kombucha Teas are not. Whole30 makes you read your labels.












Coconut Oil - Bethany cooked with it and used it to season pans as well.  She'd even use it for moisturizer on her hands.  You can buy it in bulk at food clubs like Sam's Club. This oil stores well and the multi-use capability of it really makes it a useful ingredient to add to your kitchen.










Unsweetened Almond Milk - This was used as a coffee creamer and substituted for milk in recipes as needed.  The shelf life on this is long and must be refrigerated after opening. Be sure to DOUBLE check that it is unsweetened. There are also great coconut milk option to look at as well. Bethany tried the NutPods for creamer, but they were inconvenient to have to order a small (we mean small) package from Amazon and the flavoring wasn't strong enough for her liking.







                                 **********************************

While on this program you will find just how much dairy and sugar you really consume on a daily basis.  In moderation neither of them is necessarily bad for you and especially not the dairy.  But, in order to see how these affect you, the thirty day process of elimination will help you figure that out.  Bethany realizes now that dairy can really mess with her system and I know now for a fact that sugar and flour really cause all the joint pain and stomach bloat I had been experiencing.

And if we had to have a #11 on the list it would be individual meal containers like the Gladware brand.  Prepping meals for the days in advance is a KEY to staying on the program and being successful.  One day's planning is worth a week of success!

As you begin your Whole30 journey, comment on our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and The Ranch Kitchen site blog post to let us know how it is going.  If you create an amazing recipe or have found something that gets you through your days, let us know about it!  You can easily 'Share A Recipe' on my blog, or shoot me the recipe alise@theranchkitchen.com and I'll submit it for you!  Be sure to include a picture, even if you took it off your phone, please.

Together we will get healthier and feel so much better come February and the spring/summer seasons ahead...for that matter life!

Thanks for coming along with us on Whole30!

Alise & Bethany