Let's Get Started! Whole30 Recipes Week 1

As promised. we've got your back!  No need to look any further for great Whole30 compliant recipes to get your first-week kick-started.  These recipes are tried and true with a twist or two of our own and family approved.  Even for those members of your family or friends who aren't on the Whole30 program, they will enjoy these recipes.

To prepare, you must first do your homework as far as shopping goes.  Preparing a list will help you purchase everything you need to get your first week started and give you staples to use for the 30 days of Whole30.  

Throughout this process and lifestyle change, we were more aware of the labeling and artificial ingredients choosing to follow the Whole30 strictly as instructed.  Our goal, as is your goal. is to figure out your body's triggers and what makes a difference in a healthier you.  

As with any lifestyle change, always consult your doctor or health care professional to see what is best for you.  We do not profess in any way to be a nutritionist or medical professionals but wanted to blog and share our success with the Whole30. Always, always use sound judgment and listen to your body as far as how you feel.  We, in no way, were compensated by Whole30 for any of these blogs or recipes.  

We've used our trusted fellow Internet bloggers and created our own recipes to help you along to give you flavorful, eye-appealing recipes that will not make you feel like you are missing out on anything.  You will feel full and have meals that are filling and delicious!  

As we said in the first post since New Year's Day is a traditional day off of work, start Whole30 on Tuesday, January the 2nd when you start back to work, or if you are an educator, on your first day back after your holiday break.  Beginning the program in this manner helps with the mentality of new year, new you...and hopefully you'll have fellow family, friends, and co-workers on the Whole30 with you as well.

So, to get started, do your grocery shopping in the store and online.  Natural Grocers was a huge help in our local area and Amazon online helped with the non-dairy creamer Nutpods and our Lara Bars for snacks and an occasional lunch if I was on the run.   

Do meal prep. It really was the key to our success during the Whole30. Make your meals times two at times if you and store in Gladware containers to have ready to go in your refrigerator.  Pack your lunch each day for work, along with snacks and your water bottle.  I drank unsweet tea like a madwoman each day.  As a southern girl there is nothing better than sweet tea in my estimation...but, I am now a little off that kick and can drink a good, tall glass of unsweet tea and actually like it.  

Do drink lots of water and remember DO NOT WEIGH YOURSELF FOR 30 DAYS!  It's not about weight, but about HOW YOU FEEL! And we promise you, you will feel better and will lose some weight. We lost on average ten pounds each, but I can not promise that it will be the same for you. However, I hope you go above and beyond what we did.  

Below an example of what a week's worth of recipes looked like for us. Use this as a guide to help map out your meals and prep for the week ahead. These are just meals for the week as we were traveling or out eating on the weekends. Just copy off the recipes and you'll have your shopping list ready to go! 

Please note that two of us were doing the Whole30 together, so we split up the recipes among one another for the week. If you are doing this alone, you don't need to make as many meals. 

BREAKFAST

Monday, Wednesday, Friday (6 meals)

Whole30 Sweet Potato Power Bowl

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday (6 meals)

Whole30 Turkey and Egg McMuffin

LUNCHES

Monday, Wednesday, Friday (6 meals)

Italian Beef Stew - you can easily use ground pork, chicken or turkey

Tuesday, Thursday (6 meals)

Southwestern Meatloaf

****These were AMAZING and we used our Hereford beef for this recipe instead of turkey.  

Serve along with our Smashed Potatoes with Clarified Butter

DINNERS - Evening Meals

Monday, Wednesday, Friday (8 meals - 4 for Monday night)

Baked Salmon Patties

Serve with Roasted Asparagus

and with Roasted Delicata Squash

Tuesday, Thursday (6 meals - 4 for Tues. night)

Sweet Potato Hash

SNACKS

Larabars (Apple Pie, Pecan Pie, Chocolate Coconut Chew)

Whole30 Apple Delight - when a sweet attach hit at night, Bethany would whip these up! Delicious and Whole30 compliant!

We are excited for you!  You've got this!  And because we believe in it so much, Bethany and I are starting round 2 of the Whole30 Tuesday so that we can continue our journey with you. 

Alise and Bethany

The Ranch Kitchen

We survived the Whole30.....

Food has always been a mainstay in my life.  Of course, we all have to eat to survive, but for me, my adoration of food goes way beyond that.  Food is and has always been ‘my happy place’ and cooking my downtime at the end of the day.  But, that love of food and everything associated with it can get you in a bind calorie wise and on your waistline, IF you don’t make the right choices.  In an effort to eat healthier and lose a few pounds that have gradually added on, my middle daughter Bethany suggested a program called Whole30 which truly has changed the way I look at food and how it affects me.

Whole 30 is based on the premise that in order to know how food affects you and your body, you’ll limit grains, processed sugar, no alcohol, no dairy, and legumes (beans of any kind)….and guess what…you can do this.  We did and we lived to tell the tale!

Prepping as part of the Whole30 was essential and having a buddy like my Bethany to motivate and keep me on track, along with preparing meals was a win, win as well.  She is blessed with uber organizational skills and a little OCD…all traits that I must some extent, but not near her level.  I used to tell her she got all this straight from my mom. 

My Bethany, middle daughter…aka motivator and 

meal prepper on our Whole30 journey!

A good week before we started making sure that for the Whole30 program to be successful for us that our kitchen was stocked with compliant foods like fresh vegetables, canned foods, and oils that we would use to cook with.  I will admit going a little overboard on ingredients, but as I’ve shared before I love a good grocery store.  It’s my weakness and don't ever go to a grocery store hungry like I often do!

So, first thing first - we bought the Whole 30 book off Amazon.  We read and then went back and read it again.  Bethany researched tasty recipes for every meal that she could meal prep for us that were compliant from breakfasts to meals to snacks.  We shopped both online and at our local Brookshire’s grocery store as well as at Natural Grocers in our nearby town.  We gradually prepped our kitchen and we bought more individual sized Gladware containers to store our left-over meals in or those we prepped in advance to eat the next few days.  And last, we prepped our family for the Whole30 adventure we were about to go on so they could be supportive and help us along on our journey.

One main thing they tell you is to NOT start the Whole30program during the holidays, however blogging like I do and being an educator, if I am going to share something with my readers, I want to have lived it.  So, a week before Thanksgiving and a week before I turned 50 and went on a family trip for it, we started Whole30.  Not ideal, but usually nothing in my life makes perfect sense…so we went with it.  Amazingly, it all worked out!  Thanksgiving was wonderful for everyone in our family enjoyed both the Whole30 compliant dishes for Bethany and me and then they ate our traditional calorie-laden veggies, rice, and dressing for my husband and other two girls.  No one suffered because of our diet, but they did learn to enjoy healthier meals that were full of flavor and not so hard on your waistline.

So, as I write this post about our Whole30 lifestyle change, we want to make sure what we print give attribution to the inspiration we found from the creators of the program itself, to the fellow bloggers and nutritionist who shared their recipes online, and to our family for supporting us through this past 30 days.

Wednesday 11/13/17 was the final day on the diet as far as the 30 days go, but we aren’t done yet. This began our slow, but sure reintroduction of foods, oils, and flours to see just how these things affect our body and yes I will drink a glass of wine first and to top it all off we will weigh ourselves for the first time in 30 days!  This lifestyle change, however, isn’t about the weight you lose, but how you feel.  I can honestly say, I’ve never felt better, have more energy and my clothes haven’t been looser in over a year.  I can tell without the scale that I’ve lost weight by just my buttons not being as tight on my waist and my shirts, dresses, and jackets not being as tight around my back.  I sleep better, don’t snore nearly as much and my joints in my legs and hips are feeling better every day. I hope you all enjoy my brutal honesty here...the struggle is real with weight gain.

So, join us. We’re going to help you get started. Bring your family along slowly as we did.  My husband really enjoyed almost every meal and at least outside of lunch at the Golden Corral buffet, did eat healthier at nights.

Check our site by clicking here at The Ranch Kitchen to see all the recipes we’ve shared to date under our new tab under the recipe tab at the bottom titled Whole30.  We’ve included all our favorite and are adding more every day. Our plan is to continue adding to these recipes even after we finished our Whole30 – 30 days to incorporate healthier eating and compliant recipes in our lives.  As always, you can also help us and add your own recipes by creating a login and becoming a ‘Friend of the The RanchKitchen’, and place your own recipes on the site.  All recipes are also Gluten Free and diabetic friendly, so it’s a win, win for people who have food allergies that may adversely affect them.

For this first posting on the Whole30, see their list below of the do’s and don’ts on their site by clicking here.  Scan over the foods, spices, oils, and books you’ll need to get started and join us!  It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change!  You got this.  There are tougher things in life than this.  Every time you think, I can’t do this, think of tougher things you’ve gone through or seen others suffer through. This is a change to make you a healthier, happier and more aware of what goes in your body.  There is just one you and YOU are the only ones who can truly change your life for the better.

Go for it…we will help you! Tomorrow we will have a list of compliant recipes and a meal plan full of delicious meals and snacks here on The Ranch Kitchen blog and recipe site for your first week.  Follow us and you can even add your own recipes to our site as we hopefully go on this journey together!  

Plan to start January 2nd so you can enjoy your black-eyed peas for a prosperous New Year!  You've got this..we promise!

Let’s make 2018 the year we are all healthier, happier and on the road to living longer lives because we made it happen!

Alise and Bethany

The Ranch Kitchen

The Ranch Kitchen's Thanksgiving Sides and Desserts

Holidays are many things to people in different ways.  Our family gatherings always center around first our family and secondly to the foods we serve. As the hostess I think we always strive to find the dishes that are individual family or friend favorites of those who come to our gatherings.  It's sometimes a difficult task to please everyone, but important to make them feel special by serving a dish they love.

As I was visiting with my mom, she instructed me to find the very best of every recipes we cook and place them into a file for safe keeping for generations to come.  That is in a nutshell is exactly what my The Ranch Kitchen recipe site is to my family... an online catalog of those dishes that mean the most to us. It's important for me to catalog those recipes we hold the dearest so my girls can always have them to remember me by.

So today, as I enjoy my week off for Thanksgiving and the time to travel on a quick trip for my 50th birthday celebration week, then clean and prep for our week ahead, I thought I'd place the recipes here on this post that we will be preparing for our feast later this week below.

My family made my year this weekend by taking me on a short trip to Nashville, Tennessee to celebrate my upcoming big 5-0!  What great memories we made and these mean more than any gift I could have ever received.  My daughter Ilissa planned the perfect itinerary and hubby Scott of course made it all happen with Bethany and Audrey urging me along from the onset of the idea to go and see Nashville and do something I wanted to do.  In a house full of women and one man, I am easily pleased doing what they do.  So, for once doing something I had always wanted to do was the perfect present. Thank you! I love my family so much and will always cherish this gift for my 50th.  Turning 50 really isn't all that bad even though I've secretly dreaded it for just a few years...

My girls love their mural shots and I think I will frame this one!

Scott and I taking in the music scene.

Fun on Main Street in Nashville. Talent is all around you here.

Sure do love our girls and my Scott!

Last stop Graceland and Elvis' home! Really cool to see it all.

Tomorrow, I will hit the grocery store early and buy all my Thanksgiving staples and especially the sharp cheddar cheese to make the Pimento Cheese to place in our celery sticks.  This is a simple recipe that is on my site as Two Mom's Pimento Cheese, however I've placed it below.  You can add any number of seasonings or even chopped bits of jalapenos to it, but we prefer to keep it simple. This recipe is easily made a few days ahead by prepping your celery and placing in containers with water and then grating your sharp cheddar cheese. This is definitely our favorite way to eat Pimento Cheese.

Two Mom's Pimento Cheese

2 lbs. Sharp Cheddar Cheese

2 - 3 cups Real Mayonnaise

juice of  1 - 2 lemons

salt and pepper to taste

Grate Sharp Cheddar Cheese and add mayonnaise and blend well.  Add lemon juice and seasonings. 

Serve on 3 inch long celery sticks on an pretty crystal dish!  This is a Young, Goudarzi and Nolan favorite at the holidays and was a right of passage for all kids to prepare at my Granny's holiday meals.

My 'Sure' Is The Broccoli Rice Casserole' is another dish I love to make as it's easy to make ahead of time and I can make in a huge batch.  Truly what is just as important is that you have plenty of leftovers for family to eat on throughout the week or take home to enjoy later. You can add chopped jalapeno's to this to spice it up or even leave out the broccoli if you are not a fan of this vegetable.

Next, this Green Chili and Cheese Hash Brown Casserole is a a huge favorite with the men in the family as it's a pretty hearty dish.  I use the freeze dried hash browns for this recipe, but you can easily use frozen or fresh grated potatoes.

Another side dish that has become tradition at our ranch are these Zucchini Squares that my brothers especially love.  We made it years ago for our Ilissa's first 4H Food Show and have been in love with it ever since.  It's makes you house smell wonderful and you get in a good green veggie to your kiddos without them knowing it!

Traditional smoked and a fried or roast turkey are always served with an occasional brown sugared ham. For convenience we always use those we purchase from our local FFA meats sales from our Audrey and enjoy Bear Creek's Smokehouse's meats. For our roast turkey we have most recently been using Char-Broil® The Big Easy™ Oil-less Propane Turkey Fryer we found at Academy stores.  It's minus the grease and safer with kids running around the cooker.

A vegetable tray is always present for my health conscious brothers and my girls. I like to make a non-traditional one with sliced zucchini and yellow squash.  Here is a recipe Roasted Mixed Vegetables with Parmesan Cheese for what to do with it after the holidays too!

These Unbundled Green Beans are a twist on the fancier version of the recipe for Green Bean Bundles that are both found on my site.  They are a local favorite and in an attempt to recreate them for a huge crowd, this simpler recipes was created. You can make these the fancier way by wrapping your green beans or simply chop your bacon adding to a gallon size of cut green beans and cook it all in a large pot or baking dish. Either way, this recipe I posted on Sure Champ/VitaFerm site as a their featured blogger is a favorite in our little part of the south!

Green Bean Bundles (fancy version :o) )

And last this Vegetable Tian is a wonderful dish to make with whatever roasted sweet potatoes, red or Idaho potatoes, tomatoes, and squash you love!  I'll be changing this up a bit this year with purple and orange sweet potatoes to give it some extra color, but my Ilissa's version is wonderful!  Can't wait to try this variation out on my family!

Last, no Thanksgiving is complete without my Granny's Pecan Pie that has graced our tables even before I was born.  This simple New England style Pecan Pie is wonderful with a dollop of whipped cream on top and the perfect ending to your lunch, dinner or second helping after all that turkey and dressing! 

And another perfect ending are these Magic Cookie Bars that our Bethany makes for almost every holiday or occasion.  My baby brother loves these and so we try to make these for him as much as we can.

As you recover from the turkey and all the sides this week, my hopes are that your Thanksgiving is wonderful and season ahead be full of many blessings.

Alise - The Ranch Kitchen

Bread and Butter Pickles

This summer I've really enjoyed playing with a few new recipes with seasonal vegetables we've grown and bought from Farmer's Markets.  Today I used locally grown pickling cucumbers to make some delicious Bread and Butter Pickles.  Growing up these were my very favorite of all pickles because of their sweet-tarty taste.  I think I could just drink the juice honestly.

Our favorite seafood restaurant always had these pickles out on the table along with pickled okra and cheese spread spread on crusty french toast rounds to snack on before your meal was served.  When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, I craved both these pickles and that cheese spread.

Click here for the recipe for Bread and Butter Pickles

Pictured are my Bread and Butter Pickles I made on this rainy East Texas day.  Although you have to wait three hours for the pickles to 'sit' in a pickling salt, garlic and ice water bath in the refrigerator, it's totally worth it.  I used the time to clean out some much needed drawers in our bedroom in anticipation of a garage sale coming up soon.  My garage looks like it has exploded and I will soon bring in a flatbed trailer for the attic cleansing that will come next.  This garage sale is lonnnggg overdue.

Once the pickles sat for their three hours in the refrigerator, I drained them (do not rinse) and then added to them the apple cider vinegar, sugar, turmeric, celery seed, and mustard seed and brought it all to a boil.  You will immediately turn the heat off and not allow the pot to continue to boil.

Immediately spoon your Bread and Butter Pickles in to Mason or Ball Canning Jars and seal according to the link provided on my recipe.  I chose to not hot water bath these pickles and refrigerate instead.  They will not last long at my house and I might even share a few with family members...if they are nice...  ;o)

What I really loved about this recipe was the addition of bell peppers and onions.  My green bell peppers had started to turn orange, but I used them anyway. Orange bell peppers are sweet, so I think they will compliment these Bread and Butter Pickles too.

This recipe for Bread and Butter Pickles made five jars. Click here for the recipe here!

I hope you'll give these pickles a try.  It's a super, simple recipe that I'll be making again before the summer's end.  I even used the left over juice from the Bread and Butter Pickles that would not fit in to the jars with two cans of drained Italian green beans for dinner tonight. Waste not, want not! Delicious!  Just bring it to a boil with about an additional 1/2 cup water.  My family loved the green beans too!  The sweet juice would probably make some fantastic frozen pickle pops (popsicles) with the leftovers too.  I think my girls would love them!

Alise - The Ranch Kitchen  

Last of the Garden & Confetti Pasta

It's hot in Texas finally.  After a mild summer with tons of rain and low temperatures, the humidity and heat has set in.  Our garden that produced so well for us this year is now on it's last leg and veggies are not producing as much as I'd like.

This past weekend I picked some of our last banana and bell peppers from our garden and along with the basil we've grown in large quantities, I created this simple pasta dish.  As my daughter's friend Ashley said, it had a fresh taste to it using the peppers and especially the basil.  The added sour cream, Real Mayonnaise, Rotel Tomatoes and cream cheese made the pasta creamy and delicious too.  If you still have fresh tomatoes, by all means replace the Rotel Tomatoes and use them instead with a sprinkling of cilantro. If you like a little heat, then add a chopped jalapeno to it as well.

                            Click here for the recipe for Confetti Pasta.

Confetti Pasta is just so bright, fun and colorful! 

If you serve this pasta outside, be sure to keep the bowl on top of another bowl of ice to keep this pasta chilled.  I think adding cooked chicken, tuna, salmon or even pepperoni would easily turn this side dish in to a main dish for dinner or a light lunch.

This recipe would be perfect for a church or work potluck or large family gathering or reunion.

If you have similar pasta dishes, please consider sharing them on The Ranch Kitchen Share a Recipe Section of my recipe site.  I love new recipes and would love to share yours on the blog with fellow followers.

Enjoy the rest of your July, try to stay cook and let me know how you like this Confetti Salad!

Alise
The Ranch Kitchen 

2017 Jr. National Hereford Expo in Kentucky

Jr. National Hereford Expo backdrop for Kentucky was breathtaking!
Their  derby theme was carried throughout the entire show.

A whirlwind of a week has come to an end and as we drive the 11-hour journey home, I have time to look back on our fun, yet exhausting week at the Junior National Hereford Expo.  The words reunion, work, competitions and camaraderie come to mind as reflect on our close to 15 JNHE’s we have exhibited in as a family with our three daughters.  The days are early, long and filled to the brim with contest, showmanship’s, banquets and culminating shows that leave you with a deeper appreciation for the Hereford breed and our people.  Showin' For the Roses was a banner theme and event! 

Texas Jr. Hereford and Polled Hereford members taking our state picture before opening ceremonies.  These kids are always the loudest and sometimes wildest in the bunch!

Audrey and  Annalise decided to continue to wear their Grill Off costumes for Opening Ceremonies!  Too appropriate!

Audrey and Annalise carrying in the Texas flags.

Our Texas Jrs. at JNHE Opening Ceremonies

Louisville, Kentucky hosted our JNHE (Junior National Hereford Expo) this year to record breaking Hereford juniors and their families.  This 'cowcation' of sorts is sometimes the only vacation families get in a summer and one juniors anticipate, work toward and hone their skills during the hot months in advance for the various contest and shows by working their cattle, preparing for contest like Illustrated Speaking, Beef Quiz Bowl, Great American Certified Hereford Beef Grill Off, Livestock Judging, and Extemporaneious Speaking among others.  This year our Audrey competed with her team for Texas by preparing a Texas Stir Fry for their grill off team.  This oriental inspired meal was created by our own former Texas Jr. Hereford member Colby Rogers, who once competed with practically this same group of juniors several years back.  Now a chef, he created a recipe that was a wonderful with a few small tweaks from us due to contest rules on no beer.  

His recipe uses a Texas favorite Shiner Bock beer that we are sure would make his Texas Stir Fry even more tasty than it already was. Above and below are pictures of Audrey and her teammates as they prepared for their event in practice and later ready to go in for the contest.  Although we did not win this year, their two previous 1^st places assure them that they will come back next year with a vengeance!  ;o)  Click here for the Texas Stir Fry Recipe.  

                             Our Texas kids cooked and plated this dish.

Our week kicked off with a tailgate event sponsored by participating states. Texas having competed in this event as a state back at our Nebraska, decided to put a Kentucky touch to our menu on this night and prepared a grilled Hereford beef tenderloin served in corn tortillas along with chips and salsa.   For dessert Bramman Ranches offered up their precious Mexican bicycle cart with ice cream sandwiches and popsicles for the hot crowds. 

Myself, Bethany and Rhonda Stewart of Texas.    

Working our Texas Tailgate booth serving up Hereford beef, chips and salsa!

Our decorations carried on a Texas/Derby feel with the fantastic roses and my tried and true Mexican blankets that I’ve used for every junior nationals that I can remember.  Our booth was a hot spot for sure and request for the recipe frequent.  We however could not have pulled it off without our fabulous grill masters, Monte Williams GKB Ranch crew and Jeff Chaffin of W4 Ranch along with their wives.  Scott participated in the National Hereford Women’s dunking booth and helped raise funds for their scholarships and programs.  We were impressed his trusty old Texas A&M hat got a good cleaning during the dunking!

Scott got dunked quite a bit, including once from myself, Audrey and Bethany!

We also attended the National Queen Tea hosted by Annah Dobson of Wisconsin on that Sunday afternoon.  It was a fun event that little girls truly look forward too.  The cookie decorating was a huge hit with Annah and her mother putting on a fun event.  Below are my girls with Annah. Back when our Bethany was National Hereford Queen, bringing back the tea for our little girls was one of her initiatives.  We can't tell you how proud we are of how it has grown with each new queen's added touch and service project over the years.  

As the week rocked on my daughter Bethany and good friends Becky and the three Stephanies broke loose from the barns and took our own little bourbon tour in the gorgeous countryside of Kentucky at Woodford Reserve.  Only an hour from Louisville in Woodford County this gem of a bourbon distillery uses only Kentucky corn and products to create a delicious bourbon steeped in tradition.  It’s been years since any of us had bourbon balls (a sweet chocolate balled candy with just a touch of bourbon for flavoring) and we learned that when you pair it with a good Kentucky bourbon, you have a winning combination!  We got a little tickled at our tour guide as he warned the Texas ladies not to swig the bourbon…  We did however learn one little fact while there that bourbon is the same thing as whiskey, but can only be called bourbon when distilled in Kentucky. After two small ‘fingers’ of bourbon, I think I remembered that little fact right…

                                          Woodford Reserve Distillery

So enjoyed Bethany being with us at JNHE and this bourbon tour.



Just before the bourbon goes in to barrels it goes in the broilers!  These were gorgeous.  We all smelled like a glass of bourbon when we left...not too bad if I say so myself!



Bethany doing the proper 'sniffing' of the bourbon before you sip it!

'Sipping' our Kentucky Woodford Bourbon!  The smell was intoxicating! :o)

The Kentucky coutryside near Woodford Reserve we had to get out
and give the Texas A&M Gig'em sign!

My Bethany and I!

Just in the nick of time I made it back for a the National Hereford Women summer meeting where I demo’d three recipes from The Ranch Kitchen.  Of course, one recipe I served was beef inspired and I cooked up my My Big Girls Favorite Goulash that I will also be featuring at the State Fair of Texas this fall.  Alongside this I served my Penne Pretzels and Nolana's Family Hot Sauce and chips as appetizers that are always hits at our Hereford shows (click on links in this sentence for recipes). These dishes are easy to prepare while at shows or make and bag before you leave to serve later. 

As luck would have it though, my cooker did not work, so thankfully the Lockhart's whom we cooked with for dinner each night had a grill that I used to prepare my goulash on! Murphy's Law was in full gear on me that a.m. at 6:30 before the bourban tour...but I did not let it stop me.  With a little help from Scott and friend Sarah Hamman, The Ranch Kitchen got everything cooked, warmed up and ready to serve! Thank you!

              Thank you National Hereford Women for asking me to speak
                                  at your summer meeting.  It was fun! 

Having the opportunity to speak at the NHW meeting was very special to as a former board member.  My time on the board will always be a favorite memory because of the women who have became dear friends and the impact we made toward our National Junior Hereford Association members.  These ladies work tirelessly for 4 years running the various scholarships, contest and raising the much needed funds to enable them.  It was a real honor being asked to give back to a group that has done so much for my girls and all our juniors. 

Sweet NHW friend Beth Blinson that I served on the board with during our day.
 Love her and her great family!

As is tradition in Texas we eat together each day.  Life has become much easier at these shows now as Monte Williams, his family and EC Rosson love to do all the cooking.  Breakfast tacos (remember we are from Texas) and great lunches were prepared each day for our more than 100 plus Texans in attendance.  Families, sponsors and our Texas Hereford/Polled Hereford Associations come together to make sure are meals are funded and worrying about meals midday are not an issue.  Many years ago, dear friend Felicia Marks and I started this tradition as a way to bring our two associations together and proudly it has done just that.  Special thank you also to Sarah Hamman for taking care of the hospitality table each day as well with snacks and such for our kiddos and adults and to our parents for sending home baked sweets.  


Later in the week a tradition of our ranch Nolan Herefords is to sponsor a watermelon feed for our hungry group.  With the assistance, our daughter Bethany, Audrey and our sweet friend Randi, not only our barn group was fed but half the US as I got a little over zealous buying watermelons.  It was the cutest thing watching Randi and Audrey whiz by on her cart all over the barn handing out slices of watermelon to the hot and hungry families. 

Scott cutting up watermelon.

Sweet friends twins loved the watermelon! 

Audrey and Randi handing out watermelons. We told them to say Texas sent them!

As a fundraiser for our Randi Williams, our Texas Association and our own Shannon Worrell put together gorgeous Kentucky backdrops for juniors to take pictures in front of while at the Expo. Stunning and she is truly talented! 

                               

Gorgeous Kentucky derby themed backdrops.  Shannon even had her son dress up as jockey!                                            

During the week, we got a visit from one of our Ilissa’s good friends, Ryan Quarles, Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture.  After meeting for their upcoming Kentucky State Fair, he walked through the barns to find us.  His family roots are deep in tobacco farming and he was a wealth of information on both that and his great state.  You could easily see how deep his love for Kentucky was and it was so great to finally meet him.  Little did we know that Woodford County and the bourbon distillery we had visited was very near his family’s farm. 

Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles visiting with us at our stalls. 

The last four days of this show always culminate with showmanship contests, bred and owned heifer, steer, bull and cow/calf pair show and then the owned heifer show.  Happily, Audrey and our ranch had a good year at the expo garnering a 1^st, 2^nd, and 6^th during the bred and owned show.  

                             Love the concentration in this picture of our Audrey

Bred and owned means that the cattle was bred and raised on your ranch under your name and not bought from another ranch to show.  To our family this is the pinnacle of shows as it is a result of our breeding program.  Starting out our oldest daughter Ilissa was part of the building process, so her cattle were almost always purchased to show until her senior year.  Bethany and Audrey showed what we raised and thankfully have had some successes.  However, those successes took many years and when you finally get upwards in class ranking at a JNHE, you realize how lucky you are.  To say the classes were deep is an understatement as the quality over the years continues to grow in the Hereford breed.  I told someone that at this granddaddy of all shows, you bring your best and it shows in the ring.

Audrey and her 1st in class with NH North in the Bred and Owned Show being judged by Mark McClintock of Texas

Happy moments were frequent this week and a huge congratulation to dear family friend Rylie Barber on being selected as a National Junior Hereford Board Member.  We couldn’t be prouder of you and know you will be a tremendous asset to the breed.   Below are some sweet shots of her and another dear family friend Taylor Belle Matheny of Kentucky who also was selected for the board.  These two will both make stellar contributions to the breed we are certain. 

   Taylor Belle Matheny's NJHA jacket reveal.

 Rylie Barber's NJHA jacket reveal! Sweet moments for sure! 

Friend Jessica Middleswarth after her retiring NJHA speech with her family. Thank you for your four great years!

One fun event that last all week long each year is the JNHE State Silent Auction with 'baskets' taking up entire tables full of regional gifts anyone from throughout the US would want.  Texas went with a 'Southern State of Mind' theme and our basket was chalked full of things symbolizing our state and the great south. I love bidding on these baskets and sometimes winning to get regional jellies, syrups, liquors and décor for our ranch. 

Texas basket with some sweet additions by Go Texan (Texas Department of Agriculture)
 and our Ilissa! 

Texas basket took up a table and a half! Love my signs I donated by local friend Margie Brown of Texas!

Maryland's basket was the winner garnering over $2000.00 in bids! 

States do the best job getting their baskets together.

As I close this long post, I’d like to thank the AHA Staff, Amy Cowan, Bailey Clanton and the NJHA Board, and the family friends the Methany’s (Suzanne is my dear National Hereford Woman board friend) who organized the Kentucky Junior National Hereford Expo.  What a fun week everyone had.  Your southern hospitality, attention to detail and love our juniors is evident in each decision you made.  

Thank you as well to Kody Graves who helped us fit our cattle along with our ranch manager Steve Decker who would not have been anywhere else but at this show. His devotion and love of our Audrey and cattle are evident in everything her does for us. 

Below are a few more pictures from throughout the show of our Texas juniors.

Randi, Maggie and Audrey had a blast rolling through the barns all week! 15 going on 7...  :o)

Texas Great American Grill Off team practice session

Our sweet Texas kids in the barns this past week.  

They always have the best time.

Also got to see some our sweet Hereford girls Sara Radar and Whitney Andras who just
happen to work for Sullivan's The Pulse who I blog recipes for!  These girls have grown up with our Bethany and Ilissa. 

Texas Great American Grill Off Team!  Mason doesn't look too upset to be with all these pretty girls! 

Audrey showing NH Miss North in the ring 

                     
Now as Scott, Bethany, Steve, Audrey are back in East Texas we are excited to see our ranch again after the long, but fun week.  It’ll be great to be home in the great Lone Star State of Texas, but we will already be looking toward Grand Island, Nebraska next year for the 2018 Jr. National Hereford Expo, my very favorite of all barns in the US at their state fair grounds.  

As I finish this post, I think I’ll treat myself to a bourbon ball and be thankful for our week in the beautiful state of Kentucky doing what we love to do, show Hereford cattle with some of our favorite people.

Alise
The Ranch Kitchen