Happenings on the Ranch

***FOOD SAFETY ALERT***
Front Row Produce Recalls Grape Tomatoes Because Of Possible Health Risk

Front Row Produce of St. Louis MO is recalling its 10oz pint and 10lb bulk grape tomatoes supplied by Rio Queen Citrus, Mission TX, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.

The recalled 10oz pint and 10lb bulk grape tomatoes were distributed throughout Missouri and Illinois to foodservice distributors and retail stores. The product for retail sale is packaged in a 10-ounce, clear plastic package marked with a Front Row Produce “Grape Tomatoes” label on the top of the package. Currently, the lot number does not appear on the clear plastic package but it does appear on the case label. The lot numbers on the cases containing the 10-oz. packages are 2310802, 2310405, or 2510401. The 10lb bulk grape tomatoes are packaged for wholesale in a plain brown cardboard box labeled only with lot # 2310801.

As of 12/1/2011, all shipments of Front Row Produce Grape Tomatoes packaged in clear 10-oz. plastic packages sold in retail stores will now have a green lot number sticker placed on the bottom side of each package. The lot number will consist of a 7-digit number used to aid in identifying specific shipments of product. Any packages that do not contain this green sticker should be considered suspect and under recall.

No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this problem.

The contamination was noted after random testing by Rio Queen Citrus, Mission TX, revealed the presence of Salmonella in some 20lb bulk containers.

Production of the product has been suspended while FDA and the company continue their investigation as to the source of the problem.

Consumers who have purchased 10 ounce packages of Front Row Produce “Grape Tomatoes” or other customers who have purchased the 10-lb. bulk cases of grape tomatoes are urged to discard the product. Consumers with questions may contact Front Row Produce at (314) 241-4700, Monday- Friday from 7am-4pm, Saturday- Sunday from 7am-12pm.

This is the last of my recipes using that original chicken and homemade chicken stock.  This one really is one of the family’s favorites, right up there with the chicken pot pie.  And here’s what’s cool … the recipe is really almost the exact same as making the chicken pot pie.  Actually it’s the same recipe, sans pie crust, but with dumplings dropped over the boiling concoction.

Here it is in a nutshell.  Follow the directions for the chicken pot pie, adding whatever veggies you have on hand, and mix the chicken, veggies and sauce all together in one pot.  Now, add an additional cup (or whatever is left from your original batch) of chicken stock to the pot.  This will thin the mixture out enough to cook the dumplings.  Bring the mixture back to a boil while making the dumplings.

Ingredients

• 2 C flour
• 4 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 T butter
• 2 T lard
• 1 C milk

In the food processor (or by hand, of course) mix together all the dry ingredients.  Pulse in (or cut in by hand) the butter and lard until crumbly.  Place mixture in a bowl and mix in the milk.  Use more milk if you have to, to get the consistency to be slightly loose, like really thick oatmeal.  Don’t worry, you can’t really screw it up it; the consistency will only affect how quickly the dumplings cook through.

Drop the dumpling mixture by large spoonfuls on top of the boiling chicken mixture.  Cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked through.  That’s it!  Scoop all the goodness together into a bowl and chow down.

Now, here’s another little secret.  The recipe I just gave you for the dumplings is also my tried-and-true biscuit recipe.  Just add 1/2 cup sugar to the dry ingredients and substitute buttermilk instead of milk.  When mixing, make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk to the center, slowly mixing together until just combined.  The dough will be very sticky (don’t use more than 1 C of buttermilk).  Generously flour your rolling surface and rolling pin.  Roll the dough out to 3/4″ thick, cut into rounds and bake in a 450 degree oven.  They are scrumptious.

One more thing … use all of these recipes with the leftover turkey carcass from Thanksgiving!  Once everyone is stuffed full, use the bones/carcass to make a stock and use the cubed leftover turkey for all these recipes.  Use up leftover side dishes in the pot pie and chicken and dumplings and leftover veggies to substitute for the cauliflower in the stuffed peppers.  Better than plain ‘ol turkey sandwiches.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I’ll be spending the rest of the week butchering the bird and preparing for the 15+ people I’ll be cooking for on Thursday.  May you find many things to be thankful for this year.

Until next time,

~Karin

We hear it all the time.  We see it as posts on Facebook.  We see commercials about it.  It’s the “Monday Blues.”  This would seem to be more pertinent to those who work outside the home, forced to go back to the workplace and face another five days of madness, and for those parents who are committed to running children from school to soccer practices and music lessons during another crazy week-long marathon of events.  After a two-day respite over the weekend, Monday just always seems to be a lousy day for many folks.  Now, farmers are never really ever off the clock.  The busy season may have passed but there are still chores to do, animals to feed and water and preparations for winter and next season to finish.  Throw the upcoming holidays into the mix and I am still very busy, regardless of what day of the week it is.  Weekends don’t really mean respite around here but, apparantly, farmers have Mondays too.

Mine this morning started with checking on our sow, Lucy, who had a medical emergency over the weekend.  I won’t go into the details but let’s just say it wasn’t pretty and involved some hog anatomy and actions on my part not really fit for conversation.  She will be okay, thankfully, but I needed to check her status this morning anyway.  Coming back to the front of the house covered in mud and muck, I fully intended on heading in for a quick shower before loading up to make a delivery to Nature’s Own Health Market.  My animals had other ideas.

Our horses, Gem and Lacy, generally run in the back pasture most of the year.  This is mostly because the front part of the property is being used for crops and 1,000 pound hungry beasts and fresh veggies just don’t mix … if you want to eat any of the veggies, anyway.  But once the season is over the girls have free rein of the front part of the property, too.  This gives them more grazing area as the grasses die off for the winter and extends the amount of time we have before having to feed them hay.

If you’ve ever visited our farm (if not, we hope you do) you’ve seen there is no front yard, per se.  There is no fenced area that is designated just for yard.  Everything is wide open and the chickens frequently visit us right up to the front steps.  Technically the horses could do the same at this time of the year.  They generally don’t, though, because there’s usually nothing that interests them.  All the goodies are out in the now bare fields.  They spend their days grazing through the leftovers of greens, beets and whatever else tickles their fancy.

So imagine my surprise as I round the front of the house to find both my girls standing in the front “yard” at our patio table, LICKING the table top.  Huh?  It was amusing at first.  They would both use their lips to push things out of the way to get to whatever was on that table that was so yummy.  And they were licking very enthusiastically.  My only thought is that someone spilled a soda (or a beer – yes, horses and hogs like beer.  It’s nothing but grain, afterall) and they were licking the sugary sweetness from the table.  Cute.  Until they started to get aggressive about it, knocking things off the table and pushing each other out of the way to get to the next spot on the surface.  Lacy even put her front foot up like she was about to walk up on my GLASS table!  Okay, enough was enough.  I spent the next who-knows-how-long trying to persuade them to find something else to do.  I tried handfuls of feed, little horsey treats, even spraying the table off with water to get rid of whatever was soooo delicious.  Nothing worked.  Both girls stood their ground and actually got a bit ornery with me.  I finally had to push them both out of the way and flip the table on it’s side.  No way they could get to the tabletop now unless they bent down on their knees … not something horses are in the habit of doing very often.

I finally thought I had the situation under control and turned to head to the house.   I suddently heard a loud crash of glass, but not in the direction of the horses.  I checked to be sure my table was still intact and both girls were just staring at me like, “Not me, mom.”  I then realized the glass crashing had come from the largest chicken coop.  I looked over in time to see a small chicken running from the scene of the crime.

We have (um, had) one glass window in the front of that coop.  It serves to let in light in the early morning hours of the summer so the girls will get the sun even before we let them out to roam (important for keeping the eggs coming).  One of the birds either saw another one through the window or saw their own reflection and flew up at the glass, shattering the window.  This was one of our younger birds so they really must have taken a running leap to hit the glass that hard.  Thankfully the bird wasn’t injured, only startled, and she just shook it off and went running away leaving me to come over and pick up the shards of glass.  After removing the remaining glass from the frame, and making a mental note to cover the now gaping hole with chicken wire tonight, I made my way back to the porch.  Upon seeing the horses still hovering near the upended patio table, curiously licking at the seat cushions now, I simply rolled my eyes, sighed deeply and walked into the house for my shower.

The delivery I had to make was intended to be at the store by 10am.  I didn’t get there until almost 2pm.  Thankfully Monica, the produce manager, understood that farmers have “Mondays” too.