Thank a Farmer Day!!!

Thanksgiving is a time of year to give thanks for every blessing you have treasured thus far. The year is coming to a close and Christmas is around the corner. This is the season for thanks, family, and praising whomever or whatever you may worship be it God, Allah, Buddha, or any of the other religious figures.

However, many of you may give thanks for the food you are about to eat but have any of you given thanks and said a prayer for the ones that produced that wonderful food? The hog farmers, the cattle ranchers, the row farmers, and especially the turkey wranglers, have any of you thanked a farmer today or even this year?

While you sit around the table preparing to feast with family and friends, remember who grew those yams, who raised that bird, and who went out early this morning to tend to their livestock before any holiday festivities could begin. Remember the farmers and ranchers of this great nation and show your thanks be a prayer, a tweet, or a phone call just to say "Thanks."

I thank a farmer every day. In fact, I love farmers so much...I married one.

Thank God for your blessings.

Thank heaven for your family.

And

Thank a farmer for your food.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Shaken Up the Holidays with Thanksgiving Oddities

Thanksgiving is all about traditions. Traditional foods, traditional gatherings, tradition, tradition, tradition. But what if you feel like shaking up the holidays. One way to keep with tradition while adding a little extra zing to the day is to add a non-traditional and/or slightly odd food item to the menu.

Image by Mitcham Peaches



Photo of fried pickles
by Food Network

At our house we usually always have a tray of sweet pickles, dill pickles, and green olives to munch on before, during, and after dinner. Instead of the usual tray why not shake it up a bit with something like fried pickles, pickled okra, and pickled peaches.

Instead of the same ol' pumpkin pie, why not have pumpkin pudding with vanilla wafers (I like to dip the wafers in the pudding). You could also change the appetizer platter to include sushi rolls for a little something different. 

For even more holiday oddities check out a post by mental_floss. This list includes a recipe involving White Castle, a turkey with anchovies, and a Ham and Banana Casserole. Yum?



Image from mental_floss

 How will you shake up the holidays? Do you have any odd traditions for Thanksgiving?

Turkey for Few



Photo by Taste of Home



Not everyone is going to have 30 plus family members gathered in their home this Thanksgiving day awaiting a feast-o-plenty. For those lucky few, instead of fixing a huge bird with all the stuffing, casseroles a plenty, pies galore, and all the other do-dads that are synonymous with T-day, why not have a scaled down version of the feast-o-plenty. Here are a few ideas from Taste of Home:



1) Instead of a whole turkey, try just the breast. While your roasting up that chunk of juicy white meat, why not throw in some red potatoes and carrots. Here is a great dish from Taste of Home.



Photo by Taste of Home



2) Not a turkey fan? How about a Sweet N Moist Ham or a Savory Pork Loin Roast instead.

3) For a yummy side bake some butternut squash with raisins in a delish syrup sauce.



Photo by Taste of Home



4) Want a light, sweet side dish? Try fixing a simple fruit salad with apples and grapes, you could even through in some dried cranberries to turkey-day it up.



5) Can't decide which pie to fix? Try combining some of your favorite pies to get the best of both worlds. Here are a few pies to ponder:



Pecan Pumpkin Pie

Caramel-Pecan Cheesecake Pie

Four-Fruit Pie

Peach-Pear Pie



Photo by Taste of Home



What sort of yummy things do you have on your holiday table?

Giving Thanks with Pork

While turkey is the traditional meat of the Thanksgiving holiday, pork is a wonderfully tasty and healthy alternative or a great addition to any meal. If you're looking for a lean piece of meat that will leave your taste buds tingling and your belly sated look no further than a big juicy pork loin. Loin is the leanest cut of meat a piggy has to offer and is just as healthy as a piece of skinless white meat chicken.



Mitzi Dulan, a registered dietitian and a specialist in nutritional counseling suggests using a low-fat marinade for flavor and juiciness like a wine-flavored vinegar, fat-free dressing, or juice instead of an oil-based marinade. She also suggests seasoning pork with herbs and spices instead of salt to boost flavor and cut back on sodium. After seasoning or marinating your pork loin, Mitzi says to grill, roast, or stir-fry it to maximize flavor while keeping fat to a minimum.


Mitzi's suggestions are great if you want a low-fat, high protein, delicious meal. But here's what I suggest: Get yourself some Worcestershire sauce, Italian dressing, several shakes of Sticky Pig Seasoning Rub, some minced onion, a little garlic powder, a splash of soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste shake it all up in a big plastic bag and drop in the biggest pork loin roast you can get your hands on and let it sit in the fridge for a couple days. Then, roast it in a roasting pan with a rack, fat side up at no hotter than 325 degrees for about an hour, maybe more maybe less, just check it after 30 minutes or so until it hits 150 degrees. Then, pull the roast out, wrap it in foil and let it set until it reaches 160 degrees. Voila, it may not be fat free but it sure is good. You can also just rub the hell out of it with your favorite seasoning rub and bake it just the same. Yum!

Give it a try this Thanksgiving and let me know how it turns out.

Busy November

Wow! This month is already turning out to be a busy one. I feel like I've been running full throttle and it doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon. Please forgive my absence, I started a new class and it has been sucking up a lot of my time with the reading assignments. I will get back into the swing of things but for now here is a list of things to look forward to this month:

1) Skinny Pig post coming soon and just in time for the holidays. If you think turkey is the only meat worthy of Thanksgiving dinner, think again. See how pork is good for your waistline.

2) Scoop on the Poop post will be airing this month along with a new YouTube video. You can get a preview of the post to come by reading Swine Waste Management on Suite101. I am really excited about this video and I hope you all enjoy it.

3) We Care video contest. See how our farm uses ethical principals everyday. For my fellow pork producers, the National Pork Board is having a video contest, deadline is November 30. Learn more here. I will be posting this video to YouTube and entering it in the contest for a chance to win a new HD camcorder. Wish me luck!

4) Thanksgiving menus! I'll have to rush on this order and I hope I make my goal of at least 4 different menus: A traditional menu, a health conscious menu featuring pork, a diabetic menu, and a scaled down menu for those that only have a few to feed.

Well, there you have it folks, my to-do list for November. My head is spinning just thinking about it but with a little luck and some late nights I'm sure I can knock it out. I also have to start Christmas shopping at some point but that's what Internet and UPS is for.