Heifers for Sale!

Acklin Cattle Company has 17 bred commercial Red Angus heifers for sale. They were AI bred to Big Sky and our clean up bull is a son of Major League. They are due to start calving on March 9th. They spent the summer on pasture and are in great condition. Call 816-262-9974 (Howard) for more information or for pricing.

PORK!

No I'm not like Emeril and have an obsession with pork fat, but I do have an appreciation for a good pork loin, piece of bacon, ham or a fantastic smoked pork chop which what I wanted to share today. On a recent MoKan NAMA tour, we visited Kurzweils' Country Meats in Garden City, Mo (thanks to Mindy Hempler who knows the folks there and recommended their wonderful facility for our tour) and as part of our tour we were given smoked pork chops so last night I gave them a whirl and let me tell you what...these could possibly be one of the best smoked pork chops that I have ever eaten. (Not my pork chop, but a picture from their website!) For those of you who have known me for a long time know that I grew up with fresh pork in the freezer (which I guess was our reward for having smelly and noisy pigs out the back door...not literally they were in pens 100 feet from the door, we weren't hillbillies people!) and also know that I am very particular about purchasing meat, especially pork since it can sometimes be strong tasting, but this was fresh and mild tasting with a perfect amount of smoke. So with these wonderful pork chops since they are already precooked I just put mine in a skillet for about 3 minutes on each side until they were starting to caramelize and the meat was warm all the way through and put the wonderful chops with homemade macaroni and cheese which was a perfect and pretty easy way to end a Monday. Kurzweils' is a family owned and run business, some of the family raises the pork, some of the family works in the store and some of the family raises the corn that is fed to the pigs. They are good people that have a great country store with unique items that would make a great gift basket. In addition to the pork chops they have many other items including specialty flavored brats including Greek and Chili Cheese and a lot of great items that can be put on the grill for a tailgate or fun fall family outing. They have a location in Lee's Summit for those of you afraid to venture out of city limits (even though the trip to Garden City would be worth it!) and even have an on-line ordering system, could be a great option for holiday gifts or corporate gifts. Visit their website to see what they have: http://www.kurzweilscountrymeats.com/

Dear Parents in Kansas City

I hope this doesn't come back to haunt me some day, and I am sure it will, but I wanted to send out this letter to parents in Kansas City. Dear Kansas City Parents - Please refrain from bringing your children to Target on a Sunday afternoon in their pajamas. And furthermore, put some clothes on yourself, those might be your 'nice' Winnie the Pooh flannel pj pants, but the rest of us don't care. Thank you, Your Friendly Target Shopper

Proof Reading Emails

So as sponsors of the American Royal Calf Scramble, the American Royal graciously gave the SFP office tickets to many of the activities at the Royal this year, which we are very excited about. So I sent an email out to the office that said such: We have 4 tickets for the American Royal Hunter Jumper Grand Prix in the lower level up for grabs…it is tomorrow night at 7:00. First come first serve…call, email, text, or courier pigeon me! Jennie comes rushing into my office with tears streaming from her office and I thought to myself that she is trying really hard because the courier pigeon line wasn't that funny but whatever... Jennie: Did you read that email before you sent it? Me: Yeah Jennie: Did you read the subject line? Me: Oh no... Email Subject Line: American Royal Hunter Humper Grand Prix Not exactly sure what a Hunter Humper is but I can only imagine and I really don't want to know. It is amazing how many people emailed me back so quickly and props to the guy who got that courier pigeon ready so fast! Anyway...for once I am really glad that I work in a pretty relaxed office because after I could compose myself from laughing on my floor (literally), I went out into the office and everyone had a nice good long laugh about it...even HR. Traveling Cowgirl Code: Always proof read your emails...even the SUBJECT line!

That's a Pretty Darn Good Bacon Infused Burger

So football season is here and I finally had the chance to actually go to a game with some friends, so as we are planning I offer to make the burgers. I offer to make the burgers for a couple reasons: 1. I have a pretty decent supply of beef at my disposal, considering what my family does for a living that makes a lot of sense, 2. I had an idea I wanted to try out and I was in the mood for bacon, and 3. I was feeling nice for once (hard to believe, but it does happen sometimes). So the response to my burgers was pretty exceptional considering it was raining like a monsoon in CoMo that night and we were lucky we didn't soak our buns (just ask my brother Adam who didn't wear rain pants to the game...he not only had soaked buns but cold ones too), but alas we didn't and the burgers were a hit. And why not they were infused with bacon...bacon infused burgers. To me there are two keys to a great piece of grilled meat. Meat Source/Quality Grilling Method/Griller MEAT - Get your grilling meats from a reputable source. Of course I recommend home-raised and when I say home-raised I don't mean all-natural, organic or grass-fed...I mean the good kind that have been vaccinated, fed corn and soy by-products and raised. If you don't have access to what is now lovingly known as "Howard Beef" by my friends then I recommend you take care when selecting your grilling meats because your taste buds will thank you later because grilling will just enhance the natural flavors of the meat. GRILLING - I'm going to play a little bit of a man card here, even though I'm not a man, but I feel like I'm a pretty decent grill master...key to making these burgers or ANY burgers good is to cook them on a medium to medium-low heat to keep the juices in and also get the burgers cooked even with a nice crust on the outside of the burgers as well. I also suggest to melt your cheese slightly on the burgers before you take them off the grill to get that yummy melty cheese effect, which I will say I would have forgotten if not for Mr. Tower reminding me and almost revoking my grilling tongs. Ok on to the recipe: Pretty Darn Good Bacon Infused Burger 1 pound home raised all-American ground BEEF 1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce 2 TBS A1 Smokehouse Steak Sauce (the only reason to have steak sauce) 1 TBS Gates Grilling Seasoning 4 strips Bacon uncooked (I used the apple wood smoked kind) Combine the first 4 ingredients. Chop the bacon strips into small pieces and combine with the burger goodness mixture, if you like more bacon...add more bacon. Make into patties and grill. If you grill them right then the bacon will cook thoroughly and will get crispy on the inside and outside of the burger. Traveling cowgirl code: Bacon makes everything better...even home-raised, all-American, perfectly seasoned, perfectly grilled burgers.

Really?

Yesterday at a tailgate at the Kansas Speedway I shocked a man, fairly hungover from the night before, by telling him I was a team roper...he was shocked and just couldn't believe it. Then he proceeded to be shocked by the fact that I wasn't a CITY girl...REALLY? So as most of you know my last 6 weeks has been relatively crazy, well I'm back and in action and will be putting up new posts hopefully within the week!