Home Made Bean Bones

A Little History on Meat Storage.

Before refrigeration, one of the nicest things about Pork and Beans or Baked Beans is that the ingredients could be stored with little or no refrigeration. The beans and sugar could be stored dry in tins and and the salted pork could be stored in a wooden barrel.

Salt cures and smoking were the earliest forms of meat storage methods known. There is documentation of salt curing that dates as far back as the ancient Greeks. As for smoking, the Native Americans were known for hanging meat in the top of their tee-pees utilizing the smoke from the fire below to preserve it.

Other methods came popular later on. When canning of foods appeared, the canning of meat became a popular storage method. Even pork could be canned without salt curing it. Another method for storing pork in the homesteading days was the use of small crocks and lard. The pork was cooked and placed in the small crocks. Then the crocks were filled with hot lard covering the cooked pork. The hot lard killed any bacteria, yeast, or mildew that contaminated the meat and sealed it from further contamination with the air. The crocks were covered with wax paper and a lid to protect their contents further from exposure and, of course, vermin. The crocks also had to be stored in a cool place such as a cellar or else they didn't keep. One of the advantages of this method was the ease of resealing if all the meat in the crock wasn't used in one meal. The lard was reheated. The remaining meat shoved back down into the crock and recovered with the hot lard. The wax paper and lid were replaced and the crock was once again sealed.

My Grandparents used one or more of the methods above for meat storage. My mothers parents also used a method similar to today's freezer storage. In the winter months of the year, they wrapped their meat cuts with a wrapping paper and stored them outside in a wooden box. The wrapping paper protected the meat from the cold or freezer burn and the box kept it safe from the cats and the dog and the other carnivorous varmints that roamed the prairie. This was a cleaner alternative to hanging meat out in the cold winter air on the side of the barn or shed. The barn hanging was a method used mostly by bachelor men and was usually ended by their newly wed wives. (It's true! One of my grandfathers used to hang meat on the side of the barn in the winter until he married Grandma. She promptly put a stop to it.) (As a further note for safety, I don't recommend the barn hanging method due to the health risks involved.)

My dads parents hung salted pork in a shed during the cooler months of the year. They suspended it from a wire or rope high enough off the floor to keep the varmints from reaching it should any get into the shed. However, their neighbor had a St. Bernard that could get the shed door open and reach the meat inside. He was usually about over the hill on his way home packing a chunk of meat in his jaws before anyone noticed him.

Now, refrigeration makes meat storage a breeze. Oh, the old methods have not entirely been abandoned. I know of people who still can meat. Also salt cure and smoking are still used in meat processing today but mostly for flavor instead of preservation.

My Recipe for Bean Bones. (What You'll Need.)

What are Bean Bones? You may call them ham hocks or pork neck bones or ham bones. The bean bones I refer to are a combination of the three cuts mentioned above and more. Bean bones (see picture below) are fist sized bone cuts with enough meat on them to give them some food value. If you intend to try the following recipe, you may want to start with just 2 to four pounds of meat. Also, you don't necessarily need to use pork bones. Pork cut into two to three inch squares or even pork chops may be used. It's up to you. One thing you should remember is the smaller your cuts, the less time they need to salt cure, and the larger your cuts the more time.

Example of Meat cuts In the recipe and method below, I use Morton's Tender Quick Home Meat Cure. (It's not a good idea to substitute another brand of home meat cure for this recipe. You'll need to follow their meat curing recommendations printed on the back of their container if you do.) The nice thing about Morton's Tender Quick (shown below) is it's all ready to use for dry rub or brine curing. There is no need to add any thing other except water for the brine curing. Morton's Tender Quick can be acquired from most grocery stores. If yours doesn't carry it, you can purchase it on line Here.


You'll need a smoker. I use Little Chief smokers. They are small and economical and electric. If you don't have a smoker, you can purchase a Little Chief smoker Here for around $100.00 USD or if you have a friend that owns one and will let you use it, that works too. I don't recommend going all out and buying a big refrigerator style smoker or building a smoke house if you're just experimenting with home curing and smoking. A little smoker like


Fist sized bean bones ready for the salt brine above and
a two pound bag of Morton Tender Quick (right).

the Little Chief smokers are excellent for small time home curing when you're only smoking a few pounds of meat such as what we are doing here. Refrigerator sized smokers or smoke houses are for the home food processor who intends to smoke a hundred or pounds of meat or more.

Last but not least, you'll need wood chips or sawdust for your smoker and not just any chips or sawdust either. Most of your smoking wood comes from hardwoods such as hickory, cherry, apple, ash, alder, apple, mesquite, or sugar maple. Do not use evergreen woods such as pine, cedar, or fir. The smoke from evergreen woods contains oils and resins that leave a bad taste in your meat and may be somewhat toxic. Do not use wood that has been oiled or painted for the same reason. It's best to buy your wood chips or sawdust that has been processed especially for use in a smoker. You can find smoker wood chips or sawdust at your local grocery
or hardware stores. Or you can buy it on line Here.

Summary of what you need for my recipe:

1. 2 to 4 pounds of pork bones, chunks, chops, or steaks. (or less)
2. A two pound bag of Morton's Tender Quick.
3. A small smoker. (Mine are Little Chief smokers.)
4. Smoker wood chips or sawdust.

The Curing Process.

You will need to experiment with the process in order to get the flavor of the meat to your liking. I recommend that you log the process in a note book for future reference. You'll need to log the amount of Tender Quick cure you use in the recipe, the time you allowed the meat to cure, and how it tasted after you cooked it. If it's too salty and it's cured all the way through, you'll need to reduce the amount of cure used in your recipe the next time or maybe reduce the cure time. If it is not cured all the way through you'll need to increase the curing time. How do you know if it's cured all the way through? The meat will be red all the way through after cooking. If the center is brown, it's not cured all the way through. It may take you two or more tries to get it right.

Thaw Your Meat

First, if your meat is frozen, you need to thaw it out. The meat must be thoroughly thawed before curing. Use safe thawing methods. Pork should not be left out of refrigeration for more than a day. I don't recommend that you set it out to thaw it. It is best to take it out of the freezer a couple of days before curing and place it in a pan in your fridge to thaw it out.

Dry Rub

You need to decide what type of curing method you are going to use. Are you going to use the dry rub method or the brine cure method? If you have pork chops or steaks, I find the dry rub method is the best to use. Now on the back of the Tender Quick package, it says to use one Tablespoon of Tender Quick cure per pound of meat. I find that quite salty for my taste. I use One table spoon per two pounds of meat.

Weigh your meat to determine how much Tender Quick you need to use. ( Example: One pound of meat = half a Table spoon of Tender Quick. Two pounds of meat = one Table spoon Tender Quick. Three pounds of meat = one and a half Table spoons of Tender Quick etc...)

Lay your meat out on a clean sheet of wax paper or freezer paper on the counter or a table. With a Table spoon, measure out half the amount of Tender Quick cure needed and sprinkle it on one side of the meat evenly. (Try to get the cure on the meat and not on the paper.) With your hand (you can put on a clean plastic glove if you wish), rub the cure into the meat. Turn the pieces over after you have finished rubbing the cure in. Next, measure out the next half of Tender Quick cure and repeat the process. The idea is to get the cure spread out evenly and rubbed into both sides of the meat. Now place all of your meat in a clean plastic bag and seal it (Press the air out of the bag before sealing). Place the bag in a pan and place it in your fridge.

The Tender Quick recipe requires 4-8 hours of cure time for the dry rub curing process. Once again, I find this to long for my taste. I find that 2-4 hours, especially for cuts as thin as pork chops or pork steaks, is long enough. When the cure time is up, take your meat out of the fridge, remove it from the plastic bag, and rinse it off. It is now ready for smoking. If you can't smoke it right away, place it in a covered container and put it back in the fridge until you can. Try to get it smoked within the next couple of days. Don't wait too long to smoke it.

Brine Cure

The Brine cure is a mix of water and Tender Quick. Your meat is submerged in the brine and allowed to soak for a period of time for the curing process. I find the Brine cure works best for the bones and the chunks. Now the Tender Quick recipe call for one cup of Tender Quick dissolved into four cups of water. Yikes! That is a lot of Tender Quick. I dissolve one cup into eight cups of water.

Find a container, preferably stainless steel, glass, or plastic (I use a large roaster or large bowl), that fits in your fridge and will hold all the meat to be cured. The container will need to be large enough so that you can completely submerge the meat in the brine. Use two containers if you have to. Place your meat into the container. Next mix up a batch of brine in another bowl. Pour it into the container with the meat. Does it cover the meat? No? Mix up another batch. Continue to do so until the meat is covered. Now you will find the meat will float in the brine so it will be impossible to fully cover the meat. What I do to remedy this is sprinkle a little Tender Quick on the exposed portions of the meat or half way through the cure process, I will
turn the top chunks over so their exposed portions are turned down into the brine.
With the meat in the brine, Place the container in your fridge to cure.


Meat in the brine. Note there is a little not completely covered by the brine.






Curing time according to Tender Quick is 24 hours. I cure for twelve hours. That seems to do for me. Chunk meat larger than two inch cubes may need a few hours more but 2 inch cubes and bones usually cure through in twelve hours.


When the Curing time is up, take the meat out of the brine and rinse it off. It's ready for smoking. Once again, if you can't smoke it right away, place it in a covered container in the fridge until you can.

Log Your Recipe

Now is the time to log your recipe. Record the amount of cure you used and record the time you allowed the meat to cure. Leave space for future notes. You'll want to log if the meat was cured through and how it tasted in the future after you cook and eat it.

The Smoking Process.

Here are a few things you should know about smokers. Where there is smoke there is fire. You'll want to use your smoker outside on a concrete slab or a bare patch of ground. Have an extinguisher handy and a large bucket half filled with water. Why half full? This is where you'll place your wood ash during and after smoking your meat. The weather should not be very windy. Wind can carry sparks from you wood chip pan into dry grass or other flammable substances. If your smoker catches fire, it will most likely be a grease fire. If so, don't use water to put it out. You'll have to smother like you would a kitchen grease fire or use a fire extinguisher. Also kill the power to the smoker if its electric. Don't touch the cord if it's been melted by the fire or a short. You'll have to kill the power from your breaker box. You may also want to kill the power before attempting to extinguish the fire. If you are using your smoker for the first time, read the manual that came with it before using.

Note: The instructions below are for a Little Chief or similar smoker.

Get your smoker ready for use. Set it up on a non flammable surface. Fill a large bucket have full of water to dowse the ash in and set in a handy spot near the smoker. Choose a flavor of wood chips or sawdust, hickory, cherry, mesquite, and have them handy. Take the rack out of the smoker. Wash and dry it if you wish. Place your meat on the rack. Don't stack the meat pieces on each other. Place them so that there is a little space between them. You want the smoke to completely surround the pieces ( See pictures below). Place the rack and meat in the smoker and close the lid on the smoker. Remove the pan from the bottom of the smoker if you haven't already. Fill it with wood chips or sawdust and set it on the burner in the bottom of the smoker. You may now plug your smoker in and turn it on.

I use hickory sawdust in my Little Chief smokers because once it gets going, a pan full will last as long as I want the meat to be smoked. It takes about 30 minutes to get started smoking and then it will smoke for about 45 to 60 minutes. Plenty of smoking time for small cuts of meat. With the chips, I usually have to charge the pan every 20 to 30 minutes. To do this, remove the pan from the bottom of the smoker, hold it over the water in the bucket use a screw driver or something similar to remove as much of the dead ash from the pan. You want to leave any wood that is still smoldering in the pan if you can. This will help keep a steady smoke going in the smoker. Refill the pan again with fresh chips covering the still smoldering chips that were left in the pan and return the pan to the burner inside the smoker. Keep a steady smoke going for 60 or more minutes. Keep in mind that smoking time begins when smoke begins seeping out of the cracks of the smoker.

When the time is up and you are done smoking, unplug the smoker and remove the pan. Dump the pan out into the bucket of water. Remove your meat and and put it away in your refrigerator if you plan to use it right away or wrap it in freezer paper and place it in your freezer if you don't.

Now that I have salted pork, what am I going to use it for? Ah, stay tuned in the future for recipes of dishes that utilize bean bones or salted pork.


My two little smokers are set up and ready to fill with the salted pork. Notice that they are both top loading smokers. The little door on the bottom is for removing the pan to maintain the wood chips for the smoldering fire.

The meat is placed on the wracks. Note that the pieces are placed so they are not touching each other so the smoke can surround each individual piece.


This is the pan filled with hickory saw dust.


The burner is in the bottom of the smoker. This is where the pan will sit. The heat from the burner will ignite the sawdust and keep it smoldering through the smoking process.


The pan is set on the burner.


The meat is on the wracks inside. The pans are charged with hickory sawdust and placed on the burners. You can see the handles poking out through the slotted doors on the bottom of the smokers above. The smokers are ready to go and plugged in.


Now We're Smokin'. Now I'll just let the sawdust burn up in side the smokers. That takes about an hour. That's enough smoking for these cuts. When it's all done, I'll take the meat and wrap it in freezer paper and freeze it until I use it. What am I going to use it for? Stay tuned for recipes that use bean bones.


Click Here to check out Hughzebeez Food Processing astore.

Eragon, The Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini

Christopher Paolini's "Eragon" is about a poor farm boy named Eragon who, while out hunting for game, has a dragon egg mysteriously and magically appear in front of him. Thinking it's a type of stone with possibly some value, he takes it home with him.

An orphan, Eragon lives with his uncle, Garrow, and cousin Roran. Roran eventually leaves to find work in order to provide for his future plans to marry the butcher's daughter,Katrina, leaving Garrow and Eragon to tend their little farm alone.

When Eragon's stone hatches into a dragon, he finds himself in a world of magic and that he has now become a member of the once legendary and annihilated dragon riders. That is when all heck breaks loose. The dragon riders had all been hunted down and destroyed by a former and powerful rider named, Galbatorix. After their fall he named himself king and supreme ruler of Alagaesia. Galbatorix sends his henchmen to capture Eragon and his dragon, Saphira. Garrow is murdered and Eragon has to flee Carvahall with Saphira to avoid capture. Soon Eragon and Saphira find themselves traveling all over Alagaesia dodging the empire while hunting the mysterious Ra'Zac, the murderers of his uncle Garrow.

Meanwhile, Roran returns home to find his home destroyed, his father murdered, and Carvahall under siege. He rallies the towns people to take up arms, dig in, and fight. Eventually, Katrina is kidnapped by the Ra'Zac and Roran and the people of Carvahall have to flee for their lives.

Eragon and Saphira hook up with an army of rebels and freedom fighters which is a mix of dwarfs and humans called the Varden. With the help of the Varden and his new found friends, Murtagh, and the elven princess, Arya, Eragon and Saphira defeat Galbatorix's army and Eragon slays the evil and powerful shade, Durza, Galbatorix's right hand man.

The adventure continues in "Eldest", the second book in the series. Eragon travels with Arya to the realm of the elves to learn the ways of the dragon riders. There he encounters many internal conflicts including the elves nonacceptance of him as a rider, his love for Arya which she does not accept or return, and the crippling pain of his wound which he received from his battle with Durza.

Meanwhile, his cousin Roran is in a battle against the empire of his own. After fleeing Carvahall, he and Carvahall's survivors work their way south on a ship. They meet many obstacles while avoiding capture by the empire. Eventually Eragon and Roran reunite in another battle with the Varden against the armies of the empire. It's during this battle that Eragon and Saphira discover that another egg has hatched and a new rider has emerged. Only the new rider, a lost and thought dead friend of Eragon's, is under the control of Galbatorix. It is also during this battle, Eragon begins to learn the disturbing secrets of his family and their past.

The third book "Brisingr" reveals the secrets of Eragon's family. Also it reveals a secret of the dragons that may be the undoing of Galbatorix.

Does Roran rescue his love, Katrina, from the evil clutches of the Ra'Zac? Will Eragon ever win Arya's love? Brisingr brings more battles and conflicts as Eragon learns more and more about his family and their disturbing secrets. Meanwhile his cousin, Roran, takes the name "Stronghammer" and begins rising in the ranks of the Varden.

What does the name of the book "Brisingr" mean? Ah, you must read and find out. And the adventure does not end here. There is another book in the making.

For all of those who watched the movie, "Eragon", I agree. It was an excellent action/adventure fantasy movie. But the written story is much better in my opinion. The movie leaves out a lot of the story and actually takes on a plot of it's own. Don't get me wrong. I still sit down and watch "Eragon" time and again. But I recommend you read the series. You won't be disappointed.


Click her to Check out The Christopher Paolini shelf in Hughzebeez Books.

Check out Hughzebeez Books.

Other Book Reviews by Hughze:

Terry Brooks Landover Series.


Have a Great Memorial Day Weekend!

The Montana Snipe Hunt

Another Fictional Yarn told by Hughze.


"The Montana snipe is a dangerous creature about the size of a house cat that hunts only at night. You never want to come in contact with one in the dark because they'll rip you to shreds. That's why you should always carry a flashlight at night when you're out walking around. The light paralyzes them so they can't react. That's when you grab 'em by the tail and throw 'em in a cloth bag." Warren Bates was barreling down a county road with his Ford Mustang in the middle of the night with his best friend Billy Sheetz in the passenger seat and the new kid in town, Ryan Hildarman, in the back seat. It was Friday night and he and Billy had spent the whole past week, during school, convincing Ryan that they were professionals at the art of 'snipe hunting', and had finally convinced him to join them in one of there weekend safaris into the wild rolling plains of eastern Montana to capture a vicious and deadly Montana snipe.

"If they're such a dangerous animal, why don't you just shoot 'em?" Ryan asked leaning between the front seats of the 'Stang so Warren and Billy could hear.

Both Warren and Billy cringed. "Ooo! You never want to shoot a snipe. That makes him real mad and he'll snap out of his paralysis and then he'll get away."

"Not before he takes a good look at who shot him," Warren added. "Then he'll hunt that person down until he finds his house. Then he'll wait 'til everyone goes to bed and rip 'em all apart while they're sleeping. Just out of revenge. Nope it's best just to put him in a bag and take him to the vet. He'll put him to sleep. "

"Besides. It's funner this way. You can turn on the dome light and we'll dump him out on the console here between me and Warren and we can pet him all the way back to town."

Ryan sat back in his seat still not sure about this hunt he had been seduced into attending. But Warren was the most popular guy in school. If he hadn't taken Ryan on this hunt, he'd be cruising town in his Mustang with half the cheer leading squad. Every girl in the whole high school wants to cruise town in Warren's 'Stang. Ryan was hoping this hunt would make him more popular than just being the 'new kid'.

"Here we are," Warren said as he slowed down and turned off into a pasture out in the middle of nowhere. "There's lots of snipes out here. It shouldn't take long to find one. You have your spot light Billy?"

"Right here. Where's your cigarette lighter?"

"Right there. Just put the lighter in the ash tray and plug your light in."

Billy rolled down his window and held the light out above the roof of the car and plugged it into the lighter socket. A bright beam flared out into the night air.

"Hey! Watch it Billy!" Warren said. "Keep it below the horizon. We don't need the law out here thinking we're poaching or rustling cattle. People can see that beam for miles."

"Well excuuuse me." Billy began slowly panning the beam back and forth over the country side some distance from the car.

"What are you doing?'' Ryan asked.

"Looking for snipes" Warren said as he navigated the car through the pasture. They were moving quite slow. "You see, when we find one with the spot light, Billy and I will hold the light on it while you jump out and put it in the bag."

"OK! I see. So you use the spot light to paralyze it, right?"

"Yup. Then you just grab it by the tail and...."

"Oh crap!" Billy said. He started fiddling with the plug in the lighter socket.

Ryan noticed the beam of the light kept blinking on and off. "What's Wrong?"

"I thought you fixed that thing," Warren scolded Billy. "That almost got us killed in the last hunt."

"I did fix it. It must be the lighter socket."

"It's not the lighter socket. This car is state of the art."

"It's a 'Stang. What do you expect." The beam suddenly quit blinking and came to life once more. "There! All I had to do is give it a twist and...."

"Hey! HEY!" Billy and Ryan both started at Warren's outburst.

"What?"

"There!" Warren had stopped the car. "Go back about twenty feet." Billy panned the light back. "There! Stop! Hold it right there on those clumps of grass.... See It?"

Ryan squinted. "I don't see anything."

"Behind the clumps. See it?"

"No."

"Billy! You see it?"

"Yeah! I see it. Second clump to the right. Straight on in the middle of the beam."

Ryan moved so he could get a better view. "I still can't see it."

"You will when you get out there. Just stay in the beam." Billy pointed. "You see them tall clumps of grass?"

"Yeah."

"He's behind those. Just don't shadow 'em and you'll be fine."

Ryan thought for a second. "OK. Let me out."

"Go out Warren's door. I have to hold the light."

Warren opened his door, got out, and pulled his seat forward so Ryan could get out. "You have the bag?"

"Right here." Ryan started to sneak around the back of the car but turned back, "Is the light going to keep working? What if it starts to quit again?"

"We'll have the head lights of the car on. If the light quits, just run until your in the beam of the headlights. And Ryan, if the light quits, don't hesitate, run for your life to get into the beam of the headlights. OK?"

Ryan stared at Warren with fear. "I don't know Warren. Maybe..."

"You'll be alright. Just grab it's tail and put it in the bag. Besides, come Monday, you'll have a snipe hunting tale to tell Elly and she'll be so impressed she'll want to go to the Homecoming dance with you. I guarantee it."

Ryan looked down at the bag. His hand was shaking. The night was cool but he felt hot from the fear that gripped his bones. But the thought of being a hero in the eyes of the girl of his dreams drove him onward. He crept around the car toward the grass illuminated by Billy's spot light.

The two friends tried to stifle their smirks and snickers as they watched Ryan slowly and carefully move closer and closer to the end of the beam where the legendary snipe ,paralyzed by the light, awaited capture. They waited until Ryan bent to look in the grass which supposedly concealed the fearsome creature and Billy pulled the plug on the spot light.

"AAAAHHHH! Run Ryan!" Warren yelled. "Get in the light. Hurry before it rips you to shreds!"

Billy was yelling too. "OH NO! I can't get the light back on! Get in the light! Quick! Get in the light!"

They carried on for some time but when Ryan didn't appear in the headlights of the Mustang, "Ryan....."?

"Turn the light on Billy... AAAHH!" Warren jumped when Ryan's hand slapped him on the shoulder and pushed him aside.

A pale and shocked Ryan crawled through the door into the back seat of the 'Stang.

"You OK Ryan?... It's just a joke," Billy said but Ryan didn't seem to notice. "Ryan?..." Warren climbed back into the car and stared at Ryan. "Let's just head back to town Warren. Maybe he'll come out of it."

Warren turned the car around and drove toward the road and then stopped again when Ryan started laughing hysterically in the back seat. "You OK Ryan?"

"I got him."

"Huh?" both Billy and Warren stared at the half insane Ryan.

Ryan reached up and turned the dome light on. He grinned from ear to ear and his eyes as big as saucers. "I got him. I saw his tail sticking up out of the grass and I grabbed it just before the light went out. I could feel him start squirming so I quick, like stuffed him in the bag just like you said..... By Golly....." He laughed again.

"You got... him ?"

Ryan pulled the bag up into view, turned it over, and dumped it's contents out on the console. The two boys watched in horror at the little all black and fury creature that rolled out into view. Well... all black except for the white stripe that followed it's back from it's head to the tip of it's tail.

Time seemed to stand still as man and beast regarded one another. At least until, satisfied that all parties guilty of this evil and unnecessary assault upon his person were present and accounted for, the... (snipe) began bathing them in a natural aroma like none you'd ever find in any perfume or aromatherapy shops. Billy escaped out the open window on his side. Warren threw open his door and rolled out onto the ground. Ryan, unable to escape, grabbed the... (snipe's) tail and threw him out the open door. He landed on Warren and rolled onto the ground beside him. Thankful that Warren had broken his fall, he rewarded the gracious young man with another dose of spray. Then, for good measure, hosed down the side of the car and it's rear tire before disappearing into the night. The drive back to town was a quiet one.

It was well into the middle of the next week before the boys smelled good enough to return to school. News had spread rapidly of the mighty hunters and their capture of a ferocious snipe. Ryan Hildarman was popular over night. In fact, Elly asked him to the Homecoming dance the first day he returned. He soon found that he had given many a victims of the 'Warren Bates and Billy Sheetz snipe prank' a last laugh.

Warren never did get the smell entirely out of his car. As a result, the only person he could get to cruise town with him in his Mustang was Billy. Of course you know the old saying, "Birds of a feather...", but in this case, "only skunks run together."

© 2009 all rights reserved by Kyle V. Huseby

Quote of the day #3.

You know that children are growing up when they start asking questions that have answers. -
John J. Plomp

Here are the Five top questions your teenagers ask that have answers:

#5. Do I have to go to school?

#4. Can I go out tonight?

#3. Can I have some money to buy a car?

#2. Can I borrow the car?

And......

#1. Will you do my homework for me?

My Nontraditional Easter Dinner

Taters and Gravy: prepared, tasted, and eaten by Hughze.
"And I'm still alive."

I had planned to go to my folk's for Easter this year but as things turned out, I ended up staying home for Easter. With no ham or turkey or any of the traditional Easter foods in stock, I decided to have an old favorite of mine, Taters and Gravy. It's quite simple to prepare and does not take long. (About an hour or so.)

First you need to decide what kind of Taters you're having and get them started. For this recipe, I'm going with mashed potatoes but you can make fried potatoes. You can make baked potatoes. You can even just boil your potatoes if you want to. Do you like french fries or tater tots? You have whatever peels your potato.

I peeled and cut up a pot full of potatoes. I put water in the pot with the potatoes until it was about 2/3 full and began heating them at about medium high.

When boiling potatoes, you'll need to turn the heat down as the water begins to boil; otherwise, your water will boil up and out of the pot. Also it's a good idea to stir them once and awhile to keep the bottom potatoes from burning.





After starting the potatoes you'll need to start the hamburger. I took the hamburger strait out of the freezer and placed it in a ten inch frying pan (Ten inch is small. An eleven or twelve inch pan is better.) with 1/2 an inch of water and about a half cup of sliced up onion. I also seasoned it with my favorite seasoning to what I felt was about right for me. Here again you can use what ever peels your potato with the onion and seasoning. I just sprinkled it on as you can see in the pictures below.






Now you let the meat and onion fry at about medium heat, stirring it and breaking up the burger every so often until the meat is done.


























Now some people like to drain the juices off of their meat after it's cooked and some don't. Once again it's up to you but if you do drain the juice off, you need to replace it again with water. Remember, you are making a gravy here. You don't want it too thick. That also goes if you evaporate all your water off during cooking. You need to replace that water. You want about enough water in the pan to be 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch deep. (By the way, watch your potatoes. Remember, they are cooking during this time as well.)


The meat's done. You have your 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch of water in the bottom of your pan. It's time to add the rest of the ingredients.

Add a ten to eleven ounce can of cream of mushroom soup (empty the whole can) to the meat. Drain (drain the juice in the can before adding it to the meat) and add the vegetable of your choice to the meat. I chose corn. You can use peas, beans, carrots, or even a mix if you like. Then add 1/2 to one cup of milk (This depends on how much fluid you have in the pan. You don't want it to run over). Mix it all together and slice Velveeta cheese and place it on top as it is in the picture below. Cover the entire mix with cheese.









Then place the lid on your pan and place it on the oven at medium low to medium heat again and let it cook until the cheese is good and melted. It will probably come to a light boil before it's done. Once again watch your heat so you don't begin to burn it on the bottom. When the cheese is melted, turn off the heat and mix the cheese into the gravy. Your gravy is ready. (See ingredients listed at the very end.)





I boiled the potatoes until they were quite soft and added a quarter of butter, 1/2 to one cup of milk, and seasoned to my taste while I mashed them and finally......

Finished!

So now that I've worked up an appetite, I'll wish you all a Happy Easter and I'll sit down to enjoy my dinner except.....

Somebody took my chair!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Taters and Gravy

Ingredients:

1 to 1 1/2 pounds of hamburger (thawed or frozen)

1- tsp of your favorite meat seasoning. (salt and pepper works too)

1- 10.5 or 11 oz. can of cream of mushroom soup.

1- 14 to15 oz can of vegetables. (can be corn, beans, peas, carrots, or mixed)

1/4 to 1/2 a cup of an onion chopped or sliced up

Water and Milk.

Potatoes.
(You can boil 'em, mash 'em, bake 'em, or fry 'em. You can use french fries or even tater tots if you like.)

The truth about this gravy recipe is it can also be eaten by itself without potatoes if you like.