We woke up to fog at our house today. It's gray and gloomy. And getting a little boring. In order to brighten things up around here, I thought today would be a great day to do a giveaway!

Today's prize has been kindly donated by the Beef Council. They have put together a number of items to create a Beef Basket for one lucky winner! The theme is Beef: It's What's for Dinner. Included in the basket is an apron, ball cap, grocery bag, oven mitt, bumper sticker, 

(photo courtesy of Katlin Davis)

and a copy of the Healthy Beef Cookbook!

It's simple to enter, leave a comment on this post and tell me what is your favorite steak and how do you like it prepared? If forced to choose my all-time favorite steak, I would select a medium-rare Ribeye (preferably grilled over charcoal!). How about you?

Leave your comment before 11:59 pm on Thursday, February 11th. Winner will be announced on Friday.

Super Bowl Sunday! Is there a more perfect day for appetizers? In addition to the traditional Beef Nachos that my family loves, we also enjoy these delicious Stuffed Mushrooms.

I’ll be honest with you: my family was not crazy about mushrooms. When I first started making these Stuffed Mushrooms it was wonderful; I could have the whole plate all to myself! Then my husband decided he had better set a good example for the kids, so he ate one. Then two. Three. ACK! MY plate of stuffed mushrooms was disappearing!

Eventually the kids realized they were missing out on something yummy and tried them. A couple of the kids really like them and always eat more than their fair share (my personal platter of stuffed mushrooms continues to dwindle). The younger kids love the filling, but leave most of the mushroom caps on their plates. Oh well, hopefully mushrooms are an acquired taste.

The recipe calls for dried parsley and dried basil. I usually prefer fresh herbs, but I couldn’t talk myself into driving to the grocery store today, so I used dried. Use whichever you prefer or whichever you have on hand. These are delicious and are best served hot! Enjoy!

We have a new addition in our family. His name is Jake. He’s about three feet tall and full of boundless energy.

He is a two year old Australian Shepherd with a wonderful personality. He is great with the kids, doesn’t bother the cats, is well-mannered, and likes having a job to do.

We were not in the market for a new dog. One of our older dogs had died recently and I was adamant that I was not ready for another dog. My heart was still broken. However, as we all know, sometimes life has a funny way of giving you what you never knew you needed. Let me start at the beginning:

A couple of weeks ago, I was taking my dog to the vet for a check-up. As the vet tech led me down the hall to an exam room, she asked me if we needed another dog. I chuckled and tactfully told her that no, we did not need another dog. We walked into the room and I found myself looking at this beautiful Australian Shepherd. Hmmm...

She told me that he was a wonderful dog. The people that had him previously lived in town and he kept running off. Knowing that we lived on a ranch, where he would have more room to run, she thought perhaps we would be interested in giving Jake a new home. Hmmm...

I called my husband as I drove away from the vet’s office saying, “We don’t need another dog, do we?”

We brought Jake home the next day and we are so glad we did. We haven’t had one bit of trouble with him. He instantly became part of the family. No, he doesn't replace the dog we lost, but he does make me remember why I am a dog person.

Jake spends his days working with my husband and he thrives on this. Australian Shepherds are classified as Working or Herding dogs (AKC classifications). They are bred to work with livestock. They love having a purpose (don't we all?). Jake’s purpose these days is to ride around in my husband’s pick-up or follow him when we are horseback. Jake couldn’t be happier. If you ask me, I think he has settled in quickly because someone told him about the canine retirement package offered on our ranch.

It doesn’t get much better than this, does it?

Here’s a peek at what we are reading (over and over and over...) around our house these days!

The baby is now following me around the house with a book in his hands, all but begging me to sit down and read to him. I love this! Mostly he wants to read stories with animals in them. And flaps! Lift-the-flap books are always a huge hit with him. Baby Animals is his current favorite.

My daughter can often be found sitting on the couch with a tower of books next to her. She patiently looks through her books until I manage to tear myself away from dishes or laundry to read to her. I’m not sure she has a favorite book, but we have read Farley Follows His Nose by Lynn Johnston and Beth Cruikshank many, many times the past few days. FARLEY is a sweet book about a dog who runs off after his bath and spends the next few hours sniffing his way through the neighborhood.

My six year old continues to insist he is a pirate, fortunately pirates are hugely popular in children’s fiction right now. Henry & the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi and John Manders is a funny tale about Henry who would rather spend his days reading books than learning how to be a pirate. I like this book and have yet to tired of reading it.

My oldest son is still working his way through The Boxcar Children series, but he also enjoys non-fiction. The Nature Activity series are books he has read and re-read for several years now. Science is by far his favorite subject and these books help him learn about many different scientific areas: Rocks, Weather, Birds, and Bugs! Bug Hunter by David Burnie, is one of his favorites in this series.

When I’m not reading any of the above mentioned books, I have been reading The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes. Not quite finished reading it yet, but so far I have enjoyed it tremendously.

Not sure what I will read after AGE OF WONDER. I confess that my books-to-read stack is a wee bit excessive, but I’ll let you know what I pick up next.

My daughter’s favorite color is pink. Pretty common for little girls, huh? Not for me. I’ve never been a big fan of pink. No big deal, just isn’t my color of choice. Then I had a daughter and we were suddenly swimming in pink. Pink clothes, pink toys, pink blankets, pink EVERYTHING! It was a bit much for me to cope with.

It has taken over three years, but I am slowly getting used to all of the pink in my house now. About once a week my daughter will ask me what my favorite color is. I think we are both hoping that the other person has suddenly changed their mind. Nope. She still likes pink and I still like any color but pink.

Except for sunrises and sunsets. I can’t get enough of pink at those times. My daughter has figured this out and is quick to point out to me when the first blush of pink hits the sky. For just a moment, we both stop what we are doing and watch the sky change colors.
I admit I love it. I love that it’s a special time she and I share together.

Both of us enjoying the color pink.

These meatballs are delicious and versatile. I change up the spices depending on the recipe I will use them in. I’ll add oregano for Spaghetti and Meatballs or basil for Tomato and Meatball Soup.

I made these yesterday and my kids would not stop eating them. I had big plans to add these meatballs to a yummy soup and serve it for dinner. Then my kids munched on them for a snack, for lunch, and for their after-lunch snack (you know what I mean, right? Twenty minutes after lunch I hear, “Mom, I’m kinda hungry. Could I have a snack? Puh-leeeease?”). Finally, I had to concede the loss. I served the rest of them to my husband for his lunch and informed everyone they were getting PB&J’s for dinner. The kids cheered.

(Okay, I’ll be honest. We didn’t really have PB&J’s, but I was really, really tempted to throw the jar of peanut butter on the table and call it a meal!)

A quick and easy way to form the meatballs: After mixing all of the ingredients, spread the meat mixture out on a large piece of waxed paper. Pat the mixture into a rectangle of uniform thickness. Cut into squares and form each square into a meatball.

The egg whites and bread crumbs hold these meatballs together well, so feel free to use the super lean ground beef, if you want.

Serves four, which isn’t enough for my family of six, so I always double this recipe.

Winter time is shop time around here. It’s either too cold or too muddy to work on outside projects. Also, there is generally machinery in need of repair. (It seems like there is ALWAYS machinery in need of repair!)

Sometimes, though, my husband has a couple of hours to spend helping the kids build one of their latest projects. On this day, my oldest son decided to build a birdhouse.

I always enjoy watching the interaction between them. My son still believes that his father holds all of the answers to his many, many questions. He believes that his Dad can do anything. In a few short years my son will be a teenager. Chances are at that time he will be amazed at how little his parents truly know.

So, I try to enjoy these moments, knowing they may be short-lived. 

One of my favorite things about living on a ranch is seeing the wildlife. It doesn’t matter if it’s big game or game birds, I enjoy seeing them all. (Well, except for coyotes. I’m not a big fan of coyotes. They cause a lot of damage on a ranch.)

But, elk? Elk, I like. We don’t see them frequently and when we do it’s usually in the winter. They are beautiful and majestic. And powerful. They can tear down yards of fence with little difficulty.

It’s true, fixing fence isn’t considered one of the most glamorous jobs we do on the ranch. However, we do our part to care for the wildlife on our ranch and that includes repairing fences they may damage.

It’s in our job description. 

Look what arrived a few days ago!

Isn’t he adorable?

Normally, we don’t start calving in the middle of January. We prefer to have our calving season arrive in more temperate weather, usually April. However, these are some of the cows we bought last fall and they were already bred to start calving in January. Fortunately, these cows are doing great on their own and the weather has been quite mild. So far, so good!

These cows are in a pasture right next to our house. This makes it easy and convenient for us to check them each day just in case any of them do have trouble calving. It is also convenient to grab a few photos of the calves.

Unless, of course, their mama does not approve!

This week’s TIME magazine features an article titled, “Save the Planet: Eat More Beef” by Lisa Abend. The article discusses the environmental soundness of cattle grazing unproductive land and the benefits of rotational grazing:

Abend makes the argument that grass-fed cattle are actually beneficial to the environment:

And this quote:

Abend’s article centers on Eliot Coleman, author of The New Organic Grower and Barbara Damrosch, the Washington Post’s gardening columnist. In addition to their year-round vegetable farming, they have begun raising a few head of cows and sheep. When asked why they are raising livestock for meat, Coleman’s response was: ”Because I care about the fate of the planet.“

My favorite quote from the article:

Although my husband and I don’t agree with everything in the article, we do firmly agree that a scientifically based grazing system is beneficial for our environment. Cattle are able to utilize grasses and undesirable forage, including weeds, turning them into the premiere protein for human consumption: Beef! Other benefits to grazing include weed control and fire suppression.

My husband’s family and my family have been running cattle on their respective ranches for many generations. We are fortunate that the generations before us made sound business decisions and good environmental decisions for the land and livestock in their care. We intend to continue this tradition by making the best possible decisions for our land, our livestock, our environment.

After all, these little buckaroos deserve the same excellent start in ranching that our parents gave us.