Cooking for a Herd

Down on the Ranch we’ve had a lot of changes this past year. The loss of a patriarch, restructuring of job descriptions,  the occasional tractor breakdown, and top that off with floods and lots more plowing. It’s all work we never thought we’d have to do. But more importantly– 

We’re all happy to do it. 

Tarbone has been a working hunting Ranch since 2008 so we’ve always had hunters come and stay for weekends. I’ve shared my budding “cooking skills” (if ya wanna call it that) with my family for years during the holidays and long weekends, but once hunting traffic picked up my mother-in-love would ask for easy go-to recipes to feed the incoming herd and possibly impress their stomachs. 

Talk about pressure. 

I love cooking and I love researching the easiest/least time consuming ways to do it. So here’s two of my standards that we love to use at #realliferanch and down on the actual Ranch. 

Added bonus- both can be made ahead of time and still taste damn good. 

Bison Spaghetti 

(serves 4- multiply as necessary) 

• 1lb ground bison
• Diced Onion
• Spaghetti spice pack
• 2 Bay leaves
• Minced garlic 
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• Angel hair pasta
• Water

1. Brown ground bison and onions in some EVOO and the garlic (if making with ground beef- drain the grease)
2. Add spices to meat add salt and pepper to taste 
3. Scrape bottom of pan for the yummy brown bits 
4. Add the two cans of tomatoes and one can of water
5. Bring to a boil
6. Add bay leaves 
7. Reduce to simmer for 10-12min
8. Cook noodles with EVOO and a pinch of salt
9. Serve and eat. YUM. 

*not like this recipe is super fancy, but it’s wayyy better than letting your company see you dump out some prego on your noodles. 

Lazy Breakfast Bake

(Serves 8)

• 1lb hot sausage
• 12 eggs
• Milk
• Shredded cheddar
• 1 can crescent rolls

1. Cook sausage in skillet- mince it up
2. Spray 9×12 pan with EVOO spray
3. Cut crescent rolls into 1″ cubes 
4. Scatter around pan
5. Sprinkle sausage into pan even-ish over the rolls
6. Scramble eggs in bowl with a splash of milk, salt, and pepper
7. Pour eggs over sausage and roll chunks
8. Top with cheese to your liking
9. Bake according to directions on crescent roll can- about 18-20min. 

*I’ve also done this with standard biscuits, polish sausage, and sliced cheese. Cause in real life you forget things sometimes and have to make it work. Still yummy. 

So there you go. The first two recipes up on the blog. Now go fourth and burn something. 

I’m off to figure out how to get my new stove at the new house to pass code… but that’s a whole other blog post. 

-#reallife

Marti