Holiday Prep

This week was a slow one until the weekend hit. Not a lot going on and there is only so many ways to flesh out being and shack bitch.  Friday was my cleaning day and  I decided to smoke a rack of ribs while I was cleaning.

Brown mustard and brown sugar rub before

Fall off the bone tender at the end

We are still getting fresh collard greens from our garden so I picked a batch to go with the ribs. Add a pot of my home made baked beans and we had a pretty darn good start to the weekend.
Saturday was a warm day so we took advantage and hung the Christmas lights. I remember as  lad that we had the old school lights with the big bulbs, Cupcake and I found just such lights a couple years ago, and these are the ones we use. They show up really well from the roadway, as we live about a quarter mile off the hard road. We don't turn them on until dark on Thanksgiving night, but it's good to have them up before it gets crazy cold. Cold does not bother me at all, but Cupcake likes to help and I think of her comfort.
Cupcake also wanted to try making from scratch cranberry sauce. We bought a couple bags of berries and gave it a whirl. We know everyone gets tired of hearing it's better than store bought, but this really is. Of course we canned a few jars after we got it made, it's how we do at The Acre.

Two bags of store bought cranberries, orange juice and water

Cooked down, then it's just like making jelly or pie filling

Never buy store bought again

We let Pops try a bit before Sunday breakfast, and he liked it so well we decided to finish the jar with breakfast.
And speaking of breakfast, Sunday was a real treat thanks to Deadshot. I fried up one of the tenderloins from her first deer kill, and made tenderloin gravy. It was a big hit.

Tenderloin and butter, onions and butter

The skillets on the left are the egg skillets. Pop and I like fried onions in our breakfast eggs, while cupcake is an over easy kind of chick.
After breakfast, Deadshot wanted to do some cooking. She found a recipe for a meatball casserole she wanted to try, so the girls had some mommy/daughter time while I deer proofed our fruit trees. Deadshot is carrying on the cast iron skillet cooking tradition.

Deadshot rocking the cast iron skillet

Three words:  Fab  You Less!!

It was a really good meal, not only can she hunt with the big boys, but she can rattle a pot and pan like a champ too.
Hope everyone has a great week.
K&K