Cheeseburger Soup

My mother recently came for a visit and talked about a cheeseburger soup with hasbrowns... so I quickly set out to find a recipe for my new recipe a week challenge.
This did not dissapoint.
Here's what I did
1.5 lbs ground venison, cooked
salt and pepper
1 pkg. hasbrowns
2 T. parsley seasoning
1 cup celery chopped
1 1/4 cup shredded celery
2 cans chicken broth
1 pkg cheese any flavor
1 pkg queso velvetta cheese pkg.

Put cooked venison, salt and pepper, hasbrowns, celery and carrot in pan, cover with chicken broth and add water to cover... simmer until veggies are tender.  Add cheese and serve.
The recipe called for onion (2 chopped) which I didn't have. I added about 1/4 cup sliced and chopped jalepenos instead.  I also added 4 T butter.

So yum.

Pergogie and Kielbasa

We bought a bunch of Kielbasa on sale a few months back and now I have been wracking my brain on how to eat it up.  I found this great recipe that was certainly delicious on pinterest.

Ingredients
1 lb Kielbasa
2 can chicken broth  (4 cups)
1 pkg cream cheese
3 pks. mini pergogies (cheese)
1 cup shredded chedder cheese
salt and pepper to tast.

slice the kielbasa and put in crockpot and the chicken broth, cream cheese and pergoies and cheese, cook on high about 4 hours.


I used full size pergogies and was not sure how this recipe would turn out... but i will say it was delicious... I would almost add more sausage though.  I also think it would be delicous with a less fattly meat like venison.

Chicken and Biscuts

The new recipe for the week is chicken and Biscuts

Here's what I did

3 large chicken breasts
1 bag mixed veggies
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cans chicken broth
2 stalks celery chopped
1/2 onion chopped
cheese or cheese soup ( I used leftover cheese dip with chicken from GFS)

Place all in crockpot on high until chicken is cooked and can be shredded to separate with a fork.
Cook biscuts separately (we like grands) or use dough from biscuts cut into small pieces and place in crockpot about 15-20 minutes before serving to make dumplings.

 I was unhappy that I could never real cut up the chicken.. If I make this again I would like to cut the chicken before placing it in the crockpot.

Frozen Eggs?

Attempting to freeze eggs today.  I have done this in the past, using glass jars labeled with the date.  This worked, ok.  I searched google and found this http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/FreezingEgg.htm so I am currently freezing some eggs in ice cube trays. It will be exciting if it works to freeze the eggs in small quantities.  The chickens and ducks are laying up a storm right now...but will slow down or possible stop laying in the cold Michigan winter.

The eggs froze well, though I did have to use a knife to pop them out of the ice cube trays and put them in plastic bags for the freezer.  Havn't tried the frozen eggs yet...as the chickens keep popping out new eggs by the 1/2 dozen a day...should try them to make sure I like the frozen egg method.

2 more babies

Picked up two more baby lambs, when dropping off wool for Marji and Jimmy. One girl and one boy lamb. These lambs were 1st lambs for new mothers, who were not quite ready.  The last lambs I got were 1 of triplet lambs.  These new lambs are a little more difficult to bottle feed, but they are coming along, starting to understand the routine.
Happy to say, we are on day 4 of bottle feeding and the new lambs are doing well and fitting in with the other lambs, who will be 3 weeks old on Tuesday.
I have found a lot of controversy in feeding schedules and currently feed my 4 day old lambs 6 x a day, every 4 hours.  I give them about 3.5 to 4 ounces.  My 3 week old lambs are now getting 9 oz every 8 hours.
The 3 week old lambs are big piggies...and try to steal each others milk. I must be careful to see which lamb I am feeding and make sure another one doesn't bum the bottle and take another lambs share.

New Ewe News!

Went to visit a pretty large sheep farm right during lambing season yesterday.  Got a bunch of great information from a real working Shepard.  Also received some great product recommendations and came home with 4 new bottle baby sheep, 3 males and a female.  We paid $30 for each bottle baby, which is a lot of work, but a great way form me to increase my flock  (now 10 lambs) quickly and without a lot of money.   I also feel we did the Shepard a service, taking possible bummer lambs to a place where they will get some one on one attention.

The males (at least 2 of them) will stay and be the stud rams at our farm.  They are healthy and hearty having been triplets but not necessarily the weak one of the bunch.  One female was the weak ewe from the triplet litter, but she is eating well.

They all seemed to have gotten real colostrum from their mother but I still gave them packaged  Dumare colostrum for 1.5 days (1 bag between the 4 of them) mixing 1/2 colostrum and 1/2 milk replacer for the last two feedings.

new sheep are doing well

My bottle baby's are doing well. They are on day 6 of their feeding shedule and taking 5.3 oz of milk every 4.5 hours.  I go a little longer at night.... mayb3 5 to 6 hours.
I have them on grain but don't know if they are eating it or not.
They are absolutely adorable and strong.  I am in love with them.