Hamburger Helper

One of God's greatest gifts to a bachelor's household is Hamburger Helper. So simple yet so good. Plus, you can stretch one dish into three meals. Perfect for a Catholic Cowboy priest. 

There's many varieties ranging from Stroganoff to Cheesy Hash Browns. I like the old standard Cheeseburger Macaroni. 

The cool thing is that it comes with instructions right on the back of the box. Though I do have the process down by now, I still need the specific measurements of milk and water to get the dish just right. 

The key to a good Hamburger Helper meal is the hamburger. LBCC.LLC grass fattened. 

A cowboy doesn't plan his meal until he's hungry. Therefore, he usually has to thaw things out before he can get started. Defrosting frozen hamburger in a sink full of room temp water is quick and effective. 

Now it's time to get to work. 

Browning is an art. I know you're hungry, but not everything has to be cooked on high. 

Muy Bien. 

Here's some tricks I've learned over the years: Add the milk, then the sauce mix, then pour the water over them both. This allows you to better integrate the sauce mix. 

After you stir those ingredients together, then add the macaroni. This way the sauce mix powder doesn't cling to the mac. 

Bring it to a boil then let it simmer for 10 min or so. 

In that down time I like to have a little cowboy appetizer. 

Knowing when to kill the heat and serve is crucial. Some of this takes trial and error, but I like to shoot for my macaroni to be al dente. 

Bon appetit.

There's been more than one cowboy out there who has kept his belly fueled by Hamburger Helper. I dig it. Any meal that only requires one tool to handle, I'm down with. The beauty of this kind of cooking is now I have two more meals awaiting me that only require reheating. Life is good. Thank God for Hamburger Helper! 

 

Christian

There is no such thing as a lone Christian. To be Christian means to be part of the Body of Christ, the Church. We need each other.

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Year in Review: 2022

On to the next one!

For better quality, enlarge the screen and click on the gear to jump up to 1080pix

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Mother Mary

Let's entrust 2023 to our Blessed Mother Mary. 

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Holy Family

Pray for us!

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Spit the Words Out

Forgive, and be set free.

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Sno Cat

If you want to roll around the mountains in December, you better be geared up. Mom and Dad are. The only time their cabin is hard to get to is May and November when the snow is melting or starting to fall. Other than that, they can get in all year long. For winter travel, their sno-cat is the vehicle of choice. 

They bought this beauty about 10 years ago. She's a 1971 model. Dad's done well to keep her maintained, which includes greasing the some 250 roller bearings on the tracks each year. 

Tucker continues to make sno-cats, though their technology has vastly improved. You have to start somewhere though. 

Though she's simple, the engineering is quite remarkable. She has a flat head 6 with a four speed. If your are going over 10mph, you better slower down a notch. 

You can haul gear in the back, or a band of your buddies. 

She runs good on groomed trails. 

And breaking trails. 

The four pontoons are what make her float, while the paddle tracks give her traction. 

She may be slow, but she'll get you where you want to go. 

Modern machines have allowed man to get to areas in the winter where only the moose and squirrels roamed. Thanks to their Tucker Sno-Cat, Mom and Dad can enjoy their Big Horn getaway all year long. 

 

Fire in the Hole

Dad and I have been waiting for the right opportunity to burn our old corral piles from last summer. Well the feast of St. Stephen proved to be the perfect day. 

We had 5 piles of old lumber from around the ranch needing to be burned and buried. Not wanting to mess with a prairie fire, we decided to wait until snow was on the ground. To get them burning hot we dumped about 10 gallons of diesel/gasoline mixture in the center and around the base of the pile. 

To ignite it we pulled out one of Dad's old oilfield tricks: Put a little dirt on a shovel and douse it in gasoline...

Throw a match at it...

Once lit...

Carry it to the pile...

Give it a good aimed toss...

Then stand back.

That old wood really burned nice.

Perfect for marshmallows and hotdogs.

Or beer and beef jerky. 

That's my kind of feast day. Every boy likes to play with fire. And when it has a purpose, all the better. A lot of work went up in smoke today. This ranch was a labor of love for my granddad. But wood just doesn't last forever. To everything turn, turn, turn. Wood was yesterday. Steel is today. Thanks Grandps, we'll make you proud. 

God is with Us

If God is with us, than who can be against us. 

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Tenderloin

The most tender piece of meat on any critter is the Tenderloin. Not sure what its actual function is, but it hangs out inside the ribcage and waits for the day for someone to enjoy it.

You can do much with the loin itself. I usually combine the TL into part of the T-bone steak. You can also leave it has a whole loin. Or cut it into individual steaks. 

Cutting it off the cow is not too tough. But there is not a lot of meat to work with so you want to take your time and get the whole thing. 

It's not a super fatty piece of meat. So after aging two or three weeks, there is a bit of cleaning up to do. 

Thick steaks are a common usage. I usually package them in two's or three's and give them to guys to impress their wives. 

But I went out on a limb this time to make filet mignon. This literally means tender filet, but on the menu it usually has bacon wrapped around it. Having some thick cut bacon on hand I wrapped some of these tender morsels up with simple cotton string. 

Wallah!

Yeah buddy. 

Looks like a Christmas delight to me. Hard to go wrong with a tenderloin. They are tasty by themselves or wrapped in bacon. They are usually tender whether off a fattened calf or an old bull. God put them there for a reason, which I'm sure in part was for us to enjoy. 

Zoom Out

Thanks William. 

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Fight for Mass

It's fun to be able to love God in the way He has loved us. 

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