Toad Hill Gardens

Here's something hot and different to make with ground beef and your cast iron skillet. Filling tummies in the wintertime takes just a bit of creativity to look past the usual.

https://www.marthastewart.com/1133592/sweet-potato-shepherds-pie?utm_source=pinterest.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-share-recipe&utm_content=20210712&utm_term=1133592

Sweet-Potato Shepherd's Pie Recipe When it comes to radiating warmth at the dinner table, nothing beats a meal-in-one casserole. What's more, this dish can be assembled a day ahead, goes straight from the oven to the table, and offers help-yourself allure in abundance.

I am sharing with you a hack. This recipe is so wonderful that the NY Times wants money from us to access it! I do love all things NY Times, but hey, to pay for recipes in this day and age is really too much, IMO.

So I went on the hunt for it from another source. It is perfect for a cold day! Perfect with any meat as an accompaniment. So, do enjoy and do share~We all need a little love and warmth in our lives, and it shouldn't cost us anything.

Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake recipe from NY Times Cooking. I made some modifications and have to share this recipe!

We are expecting light snow later today in North Central Kansas~❄

How about a lovely thought for your crock pot this afternoon? Slow cooker Italian beef with jus to dip is just the ticket for a cold evening! 😋 You know they love this in Chicago! Don't forget the best, yummy rolls you can find and peperoncinis (a jar of not too hot pickled peppers) from the pickle aisle for authenticity.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16427/slow-cooker-italian-beef-for-sandwiches/

Slow Cooker Italian Beef for Sandwiches Rump roast is cooked with Italian salad dressing mix and seasonings until it is tender enough to shred with a fork.

"January is the quietest month in the garden… But just because it looks quiet doesn’t mean that nothing is happening."

– Rosalie Muller Wright

So in an hour or so the Kansas City Chiefs face an old fashioned, gun-slinging wild west showdown with the Buffalo Bills in an NFL playoff game. The landscape of Kansas history plays broadly upon the names that these two cities chose for their teams. Annie Oakley popcorn, anyone?? 😄👀

This is a photo of a Pawnee Dog Chief, unknown year.

If your favorite hot drink in the wintertime is HOT COCOA, then you should enjoy it without guilt.

Add a square of Ghirardelli high cacao chocolate to your cup of coffee (when you pour) or instant hot cocoa mix to elevate it. (This brand is available at WalMart, most drug stores and Dollar General.)

You will also get the benefits of chocolate's anti-inflammatory properties. Dust it off with a bit of cinnamon sugar for a real treat! ☕️ Make it one for my baby and one for me too! 😍☕️☕️

Bailey's???! Oh, dear, yes!

And dare we call 1995 a year for a good ol' radio oldie? Music is such an important part of our lives. Often, it is how we tell our story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvuyradfFGY

The Song Remembers When Trisha Yearwood The Song Remembers WhenCirca 1995

And how would this be for someone letting us know about the current pulse of American cuisine of the Midwest? This cookbook could probably replace a few tried and true...

https://www.amazon.com/Home-Cooking-Trisha-Yearwood-Stories/dp/0307465233/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=trisha+yearwood+cookbook+2021&qid=1642626669&sr=8-3

Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood: Stories and Recipes to Share with Family and Friends: A Cookbook Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood: Stories and Recipes to Share with Family and Friends: A Cookbook

So here's some FOOD FOR THOUGHT MIDWESTERN FOODIES. The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond is about as close as we have for someone archiving and defining foods of the current culture of America's Great Plains.

"She has a chocolate cake that'll knock your socks off!" And easy too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH5Yv6NW2Os

Yet, if you want to share this with your creative and inquisitive children or you have a very motivated little baker in your house, you just have to take a look at these 2 blog items I came across while looking for a picture of a chocolate bundt cake with Valentine's sprinkles (just to make the post look timely and relevant for our calendar.)

If you really want to have some fun, make one of these (any! Note each recipe call calls for cake mix) for anybody's history class and ask them to identify why this chocolate cake would be relevant to Midwest American culture. 👀

https://beadyarnspatula.com/2021/02/09/hidden-heart-bundt-cake/

https://www.cookingwithsugar.com/melting-heart-bundt-cake-a-valentine-rainbow-cake-recipe/

I'm including a gluten free recipe (which you could easily make sugar free, as well) for those of us who have become sensitive:

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/gluten-free-chocolate-fudge-bundt-cake-recipe

"As the Crow Flies"...Canvas print of our beautiful skyborn winter landscape by Jo Grundy.

The snow is sparkling like a million tiny suns~

Lama Willa~

"With tangerine trees and marmalade skies~

~Cellophane flowers of yellow and green, towering over your head," 🎵

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (1967), Toady's Oldie last week. And then this image, Rat and Moley in their canoe, upon the Thames in WIND IN THE WILLOWS.

It's interesting how certain images float constantly upon the imaginations of our great writers. Think of the of The Great Gatsby, becoming great...

Tonight, at 7:15CST, the Kansas City Chiefs face the Pittsburg Steelers in the first game of this year's Wild Card playoffs.

We are rooting red!! Go Chiefs!!

Something wonderful and delightfully warming awaits your weekend slow cooker and THE GAME we've all been waiting for~

Do the Chiefs have what it takes to advance in the Playoffs??

This soup goes great with corn chips, guac, and all of your gameday favs! 😋🥰🏉

Sunday, Janurary 16, 2021, the Kansas City Chiefs play the Pittsburg Steelers at 7:15PM CST

https://www.thechunkychef.com/slow-cooker-creamy-white-chicken-chili/

Creamy Crockpot White Chicken Chili This creamy white chicken chili is made super easy in your crockpot! Ultra creamy with plenty of spice, it's the perfect companion on a chilly night!

So, I am going to challenge a little bit your idea of Midwest American cuisine. Beef, of course, but then the garlic, brown sugar, & soy sauce because nearly every kitchen has these items on hand.

Perfect with the green onions, ginger, black and red peppers to light up your Winter palette.

Fusion, yes, but also Kansan. Much of Asian cuisine is so worth looking at for inspiration.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/korean-beef-and-rice/

Korean Beef and Rice A friend raved about Korean bulgogi, which is beef cooked in soy sauce and ginger, so I tried it. It's delicious! You'll dazzle the table with this tasty version of Korean beef and rice. —Elizabeth King, Duluth, Minnesota

"Picture yourself...somebody calls you..." 🎵🎶

Lots has been made about the lyrics of this beautiful song...which may have been inspired by Anton Chekov.

“We shall find peace. We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.” ~Anton Chekhov

Those Beatles were pretty damn smart. Listen to one of our favorite Toady's Oldies (1967), and a whole collection of Beatles' favorites, here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgNYK96lQOg

Image for sale from LoveMyKansas.com

https://34thstatemedia.com/printsall/windmillwithstars

I get to stare out of a south facing window this brightly, sunny day in Northwest Kansas. I wonder what the pioneers who lived here did in front of this huge window. I write to you, of course, to tell you how much I love you. ❄❤❄

My father is doing much better this morning, after a late evening scare for our family. 🙏

A *****book to share with the little ones in your life...who may yet witness an end to one of our favorite parts of the Winter, sad to note.

https://www.amazon.com/Snowflake-Benji-Davies/dp/0062563602/ref=sr_1_7?crid=1SCT1J2FB5RA5&keywords=snow+books+for+kids&qid=1642007394&s=books&sprefix=snow+book%2Cstripbooks%2C124&sr=1-7

The Snowflake The Snowflake

"We are not made to rocket straight through winter, ablaze with energy. Look at nature. The ground and plants and animals are deep at rest. This is the natural way of things. Spend some time with the long nights, the moon, solitude, the bare earth, stillness.

"Be easier on yourself."

Victoria Erikson, author Rhythm and Roads

Image Algonquin Fox by Nicki Williams

Starting the day by having coffee or tea with the birds is a favorite wintertime hobby of mine.

❄☕️🐦

"Nothing is so over as Christmas," my mother used to say and I suppose, since this past Thursday was the 12th day, it is indeed time for some of our decor to find their boxes until next year. (I do tend to leave out our snowy decor until February ❄😉❄)

We hope you have enjoyed the content that we gathered for you for the 2021 holidays, history, recipes, books, gift ideas, movies and music. It is almost as fun as if we had a brick and mortar store for you to shop and snack at.

Are you ready for the next holiday? We'll have Winter gardening, floral, decor and homemade goodies for you & your family and friends. ❤️💘

Stay tuned and stop by for ideas that will connect you with your heritage and nature, most days at Toad Hill Gardens.

A cardinal and friend come to visit, 2016~❄🐦

My great great grandparents immigrated from Northern Europe to Kansas in the 1870s just like so many others. The foods from my great grandmother's farm table made it to our family table, albeit in smaller amounts.

This recipe is as close to what I remember about her green beans as it gets. She used bacon instead of ham and also added an equal amount (to the green beans) of carrots. I still make a version of it today. So yummy! The trick is to cook this for a long time, like one would a pot of collard or mustard greens.

Sunday dinner table food at its finest! Fried or roasted chicken was what I fed my kids with this dish most often when they were growing up.

https://www.readowding.com/slow-cooker-green-beans-ham-and-potatoes-2/?fbclid=IwAR0m4RcW5wwdThsFsicF6zaKXgnqXS3vbUuIAGerXtb_dVZ819V5nR6xc_c

SLOW COOKER GREEN BEANS, HAM AND POTATOES “I make this dish often; I have never really measured the ingredients, but can give you a reasonable approximation. Note: Freeze leftover cooking liquid, and then add to bean soup, ham or cabbage dishes, or

Looking for a YUMMY, WARM, WINTERY SNACK OR MEAL IDEA???

❄❄❄🍵❄❄❄

https://www.tastemade.com/videos/roasted-tomato-soup-and-grilled-cheese-bread-bowl/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social

Roasted Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Bread Bowl Save on dishes while bringing together two things that should never be apart — grilled cheese and tomato soup.

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Image by Annie Stegg Fine Art

So, if someone were to ask me:

"Does Kansas have a cuisine?"

Like, it's a pretty posh question, right? The Italians? The French? Kansan?

You bet! Since we have been mostly influenced by bison (ancestral) and beef, the cattle industry and wheat, what better represents our culture than a bierock? Made with yeast dough and ground beef, this Midwestern taco hit the fast food circuit decades ago. And cabbages grow in most of our region's home gardens beautifully, if planted at the right time in the Spring.

Don't be afraid of the yeast!

https://frugalhausfrau.com/2013/05/28/runzas-bierocks-recipe-filling-dough/ %20(Bierocks)

This would be the reason why we are called the Smoky Hills region of Kansas on national maps. Hoarfrost was developing this morning in January 2016, which is ice crystals slowly growing while extracting moisture from the fog. Beautiful for a first Monday in January. ❄

Cuisine is a crucial component of the history and culture of any region. This article will bring an exotic location, on the southern coast of China, to vivid life for you. Macau is China's Las Vegas.

"With the notable exception of Fat Rice, the James Beard Award–winning Chicago restaurant, Macanese cooking is rarely found in restaurants, even in Macau—it is a culinary tradition of the home cook, kept alive by the precious few ethnic Macanese living here today. One of the last places to find it is Riquexo. Inside, an elderly woman named Dona Aida de Jesus sat by the cashier, sipping the murky broth of a lotus-root soup. At 103 years old, she’s at the restaurant most days as both an ambassador and for quality control."