Goats confiscated

[Catherine]

Don't forget, I grew up in the country. I had to adapt to city life. I have done very well, but I have not lost my country edge.

People in the country know how to do things because we have to.

Is it really that hilly where you are. I grew up on the prairies and it is flat_____________________________________like a table.

So what foods are considered Midwestern Hillbilly Cuisine?

[AnimalFamily]

Hmmmmmm, let me think.........BBQ!!
We can cook almost anything on the grill.
I would say biscuits and sausage gravy are a staple [and my specialty] here. We also like our fried 'taters'.
A favorite of ours is what they call "Tennessee BBQ". Smoked pork butt, with a special marinade - Wickers- which is flaked and served on a bun with pickled slaw. YUM!!
We don't do much here, but we DO eat very well, lol!!!
And yes, on our particular property, we have a tiny area of flat space the rest is all hills. We live in a valley so every way out is uphill.
We all have very nice calf muscles!!

[Catherine]

Anything with biscuits is totally delicious. Anything with gravy is even better. If you add BBQ to that then you have a feast. I have never had sausage gravy, but I bet it is good. I stuff my turkey with sausages and apples and that gives the turkey and the gravy a nice flavour.
Now you are getting me hungry.

Valleys are beautiful. You feel like you have your own world, but yes it is all uphill no matter where you go. Hills are beautiful. It sounds like you live in an ideal spot.

[AnimalFamily]

It's our little piece of heaven.
Ooops so sorry, we're supposed to save those hunger pains for the other place, lol!!!
That stuffing sounds sublime!! I could feast on that alone.

[Tobi]

Yeah! Good stuffing is so tasty!
Because I'm veggie, I often make a nut burger/nut roast mix and use sage and onion stuffing, with added pepper etc. Then I sometimes use hazelnuts straight from the trees (painstaking to crack and test each one to make sure they're not 'off', and painstaking to chop. But put in a grinder and ground up rough, they are good added to the stuffing mix. So tasty.
Or store-bought nuts -any kind- can be used.
These burgers (or nut roast) are great served with neeps and tatties (anyone know what that is?) and gravy of course!
Neeps and tatties are Scottish, and basically are mashed potatoes with mashed swede turnip, with added butter -or if you don't eat butter, then vegan spread, or even a little vegan soft cheese.

Is cornbread a big thing in Tennessee? I once tried to make it, and it was okay but I have a feeling it could have been better. I watched some You Tube videos of a lady making cornbread so maybe I'll do better next time.

[Catherine]

Corn bread, sigh, now I am hungry. I make corn flour biscuits and they melt in your mouth they are so soft and tasty.
That makes me think of hot buttered corn meal served with maple syrup.
Do you serve that in your own little piece of heaven?

I have my own turkey stuffing mix that I do and it is a meal in itself. The bread cubes and chopped apple are lightly pan fried in butter with all the seasonings(sage, savoury, thyme, rosemary and pepper). I place that mix in a bowl and add raw sausage meat and chopped walnuts. It all gets mixed together with an egg or two so that it holds together. Stuff it in the turkey and it comes out as a savoury pudding, just right to compliment the turkey and of course, the cranberry sauce.

It could be done vegetarian. You would just leave out the sausage meat. I wonder if seasoned hummus would be a substitute for the sausage or maybe some tofu. If you used oil instead of butter you would need to add salt. I play with the mix until it is just the way I like it.
I think it could be cooked separate as a meal in itself.

Neeps and Tatties, that is a new one on me. Turnip is better if it is served with something else. I have had it mashed with carrots, but potatoes would make more sense.
I just had dinner and I am still hungry.

[Tobi]

YUM!!

Turnips don't need much cooking, or they can turn to mush. Just a light steaming. They are lovely with pepper and butter (or spread) But Swede Turnips are harder, and need a little more time. They are wonderful mixed with potatoes mashed. For a real treat, grill the whole concoction until brown on top!

I have a feeling we (greedy people) have gone WAY off the subject of this thread.....haha

[AnimalFamily]

Sometimes we do get a little side tracked. especially when it comes to food.
We do like our cornbread, but I am not from Tennessee. I guess I should have clarified in that earlier post. I actually live in Missouri, but that particular bbq item I mentioned was a Tennessee recipe from a brother-in-law who used to go there often, just to eat, lol!
I have a rather nice cornbread recipe. I have used it to make stuffing in the past.
The other day hubby saw a stuffing recipe which used oatmeal instead of the traditional bread cubes, cornbread, etc. I am curious to try this.
Catherine, your stuffing sounds awesome. I wonder if your walnuts came from my back yard, LOL!!!
Tobi: I tried making turnip mashed poatatoes once. They were okay but could have been better. I used turnips only and they tasted like mashed turnips, lol. I never thought of adding some mashed poatoes too. I'll bet that would taste a lot better.
I also learned a new recipe: tie-dyed mash [potatoes] made with beets, butternut squash, and caulifower. I might give this one a go. If nothing else, it sounds pretty.

[Catherine]

Quote:I also learned a new recipe: tie-dyed mash [potatoes] made with beets, butternut squash, and caulifower. I might give this one a go. If nothing else, it sounds pretty.

That sounds good. I don't know which kind of turnips I have used. They seemed very hard. I have cooked them in a pot roast with a lot of other root vegetables. They taste good that way.

Oatmeal in a turkey stuffing? That's a new one. Let me know how it tastes. The idea of corn bread stuffing seems really good.

We do get into food discussions very easily. Which makes me wonder if the little goats were milk producers or strictly pets. I would think the chickens were laying eggs for them. The silly neighbour who reported them should have just asked for some eggs. I am sure fresh eggs from backyard hens would be so much fresher than store bought eggs.
I suppose next we won't be allowed to grow our own vegetables.

[Tobi]

I can fully understand the need for the goats and their living situation to be investigated, and for things to be approved, but I find it hard to understand why they would all be confiscated, unless some animal welfare law, or food safety law had been breached.

Well as far as I heard -and it must be over a year ago now -there ARE some areas in the US where growing your own fruit and vegetables is against the law!

I have never heard anything so oddly sinister and stupid in all my born days!