Foodie Friday: Ham Balls

Welcome to the first Foodie Friday of February. February is considered the month of love due to the observation of St. Valentine’s Day. In my world, food equivocates love. When I am at a loss for how to help someone in a time of need, celebrate an achieved goal, or show someone I care, food is my go-to for a demonstration of affection. If I invite you to my home for dinner, it is because I think highly of you. I don’t cook for just anyone. If you have a birthday, I cook your favorite meal because I care, and you deserve to be celebrated. Be it a healthy perception of food or not, food is how I show I care.

We have a practice here at The Smiling Goat Soap Company. If you are part of our soap family and work to help us, I feed you. Our little company cannot offer a lot of perks at this point, but I will feed you well and give you all the free products you desire. Raylee, Jordan’s best friend who helps us out two days a week during the school year, eats dinner with us twice a week. My friend, Jenna, who helps us out in many ways, eats dinner with us almost every night unless she has “Jenna things” to do. I enjoy cooking for Ray and Jenna. They are family. Cooking dinner is a task that must be done almost every day, so I feed the people I care about and who take care of me.

Jenna and Raylee love ham balls. Last night, they were both here helping us out, so I made ham balls for dinner with scalloped potatoes and green beans. I enjoy making food my “family” enjoys. It’s the least I can do for two people who are always there for us when we need them. Today, I will share my recipe for ham balls. I cook them in the crockpot, so clean up is very easy. Dinner cooks while I go about my day, and I don’t have to worry about setting off the fire alarm by cooking them too long. This recipe was popular with everyone. The Bibbed Wonder declared it to be “share-worthy.”

Ham Balls

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Ground Ham

1 lb. Ground Pork

½ lb. Ground Beef

1 Egg

½ Cup Milk

1 Cup Unseasoned Bread Crumbs

1 Small onion, diced

1 Tbls. Ground Mustard

½ tsp. Ground Pepper

Sauce:

2 Cans Tomato Soup

¼ Cup Water

6 Tbls. Apple Cider Vinegar

¾ Cup Brown Sugar

2 Tbls. Dijon Mustard

Directions:

-Mix meats, egg, milk, onion, bread crumbs, and spices in a large bowl. I used my hands to mix thoroughly.

-Form meat mixture into medium-sized meatballs.

-Place the meatballs in a treated slow cooker.

-In a separate bowl, mix all the ingredients for the sauce.

-Pour over the meatballs in the crockpot.

-Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours.

Serve hot with scalloped or mashed potatoes and a green vegetable to round out the meal. It doesn’t get any easier or more delicious than this recipe.

At the end of a long day, everyone leaves with a full stomach and, hopefully, a feeling of appreciation. It does not escape me that we cannot do what we do without the help of these two hardworking, responsible, kind-hearted girls. If making a meal they love puts a smile on their face, it is the least I can do.

On this lovely winter Friday, stay safe, be smart, enjoy good food, care for those you love, and keep washing your hands.

Man Blog

This is where the wife claims we will be moving to in eight years. Don't worry; she loses focus pretty quickly.

Our winter routine has once again come full circle. Every time we have a week below freezing, upper management decides we need to move south- not just to a milder climate but to a tropical one. This year, she has decided on Aruba. I don’t know the process of being a resident of Aruba, but if knowing every single random fact about Aruba qualifies you, I believe the wife should be the mayor. The Borrowing Owl is their national animal, while the Aruban Brown-throated parakeet is the national bird. The list of facts is updated daily until we have a few nice days, and then the focus is refocused elsewhere. I have said before that I wouldn’t trade all the more farm I can stick to my boots for paradise. I must admit that not slipping on ice and breaking ice out of watering troughs does sound nice. Not worrying about being invaded by Venezuela has some perks as well.

This year, I decided to try to stay current on news events. I only lasted a week and gave up. It mainly started because when I text my friend, Peter, I have to Google what he is talking about. It has been the better part of five years since I tuned out. I made it a week before remembering why I stopped. Nothing has changed. I can’t even say the names have changed. I do not know how the world isn’t in a panic attack. World War III is kicking off in less than a week; AI is taking over, and everyone involved with politics is terrible. Then I remembered that WWIII was starting when I had watched the news before. AI stands for Artificial Insemination, and 99% of politicians are lawyers. The same people who struggle to tell you the current weather are in charge of bringing you the news. Let’s be honest: if computers were taking over anytime soon, they would be able to check every box with a bridge in the picture or even click the, I am not a robot option. As for WWIII, the entire planet would struggle to motivate enough people to fight. McDonald’s could pay $30 an hour and still be unable to keep staff. That is working in a controlled climate without the risk of bodily harm. Good luck paying the enlisted rate and putting together an army. Being an election year, the very worst of politics always exists. Before every election, I think perhaps Anarchy isn’t such a bad option. That is always wiped away on an airplane ride. The moron that has an oversized overhead bag that has to stuff it over anyone’s seat but their own is precisely why the world needs rules and people to enforce them.

Caller ID has made everyone with a phone avoid answering the phone if you don’t recognize the number. But I have resumed answering telemarketers and just rambling on until they give up and hang up on me. There is always something to be learned. For example, the folks selling car insurance are unwilling to talk to you if you claim to have a Bentley or a ’78 AMC Gremlin. No matter how often you explain that you don’t want any life insurance for yourself, you are interested in buying it for “old people I don’t know. So I can cash out.” They never seem to get it. The folks peddling solar panels will try to explain that solar panels are not windmills and do not harm the migration patterns of sparrows for five minutes on average before they hang up. No one calling for charities can give you the percentage of each dollar that goes to the actual reason for the charity. There is not a telemarketer on the planet that knows who Henry Winkler is. Every time I claim to be Henry, they keep talking. I figured if that were my job, I would be thankful for the break in the action of having hang-ups or being screamed at. Before anyone needs to warn me about giving away any information, I do give information. I give out a lot of information. It has been a while since I was asked for my social security number, but it has always been my favorite. “One…. Two… Three… Circle… The color orange.” That has caused me to be cussed out on numerous occasions.

I will have to focus due to our kidding season approaching. We are officially 27 days away from our first baby goat delivery of 2024. But, as the saying goes, the first can come along at any time; the next takes nine months. In the case of goats, 150 days. The first one due is Cindy, AKA the goat of Babylon, who made a mockery of our fencing system with her lustful ways. Over the next few weekends, we will be checking our delivery kits and ensuring we are fully stocked on everything we can think of for every scenario. Of course, there is always something new and exciting that we won’t be prepared for. We have been avoiding having any deliveries in the colder months as best we can the last few years and have had an easier time of it. We keep our fingers crossed that twins are the norm this year and we don’t have the clown car equivalent of pregnant goats.

Until next month, enjoy Ground Hog Day, take the time to ramble with a telemarketer, stay safe, and wash on.

Out With The Old, In With The New

Today, dear reader, The Bibbed Wonder and I will be in the soap studio making our first two full time batches of Vanilla Bean Dream. We are making a few changes to our full-time inventory. After much consideration and looking at sales and numbers, we have decided to retire several of our less popular soap and moisturizer scents. I am in a constant struggle with my business partner/husband to keep things fresh, interesting, and exciting. Many of you know that if left up to The Bibbed Wonder, all our soaps would be round, one solid color, have no glitter, and our scents would remain the same year-round. It has taken a bit of maneuvering and negotiating, but we have finally found common ground with new scents.

The scents that will be retiring this year are The Woodsman, To The Moon and Back, Coocoo Banana, and Orange Clove Cinnamon. We are replacing The Woodsman with the wildly popular Panty Dropper. Orange Clove Cinnamon will be replaced with the well-received Vanilla Bean Dream. Coocoo Banana will be replaced with a Baby Powder and Raspberry blend. The Bean has named Fairytale. To The Moon and Back will be replaced with a fresh soft scent The Bean has called Sleep Sweet. We are also adding a fruity blend to the children's line that The Bean has named Mango Tango.

After tiring negotiations, I have also convinced my bib overall wearing wonder buns to add two coumarin scents to our line-up. I adore our Christmas scent Comfort and Joy. This is also one of our most popular scents for the holidays. After years of suggesting we make a year-round blend with the coumarin (fresh hay scent), my bib overall wearing nay-sayer has agreed to bring on a soft feminine scent and a more earthy blend. These two soaps are still in the design stage, but I have settled on the oil blends, and I can't wait to make our first batch.

Today, we will make Vanilla Bean Dream. You may remember Vanilla Bean Dream from last year's product line-up. It was so well received we decided to bring it on full-time. I have an exciting addition to this soap. I was able to acquire organic vanilla beans and pods from my friend Amanda who owns Sweet Home Vanilla. I dehydrated and ground the pods and beans and I will be adding them to the base of Vanilla Bean Dream as a gentle exfoliant. When I was dehydrating the beans and pods, our kitchen smelled like delicious vanilla cake. I hope this scent shines through in the soap as well.

Working with my friends who own small businesses is delightful. I am happy to support and promote their businesses, add interest and quality to my products, and bring you locally sourced, natural, high-quality products. We have built a wonderful little community of local, woman owned, small businesses. I hope you are as excited for this as I am. On this wonderfully sunny winter day, stay safe, be smart, be excited for new things, and keep washing your hands.