Chickens and rabbits have been raised on the Grieb Ranch through the years.  However, it was only in 2000’s that the Grieb family changed from eating fried chicken and rabbit to enjoying chicken or rabbit enchiladas.

Recipe for: Chicken or Rabbit Enchiladas

From the Kitchens of: Sandi Ferrio and Connie Grieb Willems                         Servings: 8

Ingredients:

• Seasoning packet – 1 teaspoon Cumin, 1 teaspoon chili powder, ½ teaspoon salt and 1 Tablespoon onion Powder
• 2 – 2 ¹⁄₂ lbs dressed rabbit or 2 – 2 1/2 lbs broiler- fryer chicken whole
• Water, pepper and garlic to slow cook meat in
• 3 Cups Cheddar cheese or your favorite cheese – grated
• 8 to 10 flour tortillas
• 2 small cans Green Enchilada Sauce (Mild) or one large can 28oz

Instructions:  

About two hours before you begin prepping the enchiladas prepare the chicken or rabbit meat – Place chicken or rabbit in a large crock pot and add pepper and garlic with water.  Cook on high for 2 hours until meat falls off bones. Remove and allow to cool. When cool, pull meat from the bones and shred the meat.

After meat has been cooked:

1. Warm shredded meat in frying pan with a small amount of oil or PAM spray to help keep meat from sticking. As meat heats, sprinkle seasoning packet to taste.
2. Heat green enchilada sauce in separate saucepan until warmed. Remove from heat.
3. Warm 8 to 10 flour tortillas in microwave 20 to 30 seconds until warm. This softens the tortillas and makes them more pliable.
4. Pour enough sauce in bottom of 9×13 dish to just cover it.
5. Dip a tortilla into sauce in saucepan then lay on a plate and fill with  a few spoonfuls of meat and shredded cheese then roll up tightly.   Place in casserole dish.
6. Repeat until pan is full. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas.
7. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
8. Bake 350 degree for 20 minutes covered.  Remove from oven and let sit for 5 min. before serving.

Dress with salsa, sour cream and olives as desired. Serve Enchiladas with a side salad, or beans and rice.

Grieb Ranch people have always purposed to enjoy the products of their land through the generations. Cattle, pigs, chickens, and fruit trees have taken root, roamed the hillsides or pecked the garden since the Grieb Family set up Grieb Ranch.

A childhood memory of Carl Grieb’s is his Grandma’s Pig Head Sandwiches. Crock Pots were not a thing of the past, so Grandma Gertrude Grieb would slow-cook the pig head in the oven or a big pot. Slow cooking would soften, flavor and cook the meat so it would peel off the bone. She ground this flavorful meat to serve in sandwiches.

Grandma Gertrude Grieb’s Pig Head Sandwiches Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 full pig head
• tsp Garlic salt
• tsp Salt
• tsp Pepper
• 2 garlic clove heads
• 1 onion
• water

Directions:

Set pig head cut side down in a crock pot.  Rub about a teaspoon of garlic salt, salt, pepper mix into the skin. Around the edges of the head tuck two whole garlic clove heads, and one onion.  Add an inch of water to the bottom of the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours or until the meat is fork-tender.  Peel meat from head and then grind meat and add seasonings to taste. Serve as meat in a sandwich.

The wooden cone shown was carved by Merriam Erickson sometime in the 1970’s. As cultures have blended through the years this Norwegian dessert was always a favorite at family gatherings at New Year’s! It is so wonderful to still have the use of this handmade cone and the Krum Kake iron as we recall special times spent with our loved ones. 

Recipe for:  Krum Kake

From the Kitchen of: Lorna Grieb Erickson                                                        Servings: about 24

Needed equipment: Krum Kake Iron and Wooden Cone shaper

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• ½ Cup Sugar
• ½ Cup Butter melted-one cube
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ Cup flour

Instructions

1. Beat 3 eggs until thick and lemon-colored.
2. Add ½ Cup sugar and mix well
3. Add 1/2 Cup butter, melted
4. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix in
5. Add ½ Cup flour to the liquid and mix
6. Heat Krum Kake iron over medium heat.  When a drop of water sizzles then the iron is ready.
7. Put 1½ Tablespoons batter in center of iron.
8. *Turn frequently until Kake is light brown.  About 1-2 minutes.  Carefully remove from iron with a butter knife and immediately wrap around cone to shape. 
9. Leave to cool while cooking next Kake.                      
10. Just before serving fill with whip cream.

*Do not multi task while cooking. Watch carefully!

Who Loves Persimmons?

Mr. P, our five-year old grandson, loves Persimmons. For Christmas he asked for a Persimmon fruit tree to be planted in the Grieb Orchard. We already have a Fuyu Persimmon tree so we planted a Hachiya variety instead. Mr. P experienced the difference himself when he bit into a Hachiya Persimmon fruit.

The two Persimmon varieties have very different purposes. The Fuyu can be eaten like an apple when ripe. The Hachiya is very bitter and comes to sweetness as the fruit matures to soft-ripe feeling. The very soft fruit flesh can be eaten like pudding and is very sweet.

So what does one do with the soft flesh of a Hachiya Persimmon fruit? Make delicious cookies!

Persimmon Cookies

From the Kitchen of: Joyce Willems from Granny (Ruth Stanley)         

Servings: Makes 3-5 dozen

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Baking Persimmon Pulp (Hachiya variety)
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda (sprinkle over pulp)
• 1 Cup sugar
• ½ Cup shortening or 1 Cube butter or margarine
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 Cup finely chopped nuts
• 1 Cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon cloves
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Beat thoroughly persimmon pulp, baking soda, sugar and shortening until creamy. Add egg, then flour with sifted spice. Add nuts and raisins. Beat all ingredients together – batter will be thin. Drop by spoonfuls on greased baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 min.   

Waldorf Salad is a favorite around here, particularly in the fall when apples, grapes, lemons and walnuts are in season on the Grieb Ranch.

According to the American Century Cookbook, the first Waldorf Salad was created in New York City in 1893, by Oscar Tschirky, the maître d’hôtel of the Waldorf Astoria. –  from Simply Recipes.com

The original recipe consisted only of diced red-skinned apples, celery, and mayonnaise. Chopped walnuts were added later to this now American classic. This a festive salad for Holiday get-togethers.

Waldorf Salad

Ingredients

• 6 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of ground black pepper
• 2 sweet apples, cored and chopped (Do not peel)
• 1 cup red seedless grapes, sliced in half
• 1 cup celery, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir in the apple, celery, grapes, and walnuts. Serve chilled in a serving bowl or in individual small salad dishes.