Celebrate Winter {Wordless Wednesday}

By Katharine Trauger of Home’s Cool

By Sandra Jones of Trekker Mom

By Leslie Smith Doan of Leslie in Little Rock

January 25, 2016

The Best of Mom at the Meat Counter

by Janeal Yancey, Miss January 2016

I’ve really enjoyed being Miss January this month. For my last entry, I’m featuring some of my favorite posts from my blog.

Last spring, a group of Ag blogger friends of mine worked together on a group blog about a Texas country musician, Aaron Watson, and his album, the Underdog. I wrote about all the people who feel judged and intimidated by food and news about food. Those people are the reason I write my blog. I’ve always cheered for the Underdog.

In most of my posts, I try to address the questions and concerns people have about meat or the livestock industry. Everything I write in my posts is backed by science, and I try to include links to help you find more information. I want to help people feel more informed about the food they feed their families.

I have a whole series of posts about meat labels, but the most popular post on my blog has been the one I wrote about the label ‘Raised without hormones.’ In meat science, we love to talk about the fact that there is no such thing as hormone-free meat. Everything has hormones, but did you know that it is against the law in the US to treat pigs and poultry with artificial hormones? I also write about hormones used in cattle production, and how they change the concentration of hormones in the beef. You might be surprised what you learn.

Processed meats made the news late last year when the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified them as a Class 1 carcinogen. When news reporters were listing other Class 1 carcinogens like asbestos and tobacco, it sounded really scary. I did some research on the IARC’s findings and wrote a post called The Sky is Not Falling on Hotdogs and Bacon. I found the IARC also lists sunlight and birth control as Class 1 carcinogens, and of the 900+ compounds they’ve examined, only 1 has made the non-carcinogenic category. I also talk about why processed meats are important in keeping meat affordable and helping us waste less food, not to mention being quite tasty.
Everyone loves ground beef, so I wrote a list of Ten Things You Didn’t Know about Ground Beef. The USDA has rules about what can and cannot be labeled as ground beef, and most people don’t understand those rules.
I love to tell the story about the mom at gymnastics who never took her kids to McDonalds because of a movie she’d seen. I wrote a post specifically for busy moms like her who worry every time they pull through the nearest drive-thru to feed their hungry kids. I called it Happy about Happy Meals. I followed it the next week with another post called McNugget Misclaims about what’s really in chicken McNuggets. Within a few weeks, my friend sent me a picture of her son enjoying a Happy Meal. It made my day!

My favorite posts come from questions other moms and dads ask me. Please, feel free to ask me anything. Shoot me an email, leave a comment on my blog, send me a message on Twitter or Facebook, or give me a call.

Who knows? Maybe your question will turn into a post on Mom at the Meat Counter.

January 24, 2016

Sunday Link-Up {Jan. 24, 2016}

Isn’t it time you joined our #ARWB #Sunday #Link-up? Do that now.

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January 22, 2016

Stacey Valley: Swedish Meatballs {Foodie Friday}

Celebrate Celebrations

My philosophy is that every meal should be a celebration. Food is life-giving. It is the fuel for our bodies. And it’s pretty awesome that our fuel can be beautiful and yummy too.

I recently made a traditional Nordic meal for my family including Swedish Meatballs and Potato Herb Gratin with Pepparkakor (Nordic Ginger Cookies) for dessert. These were all new recipes for me, so I was pleased when they turned out not just edible, but delicious. The entire meal was a hit with the Valley bunch.

I found the Swedish Meatball recipe on the food blog Damn Delicious. Meatballs look fancy, but are easy to make. You can substitute ground chicken or turkey for the ground pork if you would like cut some calories from the recipe (but I wouldn’t suggest it). It’s perfect just as it is.

Stacey Valley: Swedish Meatballs {Foodie Friday}

Ingredients

Meatballs

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 onion, diced
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup Panko
2 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Gravy

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups beef broth
3/4 cup sour cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves (optional)

Instructions

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 3 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, Panko, egg yolks, allspice, nutmeg and cooked onion; season with salt and pepper, to taste. With clean hands, mix until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1 ¼ to 1 ½ inch meatballs, forming about 24 meatballs.
Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the skillet. Add meatballs, in batches, and cook until all sides are browned, about 5 minutes for each batch. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
To make the gravy, melt butter in the skillet. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in beef broth and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in sour cream; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Stir in meatballs and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through and thickened, about 8-10 minutes.
Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.

https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/stacey-valley-swedish-meatballs-foodie-friday/

I served the meatballs over cooked egg noodles. My sauce wasn’t quite as thick as I hoped, but the leftovers the following day were perfect. Based on that new information, I will make these a day in advance next time.

Don’t be afraid to try new recipes for your next food celebration. Experimentation and discovery are part of the fun. And believe me: your family will love slurping up these creamy, meatbally, sauce-covered noodles.

Stacey is a wife, mom of four girls, and public health professional. She adores her interracial, real-life modern family, and is thankful that her husband Anthony loves her kind of crazy. Cooking is her therapy. She dreams of moving to Italy one day, so you can often find her binging on House Hunters International. Stacey’s life motto is “Live big. Love deep.” You can find her online at…

Blog: http://www.staceyvalley.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/staceyvalley

Instagram: http://instagram.com/staceyvalley/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stacey.mcbryde

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/staceymvalley/

January 21, 2016

Celebrating Life’s Happies

by Brittney Lee

Recently, I’ve been reading the book Fight Back with Joy by Margaret Feinberg. In it, she describes the small joyful things in life as joy bombs. Picture these bombs dropping into your life and exploding into happiness. Those bombs are things like a beautiful sunset. The laughter of a friend. Even things like sale on those boots you’ve been eyeing. Any little thing that brings you happiness. I love paying extra attention to these happies and bringing them significance.

One way we do that in our family is to celebrate the happies. Make them bigger deals. Get recognition at work? Celebrate. Make a milestone? Celebrate. Have a half-birthday? Celebrate. Book a fun vacation? Celebrate.

In our first year of marriage, we celebrated the happies by having mini-celebrations each month on our anniversary date. So that meant that each month on the 13^th, I brought home a little treat to share. The girls at Rick’s Bakery in Fayetteville got to know me well. I would grab a set of petit fours or a frosted cookie or a couple of donuts. Anything to mark the occasion and celebrate.

Another fun tradition we have is the “You’re Special” plate. I don’t remember where I picked it up, but it brings us much joy. If you come home with a promotion, you get to eat dinner on the “You’re Special” plate. If it’s your half-birthday, out comes the plate. Sometimes special meals are served on the plate. For example, my husband LOVES Buffalo Wild Wings. So one night I picked it up for us for dinner (just because) and served it on the “You’re Special” plate to show him a little extra love.

I think the small things in life deserve celebration. If we save all the honor for big days, the small insignificant happy things get swept under the rug. Instead, I think about how I want to live my life LOUD – and make a fuss about the small things.

I’ve been known to show up to a girls’ night with party hats just because. If someone asks what we’re all celebrating, I respond “Friendship!” And isn’t a beautiful friendship something to celebrate? Or bring noise makers to a child’s basketball game. Make a small thing into a big thing. In high school and college we would buy helium balloons and tie them to friends’ car antennas. They were bursts of joy in ordinary days.

Find a way to celebrate the small things today. You’ll never regret a party – even if it’s an entirely made up occasion.

Brittney is a native Arkansan with a love for bright lights and big city. She often escapes her 20-acre home south of Fort Smith to shop, eat, and catch a concert in the big city. She blogs about her life, her faith, her adventures, her dogs, and her country home at Razorback Britt.

January 20, 2016

The Sun’s Out, It’s Time to Celebrate {Wordless Wednesday}

By Whitney of Running with Whit

Whitney Sutherland blogs at Running with Whit about the fun and adventure of an everyday athlete. Whitney works full time playing with numbers and products and unwinds by training for races. She loves triathlons and has completed three half ironman distance races. She completes many races each year and initially discovered blogs while researching different races. Whitney spends her free time with Sidney her runner dog and her family where she gets to be the cool aunt to three awesome kiddos.
You can follow Whitney on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

January 18, 2016

A Day in the Life of Mom at the Meat Counter

by Janeal Yancey, Miss January 2016

There is no typical ‘day in the life’ of me. Every day is different and I can definitely say that few are ‘typical.’ Rather than share about one day in my life, I decided to share some of my favorite days from the past year. From that, you can get an idea of all the crazy things I do.

January 20 – Classes begin. My class, Livestock and Meat Evaluation, meets in the spring semester. We cover breeds of livestock, how to evaluate carcasses, meat pricing, and a little about animal growth. I love to teach and work with the students, but it is quite a challenge. Most students have never been exposed to information about meats and can be reluctant to learn something new. Usually by the end of the semester, I have several new faces inspired to learn about meat.

January 31 – Academic Quadrathlon. Four Animal Science students traveled with me to Georgia to compete in a Regional Competition. In addition to showing off their skills as animal scientists, these kids have the chance to travel to a new part of the US to learn about agriculture and food production. This competition covers much more than just meat science, so I learn as much as the students do. Although it was a quick trip, we took a tour of the University of Georgia’s campus and got to enjoy some of the local flavors in downtown Atlanta. Traveling with students is one of my absolute favorite parts of my job.

March 7 – Missouri Meat Processors Product Show. I was invited to serve as an expert judge at a processed meat show in Missouri. I judged bone-in hams and bratwurst. These products come from meat processors all over the state of Missouri. Making cured and processed meats is a craft and an art form as much as it is a science. It was quite a learning experience for me. Of course, I took a #hamselfie!

March 31. Undergraduate Research. We mixed and formed beef patties for a young lady’s senior research project. Those patties were later cooked, and the internal cooked color was measured. Our research reiterated the fact that cooked color is not a good indicator of doneness and that meat thermometers are the best way to tell if ground beef is really done. I really enjoy doing research with students. This young lady found a passion for lab work and is considering a job in the meat industry thanks to this experience.

April 1 – Hosting Mrs. Cavitt’s GT Class. I love to introduce kids to animal science. Most kids don’t see agriculture as interesting or think of it as a future career, so I like to bring kids as young as elementary school to our department and show them all the interesting things we do. We have a special cow that we use for research named Hilda. She has become quite the Northwest Arkansas ambassador for cattle nutrition and animal science in general. In addition to education, Hilda helps us learn about how cows digest their food, what they prefer to eat, the impact they have on the environment, and the way medicines affect her digestion. Cows like Hilda can even help other cows when they are sick.

April 21 – Moms on the Farm Tour. Twice a year, we host a tour of local farms for people in our community that have little or no experience with agriculture. In April, we toured Susan Anglin’s Dairy Farm and the McGee Beef Farm with over 40 tourists. We introduce them to farmers, show them how food is produced right here in Northwest Arkansas, and answer any questions they may have. We pet baby calves, watch cows being milked from inside the parlor, walk in a beef cow pasture, and enjoy cooking demonstrations from the Arkansas Cattlewomen. Tours are held in April and October, if you’d like to join us, let me know!

May 12 – Huntsville High Graduation. For the past 5 years, I have served on the School Board in our community, and this year, I was asked to hand out the diplomas as the students walk across stage. Most people know that I am a jeans person and generally don’t dress up for anything. But, for graduation, I found a dress and curled my hair because education is important. These students work hard for their diplomas, and I want to celebrate their accomplishments.

June 1. Working in the Meat Lab (Abattoir). This was just one of many days this year we were working in the abattoir. We process beef, pork, lamb, and goats. Working in the meat lab gives me a respect for people who work hard every day to produce the safe and inexpensive food we have in this country. My husband enjoys telling people that his wife is a better meat cutter than he is. When we work in the meat lab we have to wear protective gear like cut-proof gloves, hard hats, white coats, and steel-toed boots. I’ve had those old boots a while.

June 10. Reciprocal Meats Conference. Absolutely one of my favorite weeks of the year. The American Meat Science Association hosts the RMC in different locations each year. A whole vanload of students accompanied me on a road trip to visit processing plants and other aspects of meat science along the way. Last year, we visited a sausage plant, a large beef plant, Anne Burkholder’s feed yard, the USDA Meat Animal Research Center, and a local grocery store where we took #meatcounterselfies. The RMC trip is the pinnacle of traveling with students for me. These are kids interested in meats going to a conference about meat science. The conference is like a big family reunion and a church revival because we collaborate with other meat scientists and get pumped up to go home to do exciting research. My husband was honored at this RMC as one of the AMSA Achievement Award winners for his outstanding contribution to the meats industry as a scientist at Tyson.

July 9. Ketchikan, Alaska. Even on vacation, I’m interested in meat and the food industry. This summer, our family took a trip to Alaska. Every chance I got, I found a grocery store and checked out the meat counter. At this stop in Ketchikan, we found a historic grocery store with a really neat story.

July 20. Washing sheep. I’m also a 4H mom. Vallie had three little sheep for a project this year. I showed sheep when I was young, but we still have a lot to learn. Some of my best days are spent helping with the washing, shearing, and teaching the sheep to show. Showing animals in 4H is really about family time and kids learning to work hard toward a goal.

August 28. Arkansas Women Bloggers Conference. If you are blogging and you are not attending a conference like this one, you are missing out. These ladies are so much fun, and I learn so much about writing, editing, photography, web design, new apps, and anything else associated with blogging and social media. But, I go for the fun! Where else can you work together with 5 grown women to make a guitar out of wrapping paper?

September 28. Hotdog Lab. Most of our students know very little about meat. In their introductory Animal Science class, they have the chance to tour all of the facilities in our department, including the meat lab. The meat lab manager and I give them a quick tour and talk about all the things we do, then we take them into the 45° processing room and let them make some hotdogs. We start with ground meat, mix it with spices, stuff it into casings, and twist it into hotdogs. After class, it’s smoked, cooked and packaged for the students to enjoy the next week in class. This year, making hotdogs even made it on the University of Arkansas snapchat.

November 16. Operation Christmas Child Collection Week. Our family started putting together shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child 6 years ago. OCC collects shoebox gifts to share with children in need worldwide. Gathering things for our boxes is a year-round activity, and we spend a week in November collecting boxes from our church and community to send to OCC. For the past two years, Ed and I have traveled to Dallas to help process boxes for distribution. The OCC boxes are a great way to teach young children the joy of sharing with those in need.

Sometimes I feel like I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I didn’t include all the boring days, working in my office on statistics or writing research papers and blog posts, grading papers and exams, or preparing for all these exciting days. Whether it’s my own kids, my students, other moms, or children in developing countries, whatever I’m doing, I try to help people. I want to help them learn more about agriculture and to improve their lives. And, I take a lot of selfies.

January 17, 2016

Sunday Link-Up {Jan. 17, 2016}

Hellooooooo Sunday! Glad to see ya’. We’re linking up today on #ARWB. Share your posts with us.

It’s time for #Sunday #Link-Up on #ARWB. C U there.

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January 15, 2016

Keisha Pittman: Confetti Celebration Cookies {Foodie Friday}

Celebrate Celebrations

I don’t have much memorized about cooking, but if you were to ask me the 2 things I know off the top of my head, it’s that most cookies bake at 350 for 10 minutes and the ingredients for Cake Mix Cookies are 1/3 cup of oil and 2 eggs. Something else my mama always taught me was that everything was worth celebrating. The end of a big project, cleaning the whole house on a Saturday, making it to the end of a hard work week, getting straight A’s on your report card, anniversaries, promotions, and even half birthdays if you were my sister.

The big and the small, it’s all worth celebrating. My parents sometimes feel bad when they get ready to pull a party together and invite their friends because we realize we have had much in life to celebrate. Heck, one year, not that long ago, we had 5 years cancer-free, a teacher of the year, a graduation, a big move and a retirement all in the same year. Not all of them had a party, but each one called for its own special celebration!

When I first lived on my own, I didn’t have much surplus in my budget, but I still loved to celebrate. I wanted to carry on this tradition I had learned from my parents to make every moment count and to celebrate all the small victories along the way. So, playing on my memory of baking growing up, and my often “famous” style of cooking, I decided to start experimenting with something I knew well.

Cake-Mix-Cookies. They were one of my favorite treats growing up. Always perfectly chewy, sometimes not too sweet and ever the easy go-to quick fix for just an afternoon toast with a cup of milk.

I’ll admit there are many varieties (and I’ll share them at the bottom), but the ones that always taste the best are the Confetti Celebration Cookies. Maybe it’s the sprinkles. Maybe it’s the fact that they taste like ice cream. Or, maybe nostalgia wins every time!

A homemade cookie with a cup of milk or a pot of coffee really is the best way to celebrate almost anything.

Congratulations Keisha! We are so excited for you guys. #Celebrate

Keisha Pittman: Confetti Celebration Cookies

Ingredients

1 Funfetti cake mix (any brand)
1/3 cup oil (I usually use canola or vegetable)
2 eggs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix together all ingredients by hand or in a stand mixer.
Scoop dough with a cookie scoop or make 1-1/2 inch balls.
Bake for 10 minutes or until edges get a little brown.
Cookies should hold shape and not flatten out. If you want flat cookies pat them to ½ inch thick before baking) Let cool to room temperature before serving.
Optional: Make ahead and keep in an airtight container in refrigerator for an afternoon snack. Or, roll into a log and put in your freezer when you need to just cut and serve quickly. Baking process is the same.
Variations: Strawberry cake mix with butter cream icing, Red Velvet cake mix with cream cheese icing, Dutch Chocolate or Milk Chocolate cake mix and roll balls in powdered sugar before baking, Lemon cake mix with cream cheese icing, Pineapple cake mix add ½ cup shredded coconut to the mix before baking.

https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/keisha-pittman-confetti-celebration-cookies-foodie-friday/

Keisha Pittman can be found over at bigpittstop (bigpittstop.com), a blog started when she was brushing up on her superpowers kicking cancer’s butt. Eight years later, it’s a chapter book of a 30 something navigating life and learning lessons along the way. She is a self-proclaimed nerd and every once in a while lets us have a little glimpse into her recipes-for disaster, Saturday scenic drives, “big sister chats” and thoughts about living the good life in Northwest Arkansas. In the meantime, she is busy planning her wedding to her fun loving chicken man and planning her new life in South Arkansas.

Blog –bigpittstop: new journey, new normal, new you – http://www.bigpittstop.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/bigpittstop

Twitter – https://twitter.com/bigpittstop

Instagram – http://instagram.com/bigpittstop#

Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com/bigpittstop/

Periscope – @bigpittstop

January 14, 2016

Announcing MEGAPHONE 2016

Five years later…Spreading the Amazing of #AWBU with Our Neighbors

For five years, we have gathered women from every walk of life in a unique place that was warm and welcoming, a place to grow and stretch bloggers as they explored or even discovered their voices, and cultivated deep connections in an atmosphere that felt like sneaking off for an amazing weekend with your best girlfriends. Ladies from our surrounding states noticed, they wanted to be a part of this unique thing we had built. So, they came from Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Kansas, Alabama, and Mississippi. They experienced and understood the #AWBU magic. So, this year, we invite them all to this place we have created.

September 9 – 11 in Fayetteville, we open our hearts and Arkansas for MEGAPHONE 2016, an influencers conference.

Save the dates friends, more info coming!