Perfect Prime Rib

Few things in life are as satisfying as a good piece of meat! A fine example of a good piece of meat is 11 pounds of prime rib. Yum! My sis was ever so kind as to provide me with one such hunk of beef for Christmas dinner. I was ever so kind (and delighted) to cook it.

Here's how I prepare a fool proof prime rib:

I line a big roasting pan with foil and liberally coat it with cooking spray.

I place the rib in fat side up.

I mince an entire head of garlic and place it in a small bowl with about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.

(I used canola oil...'cause it's what I had...and I like it...)

To the garlic and oil, you need to add a few more ingredients:
salt, ground thyme, and black pepper. Use pre-ground or fresh cracked black pepper...whatever you like. (I use half ground and half fresh cracked.)


Add two teaspoons each of the salt, pepper, and thyme to the garlic.


Give it a good stir to form a blissfully wonderful garlic paste.
Inhale! It's magical! Try not to weep!

Use your hand, or a spatula, or the back of a spoon (whatever floats your boat) and slather the garlic paste over the hunka hunka meaty goodness.
Leave the hunka hunka meaty goodness setting out on the counter for an hour.

Don't freak! It'll be just fine. I promise. Unless you live somewhere where the internal temperature of your house is like 95 degrees F or something.

(Or you have a very large hungry dog.)

Then you might want to rethink that. Your goal is to just warm the meat up closer to room temperature and let the magic garlic paste penetrate the meat.

Start that oven up 'cause you'll want to cook the roast at 500 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Then, turn down your oven to 350 degrees F and continue to

cook it foranother 60 to 75 minutes.

I like mine medium rare so the internal temperature should be at

145 degrees F if you care to take it's temp.

Now for the hard part:

Let the meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before you slice into it, otherwise, all of those wonderful juices will gush out of the meat and you'll cry. Well, I'd cry...then I'd go find a straw.

Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget the horseradish! I'm a firm believer in horseradish with prime rib.

Merry Christmas!!!

We were blessed this morning with something that we haven't had in a good long while...

a white Christmas!

But, it came in the form of a blizzard last night. Although we didn't get that much snow, just a few inches, it did drift quite a bit.

This is what we call a snow plow on the farm: a tractor with a bucket on it.

Hey! It gets the job done.
This is how much snow was drifted in front of my garage this morning. Without braving the 17 degree temps (plus windchill) to take out a yard-stick, I'm going to guesstimate that it's about
2 1/2 feet of drift.

Unlike an actual blade, with a bucket, you have to "plow" backwards.

Ted raises the bucket, sets it down...

then backs down the driveway.
If I know Ted, and I KNOW Ted, right now he is driving around the countryside seeing who he can rescue or plow out. He's a good man, Charlie Brown!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Good Fences

On a grain farm, we're not exactly about building fences. No cattle to keep in, so fences are kind of "bothersome."

Equipment can get too close and then you have a problem, or (more likely) lots of trees start to grow in the fence line, and that's also a problem.

Although I wouldn't know first hand, I imagine taking down fences is easier than removing hundreds of trees.

Goin', goin', goin',

keep that pace a strollin',

barbed wire needs a rollin',

Rawhide!

(sorry, I apologize.)

Ted was getting ready to cut this field of beans (nope, still not done with harvest), but the fence was keeping him from getting the header on the combine through the gate. The opening was made for a truck and possibly a trailer, not a combine. It had to go!

Poor farmer Ted had lots of poked fingers that night, not that he complains. He's not a complainer...unless it comes to splinters!