Fresh sausage and dirty rice recipe.

     Now that we have power, I have finally been able to get my cooking skills back up to snuff.  Several months ago a friend of ours offered to raise a hog for us for slaughter so that we would have some pork to go in the freezer.  We took him up on it. We paid for the pig, feed, processing, and his labor.  We had a 320 pound hog and received 210 pounds of pork in return.  We now have a small chest freezer full.  I also got some fat to learn how to render lard.  I can't wait.  But anyway, I digress. 
     One of my favorite quick meals is dirty rice.  Most people make their dirty rice with hamburger meat but I make mine with sausage. When we got our pork back, we received 64 one pound packs of sausage.  Mild breakfast sausage.  It is wonderful.  Just the right amount of seasonings.  Well, for dinner I thawed out one pound of sausage and crumbled it up in a small dutch oven and then browned it.  Drain the fat, leaving about 1 tablespoonful of fat with the browned sausage.  Then, I take a package of Uncle Ben's Long Grain and WIld Rice Fast Cook Recipe and follow the directions on the package for all but the adding of oil or butter.  The sausage fat replaces it. Mix the package contents with the sausage and then add the water and let it cook as it says on the package.  Once it is done, you have my version of dirty rice.  Quick and simple.   Just add a salad or some greenbeans maybe and you have a meal fit for a king.  I added some brown and serve rolls and yum yum. 
     Next time, I will add some pictures but it was all gone before I could take any.   Have a great day. 

Yah! we have power and plumbing

Alright, we are now getting caught up.  We got our plumbing done Monday, Jan 2, 2012.  Only about 3 months late but at this time I am not complaining.  Georgia power is supposed to be out this week to put our power in when the weather is good.  We hope we will only be grid tied for a short time til we can get our solar power figured out.  Here are some more pictures of our home place.  The first picture above is our new storage bench in the master bath.  We used rough looking stepping stones to line the wall and to set on the center section that the candles are sitting on and then used 3 ceramic tiles to fill in.  Then I am going to upholster the 2 lids and paint the sides later on.

Now, this is the krooked pine that this blog is named for.  It is right at the driveway as we come in off the road.  This picture was taken last winter after our big snow. We, hopefully, will be home at the end of the month to try to get our underpinning done and get our driveway entrance poured with concrete.  Then, we will only have our well and waterlines to do and we will be set to get our certificate of occupancy.  Finally.  We might have to get our permits extended one time for a three month extension, though to have enough time to do everything.  The biggest problem is coming up with the money to do so.  When you pay as you go it takes time. Wish our Federal Govenment did everything this way.  We might be in better fiscal shape.  Thanks for stopping by.