Belvedere Farms

Farming for Flavor and Raising our Family on 47 Acres in NE Ohio

  • Our Story
  • On The Farm
    • Farm Goods
    • Farm Events
    • Farm Newsletter
    • Farm Institute
  • Milk Cow 101
  • On the Blog
    • The Family Milk Cow
    • Milk Cow Blog Posts
    • Farmhouse Recipes
    • Canning & Preserving
You are here: Home / Archives for Recipes

Farmhouse Recipes

Eating like a farmer means making the most of the best you’ve got. These recipes are tried and true – the ones we turn to again and again to put nourishing, nutrient dense, filling, and flavorful meals on the table day after day.

Grandma Helen’s Dill Pickles

07.10.2020 by Raelene Bradley // Leave a Comment

I grew up eating the best dill pickles, but I didn’t know it until I left for college. Try as I might, I could never find a commercial dill pickle as good as Grandma Helen’s. I tried all the brands, all the styles, all the flavors. Nothing ever came close – until I started making my own a few years ago, using my own homegrown cucumbers and Grandma Helen’s very own recipe.

And now, whenever I crack open a jar and take that first pungent sniff, whenever I bite into that crisp, crunchy, garlicky pickle, I’m flooded with childhood memories of eating pickle and cheese sandwiches for lunch and sneaking crunchy pickles from the fridge as a midnight snack.

Grandma was a whiz for scoping out a good deal and knew all the right people on the farms and orchards for miles around her teeny hometown in southern Washington. So when she found a good deal on pickling cukes, she scooped up as many as she could and spent the next several days pickling and canning to beat the band.

She put up oodles and oodles of dill pickles (and peaches and cherries and pears and applesauce and tomato sauce and jam and… well, you get the idea). Then she and Grandad would pack their little Datsun pickup to the gills and haul it all to my family’s ranch in northern British Columbia, Canada and we enjoyed her hard work all winter long.

Grandma Helen’s pickles are the best. Hands down. And every time I put up quarts of pickles, I remember how thoroughly she filled each jar – with love, with memory, with devotion. I’m doing the same, and adding an equal measure of family lore and legacy to boot.

Print Recipe

Grandma Helen's Dill Pickles

Whenever I crack open a jar of these pungent, garlicky, crunchy dill pickles, I'm flooded with childhood memories of Grandma Helen's kitchen. These are hands-down still the best pickles I've ever eaten.
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Cooling/Rest Time1 d
Total Time1 d 50 mins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: canning, dill pickles, pickles
Servings: 8 quarts dill pickles

Equipment

  • Large Roasting Pan
  • Sterile Quart Jars, Bands & Lids
  • Stainless Steel Pot
  • Wide Mouth Funnel
  • Ladle

Ingredients

  • 3 quarts hot water
  • 1 quart vinegar (see notes)
  • 3/4 cup pickling salt (see notes)
  • 8-12 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 8-12 fresh dill heads
  • 1 peck fresh pickling cucumbers

Instructions

  • Clean and sanitize 8 quart jars.
  • Add 1-2 garlic cloves and 1-2 fresh dill heads to each jar (if it’s a large garlic clove, 1 is enough, use 2 if they’re smaller. Same for the dill heads).
  • Pack each jar with fresh pickling cukes. (see notes)
  • Meanwhile, bring the water, vinegar, and salt to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer.
  • Ladle the pickling brine into each jar, removing air bubbles, and leaving a 1/2″ headspace.
  • Add lids and bands and transfer the jars to a large roasting pan with approximately 2″ water in a preheated 350° oven. Leave 1-2″ between each jar. Once all the jars are in the oven, start a timer and let them process for 20 minutes.
  • Remove jars to a towel on the countertop and let cool undisturbed for 12-24 hours.

Notes

  • I’ve known Grandma to use both white vinegar and apple cider vinegar. I like both, but tend to use white vinegar more often. Apple cider vinegar produces a little sharper taste. Experiment with both to see which you prefer.
  • “Pickling salt” is often also called “canning salt.” There’s nothing particularly special about it except that it has no added caking agents (an additive used in many salts to keep it from caking into clumps, but those caking agents make your brine cloudy when you can with them).
  • Grandma always reminds me to pickle cukes as fresh as I can get them – preferably within a couple hours of picking. Wash them well in cold water, scrubbing with a little brush to remove any spines and trim the blossom ends.
  • Packing jars is a bit of an art – choosing just the right size cucumber to fit in just the right spot – I’m still getting the hang of it. They should fit snugly, but not be too tight that the brine cannot penetrate between the cukes; it’s better to pack too loosely than too tightly.
  • I like to use regular mouth quart jars for pickles – the shoulders of the jar help keep the pickles submerged under the brine.
  • I use our turkey roasting pan to process the jars – it’s wide and flat with high sides.  I add about 3 quarts of water or approximately 2″ and add it to the oven as it preheats. When the oven is hot, I add brine to the jars one at a time and add the jar to the pan in the oven. Once all the jars are in, start your processing time.
  • The oven method gets the jars good and hot, destroying any bacteria and sealing the jars as they cool. But it doesn’t cook the cucumbers as intensely as a water bath and so they seem to stay crunchier.
 
To add a little zing:
I like Grandma’s basic version for dill pickles a whole heck of a lot. But I’ve also added to it with great success. Try these combinations for a little more zing in your pickles. Use just one, two, or all three.
Before adding pickles, add the following to each jar:
5-6 peppercorns
1/8 tsp yellow mustard seeds
pinch of crushed red pepper (or more if you like ’em really spicy!)
 
May your pickles be tasty, crunchy, and deliver the perfect amount of pucker. If you use Grandma’s recipe, let me know how it goes! Happy pickling, friends.

 

Categories // Blog Post, Canning, Recipes

Flaky Farmhouse Buttermilk Scones

04.27.2020 by Raelene Bradley // Leave a Comment

We have gallons and gallons of fresh milk coming into the kitchen every day and each gallon includes a quart of cream. After just a few days, that makes for A LOT of sweet, rich, golden, pasture-rich goodness. And so we churn butter. Lots of butter.

I usually leave the cream out on the counter to ripen for about an hour before churning, but the other day I got distracted doing a million other things (typical!) and so that when I went to churn it, it was a little too warm and the butter fat fluffed up but didn’t separate from the buttermilk.

I’ve read of this happening – usually in the summer when the cream gets too warm. It is sometimes called “fluffy butter.” Depending on the batch, you may still be able to strain it from the buttermilk, and press it together sort of. But because it’s too soft to wash, it has to be used first (it is the buttermilk that goes bad. Well-washed butter keeps well in the fridge for a long time). Sometimes though, fluffy butter won’t press together at all.  At that point, you can always give it to the pigs (they live for dairy experiments gone wrong!) or use it in a recipe that calls for both butter and buttermilk (which is exactly what it is).

So with our first batch of fluffy butter on our hands, Jordan decided to do a bit of tinkering and created this recipe for buttermilk scones. Since it uses both butter and buttermilk, it’s the perfect use for fluffy butter and they came out light, flaky, and delicious.   For the first test, since we couldn’t weigh them separately, we guessed on the yields of both butter and buttermilk based on our usual yields. But we’ve since made it with regular butter and buttermilk and narrowed down the ratios. They turn out beautifully every time.

Note: we use true buttermilk – the liquid left over from making butter. It is sweet and has the same consistency as milk.  After a few days in the fridge it gets a little more acidic, and just a little thicker. Store-bought buttermilk is decidedly different.  It is much much thicker, for one, so you may need to either add more or add milk to get the liquid consistency right. The dough should just barely come together, and still be loose and flaky – just like a biscuit dough.

Print Recipe

Flaky Farmhouse Buttermilk Scones

Flaky and delicious, these beautiful buttermilk scones come together quickly and are perfectly delectable every single time. Pair with a glass of milk for a true farmhouse breakfast.
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time25 mins
Freezer Time30 mins
Total Time1 hr
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Keyword: breakfast, buttermilk, scones
Servings: 12 scones

Equipment

  • Mixing Bowls
  • Parchment Paper

Ingredients

  • 570 grams flour (approx. 4 3/4 cups)
  • 100 grams sugar (1/2 cup)
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 250 grams butter (1 cup + 1 1/2 Tablesppons)
  • 340 grams buttermilk (approx. 1 1/2 cups)
  • 100 grams nuts, chopped or sliced (1 cup)
  • 120 grams dried fruit (1 cup)

Instructions

  • In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender (or two knives) until it resembles coarse oatmeal.
  • Add the buttermilk all at once and mix a few strokes. Add the nuts and dried fruit, and mix just until the dough comes together.
  • Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and split in two. Using well-floured hands, pat and shape (but do not knead) the dough into two round disks, approximately 1.5″ thick. By the time you have the disks shaped, you’ll have used about 600 grams of flour – you want the outside to no longer be sticky. The inside of the dough will still seem wet, but holding its shape.
  • Transfer the disks to a parchment covered baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat the over to 425F. Remove the disks from the freezer, cut into six equal portions (one cut down the middle and cut each half into thirds). Separate them on the baking tray by a few inches (to allow room for rise).
  • Bake 20-28 minutes, until puffed up and golden brown.

Notes

*Use whatever you have to hand to flavor these.  We love almonds & dried cranberries, almonds & dried blueberries, walnuts & dried apples. Experiment by adding almond extract or vanilla, or orange zest. We like to add fresh berries like raspberries and blueberries when they're in season as well.
*After the scones are cut, they can be returned to the freezer, well-wrapped, until later for a quick and easy breakfast. No need to defrost. You’ll just need to add approximately 5 minutes to the bake time.
*Scones are always best warm, fresh out of the oven. We don't feel like they need any garnish, but a dollop of creme fraiche or jam, a swirl of honey, or even maple syrup wouldn’t be a terrible idea. Add a hearty glass of milk for a true farmhouse breakfast.

Categories // Blog Post, Recipes Tags // breakfast, buttermilk, home dairy

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

belvederefarms

This time of year I worry about too much grass gro This time of year I worry about too much grass growing too fast before I can get the cows over to eat it down and make the most of it.
.
As a grass farmer, it’s the very best kind of problem to have: grass tall enough to get lost in.
.
Speaking of which: can you find the baby? Comment with a 👍 when you do!
.
.
.
#grassfarmer #grassfedbeef #iamyourfarmer #farmraisedkids #intensiverotationalgrazing #grassfed #grassfedbutter #farmlife #homesteadlife #supportlocalfarmers
That milk pail foam tho 🤩🤩🤩. . Those firs That milk pail foam tho 🤩🤩🤩.
.
Those first few weeks hand milking can be disheartening. Dribbles and squirts, milk running down your wrist, sticky fingers, and sore forearms. 
.
Milking is a skill. No one is good at it right away. It takes practice. The more you practice, the better you get. The faster you get, the more sure and even your squirts.
.
And then one day, there will be foam in the bucket and you’ll know you’ve arrived. Your squirts are fast and firm and sure and the sustained pressure of all that milk hitting the pail makes the most gloriously frothy foam.
.
Keep at it friend. Whatever skill you’re working on now. Just because you’re not that great at it right now doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing or that you won’t get better.
.
Keep working. Keep trying. Keep learning. The foam will come.
.
.
.
#farmlife #milkmaid #modernmilkmaid #milkmaidlife #milkcowlife #handmilking #rawmilk #homesteadskills #traditionalskills
Transcript of a real-life conversation we had this Transcript of a real-life conversation we had this morning:

Me: Whaa? Why is there a frozen turkey on the counter?!

Seamus (4): Because I like turkey and chicken meat.

Me: So you went out to the barn…

S: …and got in the freezer. And brought in a turkey.

Me: Oh, love. We can’t cook a turkey until we have a stove [kitchen reno still on going 🤦‍♀️].

S: Well, then you can cut it up and cook it piece by piece in the microwave.

Me: Actually, that’s not going to work.

S: (looks outside) Well, it’s raining today but tomorrow when it’s not raining we can make a fire and cook it outside on the fire.
.
.
Ever the problem solver, he was full of ideas. 🤣🤣
.
I did finally convince him to put it back in the freezer and wait until we have a stove - with the caveat that we cook it for his birthday.
.
.
.
#kidssaythedarndestthings
#farmkid #farmlife #homesteadmama #lifeonthefarm #farmraisedkids
We have two cows in milk right now: Sandy (old fai We have two cows in milk right now: Sandy (old faithful and best friend, there on the left) and Clara (new to our farm and momma to Ruby).
.
How much work is two cows vs. one? I was so nervous about adding a second cow because the additional time/labor was an unknown, but when it comes right down to it, it’s about 20 mins more time milking. That’s it.
.
Everything else is pretty well the same. It takes the same amount of time to bring them in to the milking shed. The same amount of time to move them to fresh grass. It still takes under an hour door to door to milk & do what needs done, and even less for evening milking.
.
And since our oldest boy (14) helps milk the majority of the time, that extra 20 minutes doesn’t often figure in. Many hands (and even just one extra pair!) make light work.
.
It does take a little more time to deal with the milk: more time straining, more time washing jars, more cream to skim, more butter to churn. But if more cream and butter are the cons, I’m here for it.
.
What would you say is the biggest obstacle holding you back from getting a family cow?
.
.
.
#familycow #milkcowlife #keepingafamilycow #milkcow #homesteadlife #rawmilk
Mud pie hearts. . Just because this day or month o Mud pie hearts.
.
Just because this day or month or season or year is hard does not mean you are not heard or seen or loved. There is beauty all around, if we have eyes to see it, hearts open to feel it, and wild, barefoot, dirty, outdoor-loving farm kiddos to deliver it.
.
.
.
#farmkids #wildandfree #mudpie #mudseason #springonthefarm #homesteadmama #farmmom
My cup - ahem. shirt - runneth over. Same same. . My cup - ahem. shirt - runneth over. Same same. 
.
I gather eggs every morning and again every afternoon. Farm life is a constant reminder that there is #alwayssomethingtobethankfulfor 
.
.
.
#farmfresheggs #farmeggs #rainboweggs #farmlifebestlife
Hello Friends! Jordan here, and it has been a hot Hello Friends! Jordan here, and it has been a hot minute. I went to Las Vegas last week to visit my brother and we made beef tongue tacos. I love using the whole animal and this was a fun process with a delicious outcome. You can check out the blog to get the recipe. Happy Cinco de Mayo!
.
.
#wholeanimalbutchery #wholeanimalcooking #beeftonguetacos #tacosdelengua  #cincodemayo #grassfedbeef #homesteadkitchen
T-minus 3 days until our first frost and we’re s T-minus 3 days until our first frost and we’re spending these lovely fall afternoons gathering in the last of the garden.
.
Today: dried beans (Christmas Lima and Cherokee Trail of Tears), Reagan’s sunflowers and luffa, the last of the tomatoes (gah! they just won’t quit!), and the rhubarb.
.
Tomorrow: chopping, freezing, cooking, and canning.
.
Months from now: bellies full of homegrown garden goodness.
.
.
.
#homegrown #gardenlife #farmlife #preservingtheharvest #garden #fallgarden #ohiogarden #growyourown #sunflower #familygarden #kidsinthegarden #gardeningwithkids #happyfall #harvesttime #harvest #fallharvest
Hello, fall. 👋 You’re long overdue and oh so Hello, fall. 👋 You’re long overdue and oh so welcome.
.
This morning was the first I stayed in a long sleeve shirt to milk and didn’t have sweat dripping down my face.
.
It’s the first the temperature has dipped below 60* (even though the humidity is a resilient 100% what with the rain, mist, and fog).
.
Technically, our first frost date should have been this week, but Ohio’s holding out and it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen for another two weeks at least.
.
In any case, it finally (finally!) feels like fall and oh am I ever so here for it. So much so that once the must-do chores are done (yogourt, butter, beans and laundry), I fully intend to curl up on the couch with a cuppa and read.
.
.
.
#fallonthefarm #hellofall #fall #fallleaves #fallscene #farmlife #farm #ohiofarm #smallfarmcharm #simplehappycountrylife #homesteadmama #home #ilovefall #october
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Recent Posts

  • Tacos de Lengua – Beef Tongue Tacos
  • All About Cream : Part 1
  • How to help your milk cow adjust to Daylight Savings Time
  • What is A2A2 Milk?
  • Farmer’s Oxtail Stew

Categories

  • Blog Post
  • Canning
  • MilkCow 101
  • Recipes

Copyright © 2022 · Modern Studio Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in