Easy Steak

I love steak- most any type, as long as it's cooked medium and not over-cooked! When we got our first freezer of meat last fall, I had only ever cooked steak on the grill and I knew that there were other ways to prepare it. So, I did what I do all the time when I want to learn something new, I looked it up on Pinterest. And I found it! The perfect way to make the perfect steak- in my cast iron skillet!

It's not a difficult technique nor does it take long to prepare, in fact, if you have a cast iron skillet, you can make it too. 

An Hour Before Dinner

• Ahead of time, I make a Herbed Compound Butter. There is no real recipe that I follow for this but rather it is dictated by the contents of my refrigerator. It starts with a stick of softened butter in a bowl, add some basil, scallions, garlic and some parmesan cheese. Combine and then finish with a little salt (if the butter was unsalted) and pepper. Give it a final mix and dump out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Form a log of butter and place into the fridge for a while to harden. 

45 Minutes before Dinner

• About 45 minutes before dinner, pull the meat out of the fridge so that it comes to room temperature. While it's warming up, salt and pepper each side of the meat. 

15 Minutes before Dinner 

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
• When the steak is at room temperature, heat the cast iron skillet on high and melt a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan.
• When the butter is melted and the skillet is really hot, place your steak in it. Sear it for about 2 minutes on each side.



from mccormick.com

• Put the whole skillet in the oven until the steak reaches your desired temperature of doneness.

Dinner Time!

• Pull out of oven and let rest for 5 minutes (pull the rest of the meal together or set the table, something... Just do not cut or serve until it's rested).
• Slice the compound butter and place a slice on each steak.
• ENJOY!

The making of a boot and a legacy

 Today we started the journey back to Wyoming from Arkansas. This week, Vic and I learned much more  than just how to build a pair of cowboy boots... we learned about a craft, about a legacy and about a trade that has been largely replaced by machines. 

We met Floyd who is a multigenerational shoe maker (I can't remember how many generations back). He has tools from his grandfather and more knowledge than I will ever hope to learn. He starts his day around 4 am and completes more before we wake up than most people accomplish all day! 

 

By the time we joined him in the shop in the morning, Floyd already had been at work for hours! He is a great teacher and has lots of stories about the boots he has made (and a few of their wearers), his family and dreams that he has for the new shop up with us in Wyoming. 

Did I mention that? Oh yes- that was the purpose of our trip to learn this craft. We are in the process of adding a boot shop to the guest ranch this summer! Our friends Jarrod and Floyd (Broke Dog Custom Boots) are setting up a new shop (Diamond Livery) up north- in just a few months. In fact, the building has started and should be done soon. 

Back to our little trip, I couldn't believe how much work goes into a pair of these custom boots! Vic probably put close to 25 hours into this simple pair of boots. Floyd said that he has ever put 200 hours into one pair. That would explain the cost but everyone I talked to assured me that once you wear custom shoes, you don't want to wear any other off-the-rack shoe. 

 

Lydia came with us and she took to Floyd quickly! It was fun to watch their little relationship develop over the week. I wouldn't be surprised if she gets a pair of boots before I do...

 

I'm excited for all the possibilities that will come to fruition through this new shop. But I'm not going to lie, I cannot wait to get some of those boots for myself! 

Adventure and Aspens

A week ago, we embarked on an adventure that made me feel apprehensive, excited, nervous and thrilled. We packed up our bags, dropped our girls off at Granny’s house and set off for the Diamond 7 Bar Ranch Staff Retreat/Getaway. There are many reasons I was anxious and nervous, the first being that Lydia (22 months old) had never spent the night away from us and then there is the baggage that I carry from so many other “staff retreats” that I have attended (I would love to just leave those bags in the past… but they still try to come with me from time to time).

We arrived at the Spearfish Canyon Lodge on Friday morning, dressed with brave faces and covered like eskimos. We were going on an adventure! After some paperwork, I climbed behind my husband and onto a snowmobile that was ours for the day. The helmet I had to wear felt confining at first but I was so glad to have it as we went zipping down the trails. Isn’t it funny that sometimes the things that feel the most restrictive might actually be the things that we are grateful for in the future?

As we were going along the trails, Vic and I both noticed the friendliness of all the other travelers, waving as we passed by. It was only after our first pit stop that our fellow staffers let us know that those friendly gestures were hand signals to let you know how many vehicles were in their party (we had 3 snowmobiles in our group and we were second in line with one couple behind us, so Vic’s job was to hold up one finger to those we passed). Smart, huh? Not only for their protection to know to stay on their side of the trail but also for our safety, just in case someone had an accident, they could be on the lookout for them.

My favorite thing about this adventure was that I was riding along and didn’t have to pay too much attention to where we were heading (I did have to pay a little attention to when Vic took some sharp corners, I could lean to shift the momentum so we didn’t slide off the trail). This gave me time to take in all the beautiful scenery and enjoy moments with only my thoughts and the Lord. And, let me tell you, it was gorgeous!

One of the most memorable stops we made was in a grove of Aspen trees. It was breathtaking and I wish I would’ve taken a panoramic picture of all the trees! But instead I took a little picture and then as we were zipping off, I spent the next hour enjoying that memory. All those trees made me think of how many trees there were and then I noticed that there was never just one Aspen tree by itself. They grow in groves and they share a common root system. So even though there are hundreds of trees, they are all connected.

As I reflected about that, I realized that’s the way I want to live, connected at the roots with the people I love and those around me… A few months ago, I did a Sip n Paint class with my new friend Kendra (who also happened to be with us on this snowmobiling adventure) and we painted a fall landscape with Aspen trees in the foreground. I have it hanging in my bathroom and I look at it everyday. It now brings to mind the memory of standing in that grove of Aspens. May my life reflect the connectedness of those trees.

The rest of the weekend was really fun (minus the sad side trip to attend Vic’s uncle’s funeral). We ate amazing food and had some fun planning meetings as we looked forward to a new year on the ranch. There was no grading ourselves or setting unachievable goals that we would then be graded for the following year. We left the getaway with great memories and clear vision for the new season we are starting.

I love this life we are building in Wyoming!

Christmas Vacation Reflections

Christmas Jammies

Here it is, almost a week after Christmas and things have just started to slow down! December came quickly and is now almost over. We were in Cincinnati for almost 2 weeks with my family to celebrate Jesus’ birth and to be together. I enjoyed staying with my mom and seeing my sister most days and I enjoyed remembering and recognizing some of our family’s traditions.

We spend every other year with our respective families (and actually next year will be the first Christmas in our whole 14 years of marriage that we will not travel on this holiday, because we now live with our Wyoming Family!). This alternating family celebration was a tradition with which we have been very consistent and it has served us well.

Opening Stockings from Santa

This year we were in Cincinnati and that was super-fun on multiple levels. We arrived on Sunday the 18th and the week before christmas was full of cookie baking, decorating mom’s house (which we cheated a little and didn’t put up the tree but bought a big, beautiful poinsettia- it is gorgeous and worked well), celebrating Christmas with the other Mahoneys in Georgetown, visiting friends/family in Lexington and attending Christmas Eve services at Quest. When we got back to Cincinnati, the girls were delighted to find their christmas pjs were waiting for them!

Christmas Chaos

Christmas day was a flurry (only figuratively since there was no actual snow and it was almost 70 degrees) of activity beginning with stockings for our girls (they opened their presents before we left Wyoming) and then we went to my childhood church home with my mom. When we came back to my mom's house, my siblings and their spouses (along with the 8 cousin) arrived. It was CHAOS! So many presents, kids running around, food… We did manage to get a picture with all the girl cousins wearing their matching/coordinating dresses made by my super-talented mom. By the time 2:00 hit and everyone left, we were all ready for a nap!

Girl Cousins in Coordinating Plaid

The rest of the week was full of visiting and connecting with people we love- trying to squeeze every possible moment with meaningful connection. We were driving home from the grocery on Tuesday when I looked at Vic and told him that I miss the wide open spaces of home. If only the miles between Wyoming and Ohio/Kentucky were closer, that would be awesome! 
When we left my mom's house yesterday morning, we were all ready to be back home! After an early morning flight our of Dayton, we ran to our next flight in Minneapolis and made that flight in the nick of time! Once we arrived in Rapid City, we were tired! We had lunch (trying to keep Lydia awake so we could get her back on some schedule) and ran errands while in town (cannot miss the opportunity to run to the store because we may not be back for a week or so). We stopped to see Vic's mom and visited with her for a while then we drove the rest of the way home. When we pulled up to the house, our cat, Ninja, was was glad to see us and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief to be back on the ranch!
As I look back over 2016, I am so thankful for the adventure we started! It has been a good year. Full of sadness, joy and anticipation. I love our little life that we are living! We are entering 2017 with high expectations and joy. I pray the same is true for you!

Sunsets on the Ranch

I have lived in Wyoming for 6 Months now! On June 1, 2016, we arrived on the ranch with all of our things and we decided to stay. The time has flown by and I am finding myself more and more at home here. Over the past two months, I have traveled to Kentucky, Ohio and Georgia to visit family and some friends. It was so good to see people that I love and have connections with but the thing that most surprised me at the end of those trips, was that I could not wait to return to the ranch. It's quiet and peaceful here, entirely different than the hustle and bustle of city life (especially in Atlanta!).

One of the things I look forward to at the end of a long day (including car pool, kids, diapers, laundry, paperwork and cleaning) is the night sky. I love watching the process of the sun going down and the stars appearing. There are so many stars that are visible from the ranch! And, I have experienced so many beautiful sunsets from our front porch! The sunsets are coming earlier and earlier these days; I caught last night's sunset at 4:10 PM and the days keep getting shorter.

I've posted many of sunsets on my instagram account (@rachelmahoney) and those are some of my most liked posts. I'll share with you a few of my favorite photos... Follow me on Instagram and you'll probably see many more in the future!

This was last night's sunset...

We live about 30 minutes away from Montana and so every once and a while, I capture a bit of their "Big Sky." If you look closely, you can catch a glimpse of Devil's Tower!

Sometimes it looks like the sky is on fire!

I took this picture on the way home from Belle Fourche one night. You can see the bug spats on the windshield!

Another beautiful, bright sky.

This summer, we had many fires that came close to the ranch. This picture captures the smokey sky. We still need more moisture and are hoping for more snow this winter to help us out of this drought season.

Pretty Sky!

We have some RV hook ups in front of our house. Throughout the summer, we have many guests who come and stay with us!

On our way home from town 

(on the interstate in Wyoming which looks very different 

than the interstate in Atlanta!).

Devil's Tower view from the ranch. I was "helping" Vic do some chores one night and I captured this photo. 

A favorite view for sure!

This photo was taken when I got to the Rapid City airport on my way home from Georgia. I was so happy to see this sky!

Quiet and Peaceful

My Favorite Recipes... And my obsession with Pinterest

I think I forgot to mention in my last post that along with Facebook and Instagram, I am also a Pinterest junkie! For those of you who do not know, Pinterest is a website where you can collect websites (pins) into folders (boards). It’s very fun and very addictive. Currently, I have 81 boards and over 7,000 pins; I may have a problem! Recently I have been obsessed with pinning ideas for our new home (that we will build one day), I have a board for Floor Plans, Kitchen and Bathroom Ideas, Mudroom Thoughts, Decorating... Basically dreaming to keep me sane until that glorious day arrives! Until then, I’ll be content with where we are now (but it’s still fun to dream).

The boards I have had the longest contain my favorite activities- Crafting and Cooking! I love creating things to share with my friends and family. It’s like sharing a piece of myself with them when I make a friend a card, sew a pretty dress for my daughter or cook dinner for my family. Relationships matter to me and I try to communicate that to the people I love the most.

One of things that I have realized about myself since moving out here is that I love to go out to eat, not because I don’t like cooking (because I do) but because I HATE cleaning up after cooking or baking! Haha! So, one bowl or one pot meals are my favorite. So many of my go-to recipes have to include this one key common denominator.

For Vic’s birthday this year I made him a family favorite, Strawberry Pie. His mom has made it for

birthdays over the years but I have never tried to recreate this dream dessert for Vic, until this year. While the pie is very good, it creates so so so many dirty dishes (like 5 different bowls and several spoons) and requires so many steps to create! I’m glad that Betsy (Vic’s mom) had the foresight to only make it for special occasions because I’m sure I’d go nuts if I made it more often!


Simplicity is a core value of mine and I take it very seriously. I usually have no problem breaking down a complicated task to make it more simple (in fact, I rewrote the Strawberry Pie recipe in a way that makes more sense) I love cleaning out closets, organizing things and simplifying my schedule. But, it’s a huge plus when a task has already been broken down to a simple equation to complete! A few weeks ago, I made a loaf of Beer Bread and have been making it consistently ever since. The same for Rice Krispy treats… One Bowl, into the baking dish and voila, yumminess!

Here are a few of my favorite One Bowl/Pot Recipes that we’ve enjoyed recently (they can all be found on my pinterest page along with many other wonderful finds- My Pinterest Page)

Honey Beer Bread

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/honey-beer-bread/

This one is yummy for anytime. I make it as a side for soup night or for breakfast with honey butter smathered all over it. So very yummy!

5-Minute Microwave Rice Krispie Treats

http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/microwave-rice-krispie-treats/

Meaghan loves a sweet snack after school and these are so easy to make and clean up.

Slow Cooker Sausage, Green Beans and Potatoes

http://www.recipesthatcrock.com/crock-pot-sausage-green-beans-and-potatoes/

This is a go-to dinner when I know that we will be busy all day but need a satisfying dinner too. It’s really easy and surprisingly good!

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/pasta-with-tomato-cream-sauce/

This one has 2 pots but it is good! When I make this, I usually bake some frozen garlic bread and steam some peas to make a complete dinner.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
http://pinchofyum.com/crockpot-chicken-wild-rice-soup
There isn't much better than a warm bowl of soup on a cold evening. This recipe is great to dump in the morning but does require a step at the end to make it creamy- it's worth it! 

Slow Cooker Roast Beef

No need for a recipe... Just cut up 2 potatoes, put them in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add some baby carrots and 2 quartered medium onions. Put a defrosted roast on top of the veggies. Add a cup or two of water and then season the top of the roast generously with salt and pepper. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. YUM!

Okay, I could keep going but... Here's the link to my Crock Pot Yummies Pinterest board. You should follow it!

About Me

Well, let’s start from the very beginning (a very good place to start)... My name is Rachel and I am from Cincinnati, Ohio- although I lived in Lexington, Kentucky for the past 19 years and recently moved to Alva, Wyoming. I live on a ranch in the middle of absolutely nowhere with my husband of 14 years and 2 girls, ages 19 months and 12 years old. I’m a stay at home mom but I just started keeping the books for the ranch operation, expanding our custom-cattle program and organizing my husband’s busy calendar.  

This blog is a huge, risky step for me but I cannot wait to share with you some of my new life here in Wyoming. Some of the things I love to talk about are: being a mommy, cooking, Jesus, my family and all the things ranch-life that I am learning!

On our most recent trip to Kentucky and Ohio, I was constantly asked how I am adjusting to this new life. That is when I started thinking about writing this blog. You should know, I am a city girl and never have spent more than a week (for holidays and vacations) on the ranch and it’s shocking for people to find out that I’ve never even ridden a horse or shot a gun. So, moving here was a big lifestyle change for me and the girls. My husband, Vic, grew up here and now works as Head Cowboy for his sister, who owns the property. There is rich family history on this land that reaches back to the late 1800s when Vic’s great grandfather homesteaded a piece of it. Through the years, Vic’s dad acquired and purchased more of the land adjoining the property and now the ranch is just shy of 10,000 acres. The history of this place is fascinating to me and I consider it a great honor to live here.

Here are some interesting facts about me...

• Favorite Color: Red (all shades including pink)
• Favorite Holiday: Christmas (followed closely by Thanksgiving!)
• Favorite Food: Pie and ice cream or cheesecake with a glass of wine…
• Favorite Movie(s): Steel Magnolias, The Sound of Music and any of the Hallmark Christmas movies!!
• Dream Vacation: A cruise up the pacific coastline to Alaska with 20 of my favorite people.
• Favorite TV Show(s): This is Us, Friends, Gilmore Girls, Designated Survivor, The Good Place and Nashville.
• Favorite Emoji: The Eye-Rolling one!
• Non-Blog Hobby: Crafting, designing/dreaming about our new house, cooking, hanging out with my friends playing games.
• Most Visited App: I’m an Instagram and Facebook junkie.
• I love organizing information and working with Excel.

I hope that you’re excited to join me on this journey of discovery! You can follow my pictures on Instagram (@rachelmahoney), Twitter (@rachelmahoney) or on Facebook (Rachel True Mahoney).