Posted by farmnlady | Posted in Recipes | Posted on 09-10-2008
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups oatmeal, uncooked
1 cup chopped pecans
1 (12 oz.) pkg. semisweet chocolate morsels
1 (7 oz.) coconut (optional)
Combine butter and sugars, beating well at medium speed. Add eggs; beating after each addition. Add vanilla. Mix well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture; mixing well. Stir in oats, pecans, chocolate chips and coconut. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350* for 15 minutes. (12 minutes without the coconut.)
This recipe has been in our family for years. I have received many, many compliments and requests for these delectible little goodies. It was handed down to me by a wonderful friend!
Posted by admin | Posted in Recipes | Posted on 06-10-2008
For years now we have fought a never ending battle with the mesquite tree here on the farm in Central Texas. They are very hard to keep out of the fields here. It is a constant chore and I even carry a grubbing hoe in the back of my pickup now – standard equipment!
Several years ago, I learned something new about this wonderful tree. Native Americans had used this tree for a food source. The beans can be ground into a flour. The leaves can be used to make a tea.
Mesquite Tea
Strip off handfuls of leaves from several trees and place them into a gallon zip lock bag. Every day fluff this a couple of times, until the leaves are dry. When the leaves are dry, they can be brewed and make a good green tea.
Mesquite Flour
Once the beans have matured they will fall off the tree and can be harvested. They can then be ground into flour which can be used for fry bread, pancakes, cookies, etc… I heard that some sites that sell it for as high as $15.00 per pound on the internet.
Other Uses
One person cooked the beans into a syrup and they claimed it was equal to log cabin syrup in flavor. I have also heard of people making wine from the beans. Mesquite wood is a very good for barbequeing. Save your trees and just pickup the dry or dead limbs. If you throw the dry beans on your charcoal in the pit, you will also get that great mesquite flavor.
Mesquite is truly a tree with many uses!
Check back often for we will be posting some mesquite recipes in detail under our recipe section.
