Crock Pot Roast Duck

For some crazy reason, we decided to raise ducks this year. I must admit, I much prefer ducks in the freezer than in the back yard!

I enjoyed watching them in their little pool. But they were stinky!! I was ready for them to go to freezer camp. 

We've cooked a couple of them now and we've decided our favorite method is in the crock pot. When we butchered, we didn't pluck them; we skinned them instead. It made our job a bit easier, but we lost some of the flavor and the fat that the skin offers. 

To cook the duck, I put a layer of sliced onions in the bottom of the crock pot, then put the seasonings (fresh sage leaves and thyme) in the cavity and salted the outside of the duck. Then I added carrots and potatoes around the duck. We turned the crock pot on low for 6 hours and let it cook away!

When I got home from work that day, the house smelled delicious! The meat just fell off the bones and was so tender and juicy! To finish dinner, I all had to do was pour the drippings out of the crock pot and make the gravy. 

Not only did this dinner taste great, but the duck, onions, carrots, potatoes and sage all came from our back yard! I don't know if it's because of the October Unprocessed challenge or the fact that we just grew more in the garden this year, but we've realized we are eating a lot more local food this month. And as much as I like eating the animals we raised, I'm going to let the folks at Maple Leaf Farms take care of raising the duck we eat in the future! 

Made From Scratch Tuesday 2/21

It's time for another Iron Chef Challenge from Ott,A! Maple Leaf Farms is sponsoring another round of Iron Chef with the theme ingredient Duck.

Last year, I did several duck recipes. So while searching for some inspiration, I came across their sausage recipe and I was intrigued. I set off to make duck sausage! My local grocery store doesn't sell ground duck, so I started with a whole duck, cut it up and did a fresh grind. (I saved some of the skin so I could render the fat and used the carcass to make stock)

To the fresh ground duck, I added 2 1/2 T onion flakes, 1 T toasted fennel seeds, 1 T sage, 2 cloves of garlic (chopped fine), 1 T breadcrumbs, 2 T rendered fat, and salt and pepper. 

Mix well and shape into patties on parchment paper. Wrap tightly and freeze about 4 hours. 

To cook, place sausages on baking sheet in a cold oven and turn the oven to 325. Bake about 30 minutes, or until cooked through. 

We enjoyed our duck sausage with english muffins and scrambled eggs with feta cheese and green onions!

Make sure to enter your duck recipes over with Ott,A. And check out Maple Leaf Farms for your duck needs!

Now it's time to link up all of your creations!
Here are the rules:
1. You can link up as many posts as you'd like.
2. The post has to be made from scratch.
3. The post you link up MUST CONTAIN A RECIPE! 
4. If you want to put my button somewhere, that'd be cool. You can grab the code for the Made From Scratch Tuesday button on the top right of my sidebar.  

ScratchTruck and GroovyGuysFries: Indy Food Truck Experiences

Yay for Indiana weather! Actually, I'm serious this time. We're in the middle of an Indian Summer of sorts. That basically means we've had a frost, but temps are back up in the 70's and even approaching 80's. That will be great this weekend we go to Anderson's Orchards and pick out our pumpkins and do a little apple picking.

But the part that's been the best this week has been the food trucks! Since the weather has been cooperating, I'm loving the walks outside to get to these guys! I try not to eat out for lunch very often, and usually do pretty good about bringing my lunch. But this week, I've been a slacker. I've eaten out twice this week. But in my defense, I bought my food from food trucks. So that means I'm supporting local business and it's good for the economy, right? Well, that's my rationale and I'm sticking to it.   :)

Anyway, the first of the week brought Groovy Guys Fries.

I really wish I had a pic of the Steak n Cheese fries, but I was hungry! Picture a mound of fresh fries topped with thin sliced steak and melted cheese! Like a deconstructed philly cheese steak. Their menu also includes sweet potato fries!!! You definitely need to check them out and try some of the fantastic fries!

Next stop this week was Scratch Truck

Scratch is comfort food with a trendy twist. Let me tell you about the grilled cheese...

This is nothing like that wonder bread/cheese food product stuff you at with your tomato soup as a kid. This is munster and colby jack cheese (not cheese food product), red wine braised short ribs, caramelized onions and arugula, all toasted up into a gooey, melty, savory piece of heaven....with fries.

These folks are living my dream, whipping up classics with a gourmet twist on the go. Maybe one of these days I'll have my own truck, selling an eclectic variety from pumpkin flavored marshmallows to duck stuffed mushrooms. But for now, I'm glad Indy has a great variety for me to choose from!


 Make sure to visit the fantastic blog parties on my sidebar, and of course, link up all your made from scratch recipes on my Tuesday linky-Made From Scratch Tuesday!

National Maple Syrup Festival

What happens the first two weekends in March in the tiny town of Medora, IN? The National Maple Syrup Festival! Last year, we didn't go due to the cold, rainy weather. This year, the second weekend was perfect weather. We spent the day taking in the beautiful scenery during the 2 hour drive and learning about all things Maple.
The festival starts out with a bus ride to the farm. They played a tape of the history of Indiana, the settlers, and the Burtons along with a brief introduction to syrup and sugar.

We pulled up to the farm and were surrounded by maple trees with buckets hanging all around. You see, not much has changed since the native americans processed the deliciously sweet sap hundreds of years ago. Now obviously they didn't have the metal buckets, but same principle.

Our first stop on the walking tour was the settler reenactment.

It was so neat to see how everything was prepared from sap to sugar. It was truly amazing to see how the clear sap turned into a product that was used for not only a sweetener, but also as a means of preservation in the days before refrigeration. We even got to sample the sugar they had worked so hard for the day before.

After the tour, we had certainly worked up an appetite. Off to the food tent!

Pancakes with lots of ooey gooey syrup and sausage, yum! Didn't want breakfast? No problem! They also have a pork chop dinner consisting of 2 barbecue/maple syrup chops, potatoes, maple ham and beans, and a roll. Amazing!!
There were tons of kids activities as well. If you haven't made it down before, be sure to check it out next year. It's always the first two weekends of March. A great time for the whole family to learn about a great Indiana product and see history in action.

Make sure to visit the fantastic blog parties on my sidebar, and of course, link up all your made from scratch recipes on my Tuesday linky-Made From Scratch Tuesday!