Happy New Year & Campfire Stew

Happy New Year to all of our friends on the journey with us! I wish you blessings and abundance for the new year ahead. I wish for you joy and peace for 2016!

We have been on a hiatus from the blog and the radio show due to a death in our family and I so appreciate all of you sticking with me during this sad time. However in the true homesteading spirit I put my “big girl” boots on and I went on with our 3rd annual Campfire New Years Gathering with friends and family and have our “Campfire Stew” and I’m so glad we did! We were surrounded by friends and family and my husband the Viking in my life always says to me…”Hun you gotta’ love the ones you’re with”… and those that joined us we surely felt the love at a time when we could be sorrowful we all remembered the memories and continued on to make new ones.

In the spirit of living in the Carolina’s I of course served up some black-eyed peas I serve these up every year and we also have Brunswick Stew a southern fave along with my famous fish stew! We have very few leftovers which is always a good sign! I don’t add the beef to my brunswick stew so it’s made with pork chops and whatever chicken is on sale….however throw some bacon on top and everyone’s hooked 🙂 We also serve up plenty of bread and I also put out my good friend’s famous pepper jelly it’s amazing!

My husband makes sure that our cast iron cookware is seasoned and ready. We cooked our Brunswick Stew over the campfires but because we divide the stew up we have to kind of wing it as I double the recipe.

Karen Lynn’s Brunswick “Campfire” Stew (That Feeds Approx 30-This is the double recipe!)
Ingredients:
105 oz. can of crushed tomatoes from the warehouse shopping club
1.5 lbs bacon (cooked to crispy)
2.5 lbs pork ( I use pork chops on sale)
2.5 lbs chicken
2 bags of frozen corn
2 bags of frozen lima beans (I like the baby ones)
2 bags of frozen cubed hashbrown potatoes (this is my shortcut you can use regular potatoes)
2 sticks butter
2 Tablespoons salt
2 cauldrons/cast iron pots ( make sure they are well seasoned)
2 TBSP. Worcestershire sauce
2 big onions peeled and chopped up
Black Pepper to taste
Tabasco to taste

Instructions:
On the day before chop and sear about 2.5 lbs. of pork meat and about 2.5 lbs. of chicken (white/dark doesn’t matter)
Cook the bacon if you have time but you don’t have to crumble it until the next day.
Refrigerate items until the next day.
I literally throw everything into the 2 pots.
Throw half the chicken and pork in each pot.
Toss in a stick of butter into each one.
Toss in half the bacon into each pot.
1/2 the crushed tomatoes in each pot.
Place a chopped onion in each pot.
1 bag of lima beans, corn, and potatoes into each pot.
1 TBS. of salt into each pot
pepper and tabasco to taste in each pot
Cook over campfire until done. YUM!
Now the Viking handles the cooking over the campfire so send him messages in our Lil’ Suburban Homestead facebook group if you have questions about that……

We always make homemade cider for this occasion which is always a big hit. This year we added some extra cider for reinforcements which we actually didn’t need from Wilmington Brewing Co. our favorite store for home brew supplies but you never know. Do not put off entertaining because of finances many people these days throw potlucks, we always have a blast at them and I love getting a chance to show off my cooking skills too! Getting together with friends and family is such a wonderful time and plus it always inspires me to do some house cleaning and that’s a bonus!

We were also entertained at the very end of the evening with our Aerucana chicken roosting it was a fun ending to a great New Years Day Gathering!

I wish you all a beautiful week….until next time! We have lots coming on the blog this year! I am no longer doing my weekly radio show at the Prepper Broadcasting Network but we are going to have a lot coming up on Youtube this year so make sure to subscribe here and stay tuned!

Fondly,