Is Healthy Living One Of Your New Year’s Resolutions?
The new year is a great time to reset and pursue everyday practices that promote healthy living. 2020 was a challenging year for so many reasons. The coronavirus forced us to socially distance from friends and family, which has impacted both our physical and mental health. When we talk about healthy living at Sunrise Farms, we’re not necessarily talking about going on a diet or training for a marathon. While those elements are helpful, what we’re really talking about is the pursuit of a holistic lifestyle where our beliefs, our way of living, and our eating habits are healthful and consistent. The Sunrise Difference touches on those key elements and can help you live a healthier life in 2021. Here’s how:
- Food: “You are what you eat,” or, “You are what what you eat eats.” Confused yet? What both of those quotations mean is that it matters what you put into your body and the quality of feed you give your animals. We believe in serving our family and animals all-natural, Non-GMO food. That means that the food we put on our plates is responsibly sourced and comes from animals fed high-quality feed and vegetables grown with minimal pesticides. Plus, enjoying home-cooked meals with your family is one of the best ways to connect with your spouse and kids. In fact, current statistics show that children who eat with their family for more than three meals a week are far more likely to be within a healthy weight range and less prone to disordered eating.
- Faith: Our faith plays an important role in our family, business and personal lives. We consider ourselves stewards of the earth, meaning we believe in protecting the land and all of God’s creations. This is the primary reason we believe in raising our animals in an ethical manner and respecting the unique beauty of life. Raising animals on our own locally-sourced Non-GMO feed protects their health and makes good use of our resources. Raising livestock with care demonstrates respect for life.
- Fitness: Being active and exercising can take so many different forms. While we may not be hitting the gym, we believe in getting outside and moving. Whether we’re working on the farm or taking a walk with our family, integrating regular movement into our lives improves both our physical and mental health. Regular exercise has been proven to reduce the risks of chronic disease, improve memory, and make you feel happier. Be sure to get outside on these winter days for sunshine and fresh air!
Visit Our Farm To See Healthy Living In Action.
We invite you to stop by our farm, walk around a bit, and visit our storefront to see the Sunrise Difference in action. We’ve got plenty of pastured eggs, local honey, and Non-GMO beef, pork, chicken, and lamb to serve to your family. We hope to see you soon and wish you truly healthy living in 2021.
Free-Range Thanksgiving With All The Fixins!
Family And Friends Delight In A Free-Range Thanksgiving Turkey!
We at Sunrise Farms embrace family through wonderful gatherings and delicious food. One of our fondest holiday memories is Grandma Yoder’s holiday turkey. Our mother continues to cook free-range, home-grown turkeys for our family, just like her mother did before her. When Grandma cooked turkey, Grandpa would always carve it. Any leftovers were used for delicious turkey sandwiches. We hope you’ll enjoy this recipe in your family as much as we have in ours. Sunrise Farms grows fresh, all-natural turkey for Thanksgiving. Try out Grandma Yoder’s recipe for a treasured feast.
Baking the Turkey
Prepare an 18-22 pound turkey for roasting by taking out the giblets, rubbing the entire outside with salt and sprinkling one or two teaspoons of salt inside the turkey’s cavity. Put giblets in a kettle, cover with water, add salt & pepper and cook for one hour or until done. Giblets and broth from the baked turkey will be used to make delicious gravy! If you would like to stuff your turkey, see the stuffing recipe below.
Alternately, place turkey in a baking bag, following the accompanying directions. Instead of placing turkey on its back for baking, place it on its breast. Although you will not have a “picture perfect” turkey for the table centerpiece, the baking bag will produce a moist, white meat that is very delectable. Bake the turkey at 325 degrees for approximately 4 hours.
Use a meat thermometer to be sure the inside of the turkey reaches 165 degrees. Carve the turkey by cutting it into serving-sized pieces, then place on a meat platter and separate dark meat from white.
Old Fashioned Bread Stuffing
Melt 1 to 1 1/2 cups of butter in a small saucepan. Add 4 sticks of celery and 1 large onion (3″ diameter), both chopped very fine. Allow it to simmer on the stove while you toast and cube one whole loaf of white bread.
Add approximately 4 cups of chicken broth, butter, celery and onions to the bread cubes. Add salt and pepper according to taste. Other seasonings, such as poultry seasoning, sage, or thyme, are optional. Stuff turkey with mixture, place in a baking bag and bake turkey for approximately 5 hours at 325 degrees. Alternately, you can put bread stuffing in a 9 x 13 baking dish and bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the top is brown. If you would like to bake the turkey and the bread stuffing together in the same oven, increase the baking time for the stuffing to make up for the lower baking temperature for the turkey.
Free-Range Turkey Gravy
Dip out the broth from the baked turkey and the stock from the giblets. Put the broth and stock in a kettle and bring to a boil. Add more salt if you desire or add water if the broth is too salty. Then add to the boiling broth a thickening of flour and milk (or water and tapioca starch) using a gravy shaker or wire whisk to mix the flour and milk. You may also add the chopped giblets to the gravy, if you prefer.
Whole All-Natural Beef
In addition to selling our beef in our store, we take orders for whole beef. We attempt to sell an entire beef. If you are purchasing a half or quarter of beef, you should find others to take the other half or quarter, or we may ask you to wait until we have sufficient orders to process the rest of the beef.
