​ One of the things we started doing when the kids were young, was preparing special finger foods on Christmas Eve and everyone looks forward to it. We would start the meal when someone spotted the FIRST STAR in the sky.  (yeah, a little hard on a cloudy night, but other than that, the kids always looked forward to it when they were young.)

Preparing everything is fun for us all, plus we can relax and enjoy the evening before Christmas with everyone else!  

I thought you might enjoy some ideas for your finger food table this Christmas or New Years

Some of the foods that end up on our table are new each year and some are yearly favorites like these: (I've linked ingredients, in case you'd like to find them in our store.)

1. Smoked pork belly slices wrapped around cream cheese (sometimes we add green chilies too and we just cook the bellies on the pellet smoker)
2. Artichoke dip
3. Pastured sausage balls (just mix in seasoning pack, roll into balls, fry and serve with toothpicks.  (they can also be broiled)
4. Raw, grass fed cheese and crackers (Yes, we just added this to our store)
5. Smoked Organic mozzarella
6. Buffalo Wings, or spicy chicken chunks served on a  toothpick
7. Organic vegetable tray with di
8. Pork balls with BBQ sauce (made with ground pork)
9. Finger Steaks (recipe here)
10. Lamb meatballs (Recipe and printable below)

Have you ever looked at a recipe, raised an eyebrow at the odd combination of ingredients, then decided it might be worth a try? 

Well, usually I have a pretty good instinct as to whether or not it will be good, but sometimes I'm wrong and it ends up being a GIANT fail.  I always figure that it's worth the risk, because we've come up with some amazing family recipes by trying the suspiciously odd ones, tweaking them a little and WOW! - no regrets ;)

This pastured pork and pumpkin recipe started as I was searching for some new recipes to try. I had a feeling that our pork roasts cut into stew meat could taste amazing with some pumpkins we had grown this year.  

After looking through the ideas, I just decided to throw them all out and just have fun with it.  (that is usually how I do my best cooking... PLUS~ it's more fun that way!)

Long story short ~ this stew ended up being a super easy "from scratch" recipe and everyone LOVED it, so it will be added to our list of favorites.  

I hope you'll try it.  You won't be disappointed with the crisp fall colors and intensely delicious flavors coming from this one of a kind dish.  

I'll have a printable version of the recipe along with some tips below, but first, I wanted to make sure that no matter how strange the seasoning combination sounds, you won't leave anything out. :)  It really needs everything to get this amazing cozy stew flavor. 

Here is what you're going to need... (I use organic ingredients (or, ingredients grown with 'beyond organic' practices, whenever possible) 

• 1-medium size pumpkin, cut in half with seeds scraped
• 1/4 C coconut oil
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1- 3 to 4 lb. shoulder roast, thawed and cut into cubes (You can get your pork roast here)
• 1/2 cup organic flour for thickening (gluten free flour works too!)
• 1 tsp garlic powder, or 2 cloves
• 6 cups pasture-fed beef bone broth, or water
• 2 Tbs. Turmeric
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 4 Tbs. chopped fresh Sage Leaves, or 2 Tbs. dry 
• 2 tsp Cinnamon (don't skip this one :)
• 2 large organic beets, cut into cubes (leave peel on)

1. Place pumpkin halves face down on a cookie sheet with a little water poured into pan.  Bake on 375 for about 25 min.  This will soften pumpkin and make it easy to cut into cubes and peel or scrape.  Cut and peel.​
2. In a heavy saucepan, heat coconut oil and brown pork cubes.  Season with sea salt and pepper.  Sprinkle flour on pork and stir to coat.
3. Add Broth or water, garlic, turmeric, bay leaves sage and cinnamon. Stir well.
4. Stir in Beets and pumpkin cubes
5. Simmer med low heat until beets and pumpkin are tender and liquids thicken. About 45 min to 1 hour.
6. Enjoy!  Cut in half, scrape seeds and lay face down on a cookie sheet.  Add a little water and bake at 375 until tender.  Scrape out squash,