The Start of a Homesteader Mom | ||
 need canning preserving help for apples and pears.ok.... here I am. Dh decided to buy a big brown bag full of apples and one full of pears. What can I do with them???help!!! Please do not ask me what kind they are! lol the apples look like gala but they are not marked. And the pears are just small and tastey. no clue what kind. My favorite Invention! Freezer Jam Pectin!I think Freezer Jam is the best thing since sliced bread! Seriously it allows beginners like me to feel like they are "doing" something big and homesteady! And makes me a hero to my kids for making the BEST jam! I made it while the kids were outside playing yesterday. I was on the PORCH! I had my washed strawberries. I cut the greens off of them and then used my handy dandy tupperware chopper to chop up 4 cups of strawberries. Then in a different bowl I mixed 1 1/2 cup sugar with the magic freezer pectin pack and stirred them up. Poured the wonderful mix over my strawberries, stirred for 3 mins and BOOM! It was a miracle! Fill the jars, put them in the freezer and this morning we are enjoying the best breakfast ever! My kids LOVE it! I was extra homemaker yesterday as I had to make potato salad for a birthday party today. I hate making that! lol But I tried to say "I will bring the chips and pop" and got turned down for potato salad! lol The most wonderful Pizza Dip recipe!I tried the most wonderful Pizza Dip Recipe from a good friend Jennifer online. Pepperoni Pizza Dip 1) In a small mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, sour cream, oregano, and garlic powder. Spread evenly into a 9- or 10-inch pie plate. 2) Spread pizza sauce over the top. Sprinkle with pepperoni, green onion, and green pepper. 3) Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Top with cheese and bake 5 more minutes to melt cheese. Now I varied my a little. I used light sour cream and 1/3 fat cream cheese because it is all I had on hand. I also did not use onions but used onion powder and left off the peppers. It was sooo good my family ate the whole thing in one night and it was just the 4 of us! :eek: I made it my dinner! Bad me I know! I cannot wait to try it with the real stuff, not light. I bet it will be even better. But so you know. It was great that way! So if you want to cut the fat, it was not bad. Delicious Ham and Leftover Ham and Bean Soup RecipeOk, I am using my holiday ham bone today to make bean soup. I figured I would blog my recipe for me, my mom, my sister in law and anyone else who wants it.First to make a super easy ham. Purchase a rather small spiral ham. I say small because my crock pot is not super big. One that will fit in your crock pot. Then toss out that icky glaze package that comes with them. It is NASTY! Place the ham in your crock pot. Take a Cup (more if you want more glaze) of yellow mustard on your ham. Then take about a cup of brown sugar. And pour it on. Then mix it all around. Taste. If it is too mustard-y add more brown sugar. If it is too sugary then add more mustard. You may also add a few squirts of honey if you like. Does not matter if you do or don't. I have made it both ways before. Cook all day on low or a few hours on high. Enjoy! _____________________________________________________________________ Now, Save that ham bone and all the fun stuff still on the bone! Just pop it in a freezer bag! _____________________________________________________________________ When you want to make bean soup, pull out your ham bone from the freezer and thaw in the fridge. Buy a bag of navy beans. Just fill a pot with water and let it sit over night. The next morning put your ham bone in the crock pot. Sort through the beans to make sure there are no stems or odd pieces. They are processed by machine so things slip by sometimes. then pour the beans with some water in the crock pot over the ham bone. Add an onion if you like. I do not like onions and did not have any here anyways. Cook all day! YUM YUM YUM! A little before you want to eat, scoup out the bone, fish out some of the fatty pieces. Then serve! ENJOY! so depressing... my oven stinks!So finally the weather is crisp and my mood is for baking. But my OVEN is HORRID! It is one I can hardly discribe. It came with our new house. It is from the 70s and it is one where the burners retract in and the oven is above and the door opens upward. It cooks HORRID!This sunday I tried to make pizzas. The bottom rack burnt and the top was soup! It is not fair. Cookies, each pan burnt the bottom of the cookies and the tops were raw. HOW CAN I DO THIS!? I can barely cook well as it is! I am not a master chef. I am a beginner. And now I have this too!? Boo hoo! I have so many pumpkin recipes I am itching to make... and I just know it will ruin my recipes. I want to cook at my old trailer kitchen. Where my sil lives now. But she just got a cat and I am allergic. So that wont be happening. Now what other friend will let me borrow their kitchen... :) What a day!So I take the kids out to play this morning and the cherry tree blossoms snowed down on me. My legs, arms, eyes and neck all swelled with itch! I had to make the kids come inside so I could get a benedryl and shower.I took a small nap with Tristan napped. Then I got up to work on homeschool with Alyssa. That was a nice time. After dinner Alyssa announced she wanted pumpkin pie. So I thought... hmmm I have a can in there why not. We go through the fun of making it... but Tristan and Alyssa were fighting to be near the bowl to add the stuff in. Etc. You know how that goes. I RUINED it! Let Alyssa dump the whole can of Evap. Milk in. Instead of 5 oz we had 12! It was soup! So I dump it down the drain and Tristan is crying "That Mine, Give it Back!" Tears streaming. Sorry bub! I decide to make a strawberry pie instead. No Cornstarch. Sil says just use flour. I am not sure what happened but ICKY! What a waste! I am so glad my dh does not get mad when I ruin things like that. What a waste but I cannot eat it. Time to go to bed! lol Anyone NOT use a bread machine?I am 99% sure we will be purchasing a grinder as soon as we can save for it. But I wonder... is it something that will be possible to have great daily bread that is not done with a machine? Anyone testify to making breads with whole grains that is not done in a bread machine? Anyone have super awesome recipes that are tried and true they want to share?How about cookies!?? it is possible to make a batch of semi sweet choc chip cookies that are ...  healthy? I would really love to see that happen! this morning the kids and I are enjoying breakfast of toast with strawberry freezer jam on it. I have to say - that stuff is AMAZING! So summery! Grains, Bread Making and Cleaning the House. That about covers it :)I received Sue Beckers free cd in the mail the other day. On the way to church I wanted to listen to it. I told dh I was just LEARNING and to be quiet. He was rolling his eyes. Well in the 30 mins to church, he said, ok I am sold. Start milling! lol No seriously. We listened more on the way home. When we got home and went to his moms (we live on their property so we went into their house for lunch) he said "Linda is going to start grinding all our own grains and we are going to eat fresh breads and be healthy!" ha! If it was so simple. I was looking at the urbanhomemakers site and saw an electric mill, The Kitchen Mill by K-Tec. It is cheaper then the other ones I saw. Anyone have this one? I am thinking of saving up for it. I got a message from Elizabeth and she gave me a link to a farm in Pa that sold grains. I had it up on the screen looking at it and my dh said "Oh Frankferd Farms , I deliever there all the time." My dh works for FedEx and he said he goes there once a week almost! Is this a God thing or what!? I am not rushing into things. For one, I STINK at making bread! lol I have tried before. We do not have a bread machine anymore as last year a rotton pumpkin that I did not know had gone bad, soaked down into my machine. It was horrid! Who knows how long it was soaked down in but smelled awful and was all through it. I could not save it. I tried by hand and my loaves were hard as bricks! But I am do plan to research more, save up, learn and just pray about it. The Cd I got really made me excited. For one, I have been dx with PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrom for a few years now. The meds and drs visits were killing me so currently I am at a stand still in working with it. I have a small hope now that this is something that will work to help me regulate or even by miracle of God, I can kick this PCOS outta my body! HA! I am a believer! By HIS stripes I am HEALED! (Our Pastors are doing a series on healing, it started this morning) My good friend Dini told me I could come over this summer and grind wheat (I think she has a manual mill) and bake bread to learn. So I am going to try it and see if I can learn to do bread with her. Before I rush into anything. But the doors are opening. My dh is sold. But he also said - don't take on more then I can handle. I am already working on my garden, I want to learn to use my nice new pressure canner that only DH used last year! I am finishing my last week of PreK homeschooling with my dd. I will start some summer stuff then K this July. He said, don't over do it. (what a sweetie! He has been listening to his "Help I am Married to a Homeschooling Mom" Audio book by the Family Man and it is doing wonders for his attitude with me and the kids) Just thought I would share. I cleaned the house top to bottom today! Dh had the kids outside for me. Funny how everyday they fight to stay and go outside. Mommy was inside and they were freaking out wanting to be inside! THey love me. It is nice but please let me just clean the toilets alone!
Qq is for Quick Cheeseburger Pie and Dinner tonightI have a Kids Cookbook and Alyssa and I made this two times each time. I really really really loved it. Pat-in-pan Pastry: Mix 1 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cut in 1/2 cup shortening until mixture looks like little peas. Sprinkle in 3 to 4 tablespoons of cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring with fork after each addition. Mix lightly until all four is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl (add 1 to 2 teaspoons water if necessary) Quick Cheeseburger Pie Pat-in-pan Pastry (above) 1 pound ground beef 1/2 to 3/4 cup of finely chopped onion (I used sprinkle onion flakes) 1 clove garlic, finely chopped (I sprinkled garlic salt in it) 1/2 teaspoon of salt 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour 1/3 cup dill pickle liquid 1/3 cup of milk 1/2 cup of chopped dill pickles(skipped them because I dont like pickles just the flavor) 2 cups shredded American or Swiss Cheese (8 ounces) 1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry; pat in the bottom and up sides of a quiche dish, 8x2 inches, or round pan, 8x1 1/2 inches. Bake 15 mins. 2. Cook and stir beef, onion and garlic in a 10-inch skillet until brown; drain. Sprinkle with salt and flour. Stir in pickle liquid, milk, pickles and 1 cup cheese. Spoon into dish. 3. Bake 15 mins. 4. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. (you can put two or three pickle slices on the top to make it look pretty) Bake until crust is golden brown, about 5 mins longer. Makes 4 to 6 servings. I served mine with ketchup of course! Reminded me sooo much of the taste of a mcDonalds cheeseburger. Yum! We had it for lunch today. Tonight we made pizza. The kids helped me but man it is soooo good. I make it the easy way though. I use already made dough from the fridge section at Walmart. I use Walmart sauce too. The kids helped spread the sauce and put on cheese and pepperonis. Man do I love it! Here is a picture. It cooked so nicely it just slid off the stone! As you can see Alyssa does not like pepperonis on her pizza. She is strange. She eats them plain just not on her pizza. In need of a quick idea for dinner.Yesterday was wonderful. I put things in the crockpot and was done for the day. I really need to think of something for dinner. I am just drawing a blank today. Blah.
It is FREEZING in here! And our furnace is still broken from MAY!!! My fingers feel like falling off typing this. We really need to take the air conditioners out of the windows lol. But come weekend the list is a mile long of things Justin needs to do. I feel bad for him. Wish I could do some of it for him but I can't. Can't fix a furnace, can't lift the air conditioners, can't do the skirting or wrap the pipes under our trailer. Unfortunatly it is all on his shoulders.
What I can do is have a hot meal ready for him. So I must be on my way to think of something. Yesterday was a Stew in the crock pot. Alyssa has almost eaten it all gone. I did not even take a bowl because everyone else loved it so much I am letting them eat it. I love it too but I am exercising and nibbling all day instead. And I just did not feel like a heavy meal.
I have done 3 days of WATP (walk away the pounds) and Pick your spot pilates. I am enjoying that. Hope to see some weight come off. I need it for my health! Off to drink some water. Dinner Last Night - Swiss Cheese ChickenI got the most incredibly easy recipe from a friend onilne, Jill. It was a huge hit with my family. Swiss Cheese Chicken. I made a side of broccoli (my family adores broccoli!) and smoothies for our drinks.
Swiss Cheese Chicken
Veggie Pizza.I love veggie pizza! The problem I have is people add things I don't like so I do not normally get to just eat it without picking. So I found a recipe the other day and made it my own way. I only had biscuit stuff though. No crescents. It was wonderful though. Today I made it with crescents. I think I liked the biscuits better.
But the recipe is this...
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. What I do is spread the dough onto a lightley greased baking sheet. Pinch the seams so it is flat and together. Bake it for 8-10 mins. Let cool.
Mix together cream cheese, mayo and ranch dressing mix with an electric mixer. Spread over crust.
Chop veggies up. I use a hand chopper so mine are small but do what you like.
And sprinkle over. Use as much or little veggies as you like.
I LOVE THIS! Great at picnics too. Have any of you painted the walls of your newer trailer or mobile home? If so please help me with these questions.So I am SICK of our walls in this house. The flowers look so busy. I took a can of spray paint I had here and sprayed the inside of my closet in a strip just to see if it would stick to the wall. DH got the point. He said fine I can paint if I do it. He says I am going to ruin it.
Have any of you painted a mobile home's walls? It is not wall paper but a strange surface that is easy to clean but not sure how paint will stick. Sure I will prime.
If you have painted a wall of a newer trailer - please let me know how it held up. Did it peal? Did it work? Did you sand first? Prime?
I really want to paint my kitchen but don't want to ruin my walls either and waste tons of money because I have to fix it. Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup and Hearty Oat LoafOk so dinner tonight is cooking.
Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup
6-8 Potatoes (peel, boil and cube) 1 cup milk 16 oz. can Chicken Broth (or make your own) 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 pound - Velveeta, cubed (I only had a little of this so I used all kinds of cheese that I had - we shall see!) 1 bunch broccoli (boil and drain - opps! I just threw in some frozen and am letting it cook... hopefully it will cook well enough) Some Carrots too.
Mix all ingredients in the crockpot and cook on low for 4 hours
make sure to stir so the milk does not burn.
Then I made this Hearty Oat Loaf recipe that I got from Light and Tastey Magazine.
2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons quickcooking oats, divided 1/4 cup sugar 3 Teaspoons Baking Powder 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg 1 1/2 cups fat-free milk 3 tablespoons canola oil
In a large bowl, combine the flours, 1/2 cup oats, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, milk and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Spread batter into an 8 or 9 inch round baking pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle remaining oats on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 mins or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean .
Cool for 5 mins before removing from the pan to a wire rack Serve warm.
So far it cooking is like this
You know me! I will take a pic of it when it is done too. Dinner tonightToday I am making sweet and sour chicken. Very easy. Just got a bottle of sweet and sour sauce (Kraft) and will put it on Chicken with Broccoli and carrots and brown rice. Last time I threw in a can of pinapples but I don't think I have those.
What are you making for dinner?
ETA - Dinner turned out wonderful! Justin liked it but the new crazy diet he is on says not to have pineapples with anything else. I did end up adding them in but just a few of them. Other than that he loved it.
Broccoli Bean SaladI made the most YUMMY LUNCH TODAY!
4 Cups Broccoli Florets 1 can drained and rinsed kidney beans 1 can drained and rinsed black beans 1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese (light if you want a light dish) sprinkle in some shredded carrots chopped up tomato chopped up onion and ranch dressing (light if you want light)
mix together and enjoy! Oh my goodness is it good!
I got the recipe from my light and tastey magazine and revamped it a tad. Added Carrots, did not use light ranch... I just wanted to reach for the light ranch but my hand guided me to the parm/cheddar cheese ranch instead. Bad me! Strawberry Fluff, Spicy Roast Sandwiches and More Rambles.It has been a while since I blogged because life is so busy! Summer time heat has us swimming in our little pool a lot! Got it as a dollar store buy $37 and man am I glad we got it! It is one of those round blow up ring pools. But Justin, his brother and 4 kids were in it fine having fun. It is not small.
The other day I made Strawberry Fluff that was wonderful!
4 cups of strawberries 1/2 cup sugar
Blend in a blender or food processor. (then you are suppossed to strain the seeds out - someone please tell me how to do that! I left them in)
Add a 1 oz pack of sugar free, fat free vanilla pudding to the blender and then mix it.
Fold in tub of fat free cool whip and you are done!
It was wonderful! A little sweet so if you want to cut back on the pudding mix I think it might be more refreshing.
Oh I also made really good sandwiches!
I put a roast in the crock pot. I put 1/2 cup water, a pack of Good Start Italian Seasoning and a few mild pepper rings in with it. (the recipe called for 1/2 a can of Jallipinos, but I only had mild pepper rings and was afraid of too much because I don't like them. So I changed it)
My roast was too lean and never fell apart. So I took it out when almost done and cut it into small pieces and returned it to the crock pot. Then stirred some so it fell apart.
Served it on hard rolls and it was amazing! I loved it as a sandwich. Kitchen QuizSince ZOO so ANNOYINGLY shut off her Right Click function... GRRR.
1. How many meals does your family eat at home each week? Dinners? 5-6, and almost all the other meals too. 2. How many cookbooks do you own? I think less than 10 3. When you cook, do you follow the recipe pretty closely, or do you use recipes primarily to give you ideas? FOLLOW TO A T! I am not good enough to branch out more than a few extra spices. 4. What's your favorite kitchen task related to meal planning and preparation? (eating the finished product does not count) If I am not RUSHING with the kids? I like to use the kitchen aid. With the kids I love watching them lick the beaters. 5. Do you plan menus before you shop? yes for the week 6. What are your three favorite kitchen tools or appliances? Kitchen aid, crockpot, oh and when we borrowed my brothers electric tea kettle, that was wonderful! 7. If you could buy one new thing for your kitchen money was no object, and space not an issue, what would you most like to have? A grain grinder 8. Since money and space probably are objects, what are you most likely to buy next? A new fridge 9. Do you have a separate freezer for storage? Small chest freezer 10. Grocery shop alone or with others? Mainly now mom watches the kids so I can shop alone 11. How many meatless main dish meals do you fix in a week? None? 12. If you have a decorating theme in your kitchen what is it? Favorite Kitchen colors? Hunter Green and Sunflowers. 13. What is the first thing you ever learned to cook and how old were you? My dad and I used to make hot apple pies every year together. I HEAR they were the BEST... but I HATE apple pies... so everyone else LOVED THEM!
Ok so there you have it! You can Copy and Paste my quiz Prayer Requests and Dinner UpdatesPlease say a prayer for my nephew. He had to have surgery to enlarge his opening to pee. Turned out it was too small and they ended up cutting not just stretching. When they were doing that they found out his bladder is 5x smaller than normal - only holding 3 oz. (He is 4 years old this month) So he is on meds for that. But the poor baby is scared to pee. They had to take him to Cath him in the ER. Came home 24 hours still would not pee. Would start and stop when it hurt. So now he is at home with a Cath.
We get to go visit them next weekend. My first time at a birthday party for Nathan.
Oh and ETA another prayer. Alyssa hit tristans head with her teeth in Sunday School. Must not have been too horrid because she says noone cried. Well her two front teeth are loose.
Well the verdict from the meat market is their hamloaf is ALMOST as good as Broses... ALMOST because I had to cook mine fully where Broses is done up you just heat. And I dont think I did it perfect. BUT I LOVE HAMLOAF!!!
Today I am going to make the stuffed Chicken I got. $3.99 for a whole stuffed and seasoned chicken. Just pop it in the oven. I also got LOTS of ingrediants for things from my Make A Mix Book. So I will be making some of those up too. Went to a meat market today.Today we went to a meat market. Oh how I love meat markets for beef jerky and beef sticks and smoked cheese! It is heaven! We got so much other meet too. Whole seasoned and stuffed chicken ready to be cooked for $3.99. Chicken breasts, stuffed and rolled steaks and pork, maple sausage, slab bacon, lunch meat, and more. We are good to go on meat for a while. It was so nice. Alyssa tells me when I was putting her to bed tonight, "Mommy, tomorrow I want to go to a REAL store" I said "didnt you like the meat market" She said "NO! I want to go somewhere that has more than just meat at it!" I thought it was so cute. { Last Page } { Page 1 of 2 } { Next Page } |
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I love to start Monday morning with everything caught up. What a great way to start a week. 
I thought why not... I will TYPE it out... blah.
Have fun and comment to tell me if you put it on your blog so I can read!
I just feel awful for him. His moms patience is running thin - I understand for both of them. You feel helpless. So if you think about Nathan please pray for quick healing for him. 
I am so excited. We live in PA and they live in GA. So say a prayer for that too because I will be flying with a 3 and 1 year old. Justin has to work. I have my parents going with me so all should be good but... Prayers are ALWAYS appreciated. 
So PLEASE pray she stops messing with them. I don't want her missing teeth at 3! Both top front will be horrid until she is old enough to have them grow back in.