Homemaking Homesteader

Leanne and her team members spent some time (while not doing concrete work ~smile~) with the children of the orphanage. Here are a few pictures…

They made a trip into the town of Assuit, where the orphanage is located, and it was quite an experience. They had to have "tourist police" escort them. Here are some pictures of the town. The water you is the Nile River.

Transportation varied quite a bit! In the pictures below you can see a cart being pulled by a donkey and cars driving along side!

Assuit is an agricultural area and there was lots of green fields Leanne said it was obvious to see where the farm land ended.. everything beyond was brown.

I have more pictures to share from the orphange, other sites they saw in Assuit as well as the pyrimids and Cairo. I hope to be able to get those in the next "mission trip" blog posting..

Once again we were up at five thirty every morning in

Egypt

. We had ten minutes to get ready and be outside, where we then waited for the boys (they slept on the other side in the boys’ dorms), who were always late. We worked until eight and then stopped for breakfast. It was a nice break with our thirty minutes of quiet Bible reading time included. Then it was back out to work. We worked for about four hours until lunch break came around. The last part of our workday was never steady in how many more hours we were going to work because you can’t leave an almost finished slab of concrete to dry. That is why sometimes we worked nine hour days. We had another Bible study when we were done working, then bath and laundry time, and sometimes we had another Bible study, though this one the boys and girls separated. Dinner followed shortly, we had a little bit of free time, and then one of the team members, whoever had kitchen duty that day, would lead another Bible study at night. We had library reading time after that and then it was off to bed.

The Orphanage hired a man to do the finishing touches, like smoothing out the top so when it dries it is nice and smooth. His name was Niem. He believed there was a God but that was the extent of his faith. He had a bad opinion of Americans because he’d worked in a lot of touristy places where he’d met a lot of Americans, who didn’t talk, act or dress in any way that would give him any other kind of opinion. The way we dressed (as do most Christian organizations we had a dress code we followed) especially caught his attention, and when he asked one of our Egyptian leaders, who oversaw our work, why we dress like we do he was able to say we dress modestly because of our God. Anyway, his opinion of Americans was completely changed and it was an opportunity for someone to share Christianity with him. It was really neat.

As well as working we also put together presentations for the children. On Sundays we had two presentations we did. One in the morning and one in the evening, and we also had one on Wednesday’s in the evening. A presentation consisted of around eight songs (we even learned how to sing a song in Arabic!), a puppet show, and two testimonies. Once in a while we would even do a skit. One of our leaders would then give a massage. Everything, except the songs we sang, was done through a translator. It only got complicated when our translator (we had more then one) didn’t know what a word meant and then one of our leaders or team members would have to find a way to describe the word. I never spoke through a translator, but I have played games where you have to describe a word and it isn’t always easy to do.

Updates from the Homestead

Yesterday was such a nice sunny day.. a day to enjoy our pond and the sunshine

. Today is promising to be the same. The nice weather is an appreciated change from the stint of cool wet weather we had; looks like we are back to summer weather for a few days. I am not really ready to head into fall quite yet. The cooler weather however did get me in the soup making mode. Yesterday I made veggie beef soup and it was yummy. I put a couple individual servings of it in the freezer for Tobin’s lunches while I am gone.

My oldest daughter, Carolyn, is due to have her baby in about one week. My friend Sarah and I will be flying out there as soon as she gives the word that things are looking serious. We don’t want to arrive too early but we don’t want to arrive to late either! Sarah and I delivered Carolyn’s first baby. That was a bit easier since at that time she was in California (I am in Washington) but this time she’s in Maryland so there are less flights out daily and the flight time is a lot longer… but if it is meant to be that I am there, all will work out as it should so I am leaving it the Lord’s hands and not stressing over it all.

While I am gone Emily and Leanne will be holding down the fort. I have meals lined up for them to cook, groceries in the house, and should have just about everything I need to do, done! It is a blessed feeling to know that my girls are able to handle the house, the kids and the meals and pack dad’s lunch while I am gone. I will try and update you when I leave and who knows, maybe while I am there if I am not too busy.

I started school this week with the kids. I usually don’t start until well into September and in the past it has even been October before I finally got things going. I think the wet cool weather just made all the kids think “school” and they were ready to get going. I have only started math with them. We will add in the rest of the subjects on the 8th.. even if I am not here Emily and Leanne have said they will get the ball rolling with everyone.

I really only have 3 students this year! It seems like such a nice relief in many ways. This will be my 21st year of homeschooling and like anything done for that many years I have lost some of the newness and excitement I had for homeschooling way back when.. but I have not lost the reason my hubby and I chose to homeschool and we are both committed to continue onward. I still value and treasure the time I spend with my children and would not have it any other way. I have enjoyed the “new school year” excitement this year.. Just watching Isaac get all excited about new note books, pencil sharpeners and all was sweet.

This school year Leanne will be getting ready for her GED and working through Saxon’s Calculus book as well as teaching Isaac his math. She taught him last year and did a great job. She will also be deciding if she would like to join Emily in working towards a degree of some type through College Plus. Right now Leanne is looking at an English degree as a possibility.

On Wednesday the girls and I (and Isaac) went to town. Emily took her Western Civilization 2 CLEP test and passed (YEA!!). Then we went grocery shopping at Costco and then went to Starbucks and got our coffee and ended up at Ikea perusing the store with coffees in hand. Emily bought a book shelf for her bedroom. She has a really small room and was drowning in lack of organization. So now the books have a place to go. We saw some cute little baskets that hang on the wall.. but they were out of stock. We will check back next week (or when I get back.. something I keep saying often now). She thought that would be a perfect way to make a place for things and look pretty. She will be all organized before you know it and then there won’t be ANY reason why we can’t see her bed on some days.. right???

Today I have house cleaning on my list and laundry. I really need to get some soap made before I go so I will try and get things set up to do that so I can make it tomorrow (if I am still here

). Sierra, Isaac and I will be heading to the recycling center to take in our recycling. Jacob has been working all week for a neighbor and will continue that today. And we have school to do as well. Dinner tonight will be chicken pot pie and a salad. Emily and Leanne won’t be here so I will have to adjust my recipe so I don’t have too many leftovers.

Emily and Leanne are house sitting and watching Miss Margaret. I have mentioned her before. She is the little 90 something year old lady they watch when her son and daughter in law go out of town. She loves playing Skip Bo but has very little recent memory so she never can remember how many games she has played and would keep on playing all day if the girls were willing! The girls don’t mind but after 12 games they are ready for a break..

Leanne’s Mission Trip, Part Three

After arriving in Egypt Leanne’s team rested up and then it was time to unpack and get a glimpse of the orphanage in the daylight. I was surprised to see how big it was and how green! The orphange is near the Nile River and is an agricultural area so there was a lot green to be seen

Here is a picture of the girls on Leanne’s team. Leanne is sitting on the top row in the middle…

When the Egyptian girls saw them on the balcony for the first time they quickly swarmed around wanting to have their pictures taken..

The main portion of their time at the orphanage was spent laying concrete walkways. It was heavy duty work! They had no equipment to do the mixing the kids mixed it all by hand and carried it by bowlfuls to dump. Leanne said she learned so much about concrete work that she could give lessons now!

Here is a look at the work they did… They had large piles of sand and rock that they mixed with bags of cement. They filled and carried the sand and rock by hand and then mixed it.

See the bowls in the picture below? That is what they carried the mixed cement in to fill the walkways...

Laundry was done by hand on the roof top of the building they stayed in. This is the way everyone does their laundry. If you look back at some of the pics above you will see laundry and mattresses hanging over the tops of the roof drying.

In the evenings they had chapel time and Leanne was befriended by a couple of girls that were about her age. Leanne said the girl on the right really attached herself to her and she said she was so sweet.. she wanted to take her home with her..

The team spent more time with the children and got to see the town of Assuit and I will share about this in my next blog post. Leanne will also be sharing more with you as well!

Making Homemade Chicken Soup in Pictures

Fall time is just around the corner. I start thinking about soups and stews to feed my family. They just seem to go hand in hand with the cool months of the year. One of my favorites is chicken soup. Chicken soup from scratch is very easy to make! Here is a step by step photo tutorial to show you how to make this yummy meal for your family.

Put your chicken in a large stock or soup pot. Mine is a 14 quart size pot, but it is a little on the big size for the job. An 8 or 10 quart stock pot would most likely work just fine.

Turn down the heat, cover and let is simmer for a few hours (2 to 4 hours or so) I never really time it I just cook until my chicken has kind of fallen apart.

Now it is time to separate the chicken and broth. I do this by putting a large pan (large enough to hold all the broth) in my sink

Leanne’s Mission Trip, Part Two

As boot camp came to a close the kids began the task of packing up their belongings and getting ready to head to Egypt. Not all teams left on the same day and their team was a few days behind most of the others. The last few nights they were able to sleep in the dorm rooms. And after 2 weeks in tents that flooded often with all the summer rains in Florida, they all appreciated this quite a bit!

The first day I arrived at boot camp was a little hectic. The fist thing I went through was getting registered, transferring all my things to a duffel (which was challenging due to the fact everything had to be on chairs and nothing was allowed to touch the floor) they issued me, and getting acquainted with most of my team mates that had already arrived. We then took our stuff to our camp site that had already been taken over by mosquitoes. I had no idea what boot camp was going to be like, but I could tell they weren’t joking when they said this was no pamper camp.

We woke up every morning at five-thirty to one of our leaders singing some happy energetic song that not one of us appreciated at that time in the morning. We had exactly five minutes to be outside our tent with our boots on, name tag on, and a clean tent ready for inspection. We ran an obstacle course every morning, which included anything from climbing over a huge mountain of tires, using ropes to swing across water, crawling through barrels, etc…then it was on to breakfast! Meal time was always a highlight to everyone. We always had to eat everything we took or we got a SB, which stands for special blessing and we have to work them off during our free time. After that we had devotional time, listened to a couple speakers, had our brick laying class, lunch, some other classes, puppet class (which was one of my favorite classes), bath and laundry time, free time or SB time, dinner, and then we finished every day with a rally with all the teams.

We learned how to wash our clothes by hand, we took bucket baths, which was done in public so for two weeks we never really got clean, and how to do everything very quickly. Just about everybody’s level of vanity dropped drastically. There was no time for make-up, and not much time for clean clothes (it rained just about everyday and so it was hard to get your clothes dry), clean hair, and basic things like that. As unsanitary as this may seem, looking back I can see how important it was to get us used to this kind of environment. It prepared us for the field. We also had to learn a verse everyday. There was rarely a time when we didn’t have something to do.

The hardest parts for me were getting used to having everyday of my time planned out by someone else, and while I was there I was asked to write a brief testimony of why I decided to come to Teen Missions, what I had learned from boot camp, and that kind of thing. This wouldn’t have been a big ordeal if I had had time to think it out and had plenty of time to write it, but they needed it in three hrs, all of which I had classes. It was hard to write something personal under pressure. Not to mention in one of those classes we had a lady who walked by making sure everyone was paying attention. It just added to the pressure.

Boot camp was hard, and it was definitely a stretching experience, but it prepared us thoroughly for our trip, and it showed us what it is often times like for missionaries. Though it was tough it was worth it, and I would recommend Teen Missions to anyone who is interested in missionary work and wants to see if they would like it.

Leanne’s Mission Trip, Part One

There is no way I could give you a quick and simple overview of Leanne’s trip. Last night our family began the journey through over 900 pictures she took while gone! We made it half way through and it was time for dad to leave for work so we will continue our tour today some time. So what I have decided to do is to share with you about her missions trip in parts. That way I have time to digest all her info, resize pictures to post and share a little more detail with you. I hope you enjoy this mission trip to Egypt with Leanne!

Leanne began her experience with Teen Missions by leaving on a plane from the West Coast and flying to Orlando Florida. She along with several other who were on her flight were met by a Teen Missions representative and taken to Merritt Island Florida for two weeks of training that they call “boot camp”. The term boot camp has a couple of different meanings. One is simple and straight forward.. every team member buy’s a pair of boots and wears them. No other types of shoes are allowed other than water shoes. The other meaning is more like the military term in the fact that there is a lot of training and group work going on. They learn not only necessary skills for when they are on the field, but how to live without common luxuries like showers and toilets that flush, but they also begin learning how to work together as a team through a lot of physical training. Boot camp is primitive, difficult and according to Leanne was a real challenge to get through.

You see the brick in the girls hand? Well the kids could not leave their belongings laying around. If you did leave something behind the next day you carried a brick around with you all day long as a reminder to pick up your stuff.. I loved the idea and told the kids I need to come up with my own version of this! Think how this would solve the clutter problems! LOL… (they were not thrilled by my excitement over this new found idea..

)

Updates from my Homestead

We have had an action packed time around here lately. A week ago Wednesday I put Jacob and Sierra on a plane to WashingtonDC to see my daughter and her family. They had a great time. They toured DC and the zoo and enjoyed lots of R&R with Carolyn and her family. On Friday of the same week I put Emily and Isaac on a plane to Chicago to go and visit my sister in law in NW Illinois. They also had a fantastic time and were well pampered by their aunt and cousins. Emily also got to meet up with her College Plus coach and enjoyed that quite a bit.

So that left Tobin and me with an “empty nest” for a week, which we thoroughly loved! We got a peek into what our life will be like a few years from now and we did like the look of it. A few things I observed while my kids were gone:

Then the most exciting part: LEANNE IS HOME!!!!!! She was scheduled to arrive home on Thursday night at 11:30pm but her plane was delayed for 3 1/2 hours in New York. There was a storm that delayed them for 2 1/2 hours and then they sat on the runway for an hour waiting for their turn to take off. So it was 3:AM west coast time before I could go and pick her up. She had been up for over 24 hours already. She had left Switzerland then flew to Paris and then NYC and finally home to Washington state. She has shared so much about her missions trip with us and soon I will have more details and pictures to share with you all. She is quite happy to be home now.

We came home and dished up ice cream with yummy strawberry syrup (thank you Erica!!

) and I went to bed and I know my girls talked until late into the evening. Emily and Leanne were so happy to see each other. They are very close and missed each other something terrible so their reunion was a most welcome close to all the summer adventures.

I do know I need an airport break! LOL I have been to the airport 5 times in 10 days and been through security 3 times.. I think I have become a pro at it! LOL.. Now it is time to start thinking about fall, grandbabies due and starting school with my kids.. oh and Leanne will be working to get her drivers permit. Just when I finished one it is time to start the next..

Blueberry Muffin Recipe Correction

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine flour and baking soda. In a small bowl combine the rest of the ingredients, melting the coconut oil slightly before adding. Add this to the flour and baking soda and stir until just mixed. Stir in the blueberries.

Sunday on the Homestead

Today has been a quiet day here on my homestead. The weather is warming up again after a couple cool and wet days. The weather people predict more sunshine coming our way!

I am happy for the quiet day as Friday and Saturday were busy days filled with a bit of stress.

On Friday Emily had another CLEP test. It was Western Civilization I and she was not feeling very confidant. Her study times had been hit and miss as the babies she nanny’s were dealing with colds and teething. She went ahead and took the test anyway and passed just fine. After she finishes 3 more tests she will have her first year of college credits completed. Not bad for starting in May of this year. I just can’t say enough good things about College Plus and thinking “outside the box” when it comes to a college education. But of course most of my life has been thinking “outside the box” so it seems like something that just fits right for our family. After the testing we did some shopping and came home. I had all the kids with me and every time I take the crew out and about I seem to forget something even though it is written on my list. Must be the distractions!

But that is ok, I will pick up the missed items next week.

On Saturday morning Emily had her test for her driver’s license and thankfully she passed! So now that is 4 down and 4 to go (I have taught half my kids to drive and have the other half still to do). Having both tests right next to each other was a bit nerve wracking for her and of course mom feels the stresses too. But today we are both thankful to have it all behind us. The funny thing was that after she got her license I did the driving because she could not drive until we contact our insurance and put her on the plan. The ironies of life.. you get your license and can’t drive! LOL.. in fact I will have to take her to work tomorrow because the insurance office won’t open until after she is at work. But starting Tuesday she will be good to go.

After we came home yesterday Emily and Sierra made pizza for dinner. Emily loves to cook and she cooks and plays in the kitchen to unwind. I have to admit I don’t mind this little hobby of hers! Haa.. haa.. I did not have to cook dinner and the pizza was delicious. She made one vegetarian pizza with homemade ranch dressing as the sauce and it was sooo good. She covered that pizza with onions, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes and artichoke hearts. The other two were salami, sausage and pepperoni with onions and mushrooms. All of them were yummy.

Updates on Leanne … she should be heading to debrief in

Switzerland

at this point. Her 4 weeks in

Egypt

are up and it sounds like they were incredibly productive weeks. I do hope her team got to do a little sight seeing before they left. She really wanted to see the pyramids. I can’t imagine going to

Egypt

and not seeing them. After 2 weeks in debrief she will be home and we are so excited to see her. We have missed her so much and the house does not seem the same without her sweet presence.

The rest of my kids are busy preparing for a few days of vacation on their own. Jacob and Sierra will be going to see my daughter Carolyn and sightseeing in Washington DC and Emily will soon have a couple of weeks off and will be spending them with my wonderful sister in law in Illinois. She is taking Isaac with her. So everyone will have had a little trip this summer. I am thankful for our flight benefits that allow for us to do things like this. My hubby is an airline mechanic and works for a regional airline and we can fly for free which makes opportunities like these doable for my children.

Looking now to the week ahead I see a lot business as usual here on my homestead and helping my kids get ready for their trips.

That is all from my homestead on this beautiful sunny summer Sunday. Hope you all are enjoying a restful Sunday on your homestead.

Monday on the Homestead

I tossed and turned a lot last night. I do attribute my restless night to the two cups of black tea I drank in the evening… I love a cup of tea in the evenings and black tea is my favorite.. but I pay for it. I will have to be a good girl next time and drink some herb tea instead. Despite the lack of good sleep I was up at 5:30 this morning. I had a cup of coffee, checked my email and enjoyed some quiet time.

Emily was up a little after 6 and she had her coffee and Bible time. I packaged orders and then it was time to get her to work. She has not gotten her drivers license yet.. that will hopefully happen at the end of the week. She has scheduled a drive test for Saturday morning and we are praying she passes. Then she will do the 5 minute drive to work herself!

But I have not minded.. she drives down the hill and after saying good bye to her I drive back up the hill.

By the time I got back Tobin was home from work and we chatted for awhile and then he went to bed. The younger kids started waking up one by one. They spent the first part of their morning reading their Bibles and then had the last of the blueberry muffins (the ones I made on Saturday) and a pineapple smoothie for breakfast.

Then it was on to a little light housecleaning. Isaac vacuumed the rugs by the doors, Sierra unloaded the dishwasher and reloaded it and also washed some dishes by hand. Then she swept the kitchen floor and with Isaac’s help they did a super duper scrub the kitchen floor by hand cleaning.. I went back over the floor with Mop and Glo.. My kitchen floor is quite high maintenance but it looking pretty nice right now.

I also worked a little on a baby blanket I am crocheting for my daughter Hannah. I think I made a mistake somewhere because it is not looking right on the sides… here I thought I was doing so well and now it looks like I will need to pull some stitches out!

The rest of day I plan to go and look through some books on my shelves and in boxes. I am going to order a little curriculum and need to see what I have so I don’t order something I already own. After Tobin gets up him and I will head into town for our little date afternoon/night.. or maybe I should say our one on one time. Our first stop will be Starbucks (can you tell I like my coffee.. LOL). Then we just sit and enjoy some time chatting with each other before we head off to run errands. Sometimes we end the evening by going out to dinner and sometimes we are ready to come home and enjoy the evening with the kids watching whatever our favorite TV show is. Currently we have two going. We finished season 3 of Alias and I ordered season 4 but it has not come. So in the meantime I started ordering LOST through Netflix. I figured it would only be a couple of times and then Alias would arrive.. but my seller on Amazon is making me a bit irritated. No response to my emails and no acknowledgement from him that he even got my order. So I think I will be filing a claim with Amazon and ordering from a different seller.

Dinner tonight is leftover Hamburger Pineapple Bean Bake and leftover casserole from last night and some leftover coleslaw. I will add some tortilla chips to it and I think I will have Sierra bake some cookies and we will be set.. or the kids will be set if Tobin and I decide to have dinner in town.

What’s Been Cooking in My Kitchen

I started cooking my beans first thing this morning. While they were cooking I ground up some soft white wheat and used it to make Blueberry Muffins. I purchased some more organic blueberries in my last Azure Standard order and wanted to use them.

After they were done cooking I cleaned things up did a little house work and then my beans were done. I assembled my bean dish. Then I made a dessert for after dinner and I know after you read the title you will think I have gone a little nutty with my beans.. but I have to tell you it was soooo good!! I made Pinto Bean Cake. My kids ate it, knowing there were pinto beans in it (it is extremely difficult to be stealthful in this house LOL).. They took their first bites waiting to taste beans and they could not! J They gave it a “2 thumbs up” and Jacob (my bottomless stomach) had seconds. Here is a picture of the finished cake and then one piece I served up with a scoop of ice cream. The glaze topping is poured on while the cake is hot and it sinks into the cake making it so moist and yummy!

In a mixer cream together butter and cane juice crystals. Add eggs mixing well after each one is added. Add pinto bean puree and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a 9x13 pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 325 for 1 hour.

Combine 1 cup dried pinto beans and 4 cups water in a medium size sauce pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover and cook beans for about 3 hours or until they are soft. When the beans have finished cooking, drain them saving the bean broth. Put beans in blender and add a couple of tablespoons of the broth and blend until the beans are smooth. Add more broth if needed, but not too much. The beans should be the consistency of refried beans.

Woo Hoo the Winters Wood is In!!

After more than a month of working on the project we are thrilled to be able to say the wood is in for the winter! Tobin and the boys worked tirelessly to cut down trees, limb trees, and clean up trees that had broken during the winter’s ice storm. All in all it is approx. 6 cords of wood. Our place looks great and the wood is in. What a great feeling.

Tobin and I were both quite proud of the youngest three kids as they worked to help with this task. Jacob especially has really done a lot of maturing in the last year. He is a hard worker and knows how to put in a man’s days work, not a bad thing for a 14 year old to know. He is even sought after by the neighbor to do work for him. This year Jacob has learned to use a chainsaw (it is a smaller electric one).. he used it to cut up all the small pieces of wood that were brought in (and there was a LOT of them). He made a stand to hold the tree limbs in so he could easily cut them. He also learned how to drive Tobin’s tractor and use it around the property to bring in wood, move piles of leaves and sticks and any other task Tobin needed his help with. He is proficient with mowers, weed wackers and a host of other tools. Just had to take a moment here and share with you about my boy

Here are some pics of him driving the tractor during one of the wood gathering days. Sierra and Jacob are also helping with the clean up of a tree that Tobin took down..

Simple Meal: Pinto Bean Tacos

I made these for dinner last week and they were so yummy! I cooked up 3 cups of pinto beans and then made refried beans from them. Then cooked my pound of hamburger and seasoned it with taco seasonings and mixed it with the refried beans. This made a LOT of taco filling. Fed my crew for dinner and for lunch the next day and still had a little left that was finished up the next day for lunch. This could also be frozen in meal sized portions for smaller families or the recipe can easily be cut down in size to fit your family’s needs.

I used ww organic tortillas and had a salad leftover from the night before for the greens, a small amount of cheese, a dollop of organic sour cream and some yummy fire roasted salsa. It was a delicious meal and no one minded eating the leftovers!

Making Kefir From Powdered Cultures

Kefir is a cultured milk product similar to yogurt only thinner and much easier to make and reculture. If you would like to know more specific information on kefir I have an article written by a friend of mine on my site to give you more info. You can read that HERE. It has all the wonderful qualities of yogurt with the good probiotics your body needs to stay healthy.

Kefir can be made in two ways. One is to purchase kefir grains (you can read more about this in the above mentioned article). You soak milk in the grains, strain the grains and put the grains back into a clean jar and fill with milk, let it sit on your counter overnight and the next morning it is ready. I have made kefir with grains in the past. There were a few things I did not care for. One was it was a lot of maintenance. Unless you stop making kefir you have to strain it out daily and that adds up to a lot of kefir to use every day. Also the longer I made it the stronger the taste became and my family was not too thrilled with it. So I purchased some powdered kefir cultures and made it and was so much happier with the results. This is the method I will show you how to make.

I like making kefir because it is so easy! It is much easier to make than yogurt. You don’t need a lot of equipment other than a large stainless steel pot, a thermometer and a few canning jars. I use 2 2-quart jars but you can use 4 1-quart jars if that is what you have.

Besides that you will need one gallon of milk (I use whole milk) and a package of powdered kefir culture. You can purchase your cultures online at Leeners http://www.leeners.com/cheesesupply.html#buttermilk . I have purchased cheese cultures and rennet, kefir cultures, yogurt starter, buttermilk starter and more from them many times. They are a GREAT company with excellent prices and I highly recommend them.

After your cultures arrive in the mail you can gather your needed items together and get ready to make kefir! This pictures shows the jars with their lids (I buy plastic lids from Walmart or Azure Standard, they are made by Ball), a thermometer, the packet of culture and one gallon of milk.

Set your oven at medium high IF you will be watching the pot. If not you can set it on low and stir occasionally as it heats up. In any case stir now and again and check the temperature of the milk

As soon as it reaches 86 degrees remove the pot from the stove. Open the packet of kefir cultures, sprinkle over the milk and stir until dissolved

Now it is time for pour the mixture into your canning jars. I like to use a canning funnel for this job. It is not absolutely necessary but helps keep the mess at a minimum.

Put the lid on them and let them sit out on the counter for 12 to 18 hours. I try and make this in the later afternoon and then just let it sit on the counter till morning.

When the time is up you can open the lid and there is your kefir! As you can see it is nice and thick.. but not as thick as yogurt. The consistency is more like thick buttermilk.

Fill a clean canning jar ¼ full of kefir. Pour milk to the top of the jar. Cover and leave out at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours. And that is it!!

Kefir can be used in place of milk or yogurt in smoothies. That is how I like to use it most often. I have used it also in place of buttermilk for baking. But my favorite use is in smoothies.

Here is a delicious and simple strawberry kefir smoothie recipe that is perfect for these warm summer days.

Strawberry Kefir Smoothie
Crystal Miller

1 heaping cup fresh strawberries (frozen will also work)
1 cup kefir
Honey to taste, optional

Turn your blender on high and mix until all is smooth (taste to see if you want to add a little honey for sweetener at this point).

Thursday on the Homestead

I have been keeping up on the house and laundry and doing a bit of packaging and labeling of my products and filling orders. I try and get my dinner all done or in the crockpot in the morning which has left my afternoons free and that has been so nice.

Today looks like another warm day so the same program will continue.. housework, meal preps (I really need to do some baking but don’t want to heat up the house to much.. the weekend may be a bit cooler according to the weather man and I can catch up), help with the wood stacking if needed and time at the pond with kids and hubby.

Tomorrow Emily and I will head into town so she can take another CLEP test. This one will be Western Civilization I. She has been studying like a mad woman for this test as it has a lot of info to cover but she feels she will be ready for the test tomorrow. When she is done then we will go and do the weekly grocery shopping (need to finish my grocery list today too).

She is in Egypt! She arrived on the 11th of July. She called me from the airport before they left the states. She sounded happy and in good spirits and was excited that boot camp was over and they were on their way. Communication from Egypt is not as good as it was from Florida (mail is so slow and no pics to share.. etc…) so I only have the Teen Missions web updates to go on now. If you would like to read what her team has been doing since arriving at the orphanage you can read that here: http://teenmissions.org/updates/article.php?Report_pkey=1008740

Now onto budgets and saving money in the kitchen! One way I try to be frugal and save money is by using up all my leftovers. The other day I had made rice and baked chicken legs. We had a good amount of rice leftover, maybe 3 to 4 cups. Two days later the rice was still in the fridge and still good so I thought about what I could make with it. I made Salmon Patties. I did not use a recipe but having made salmon patties and other types of similar patties I was familiar with the best consistency for them. I added 2 cans of drained salmon to my rice (tuna could also be used. I buy canned salmon when it goes on sale and often have several cans in my pantry), 3 or 4 eggs, a little flour to help hold it altogether and some salt and pepper. I heated up the griddle with some olive oil and scooped out quarter cupfuls and fried them on both sides. They were delicious! I made some homemade tartar sauce (mayo, pickle juice, onions, salt, and pepper) and served it with a big green salad.

Dinner tonight will be leftovers again. I made a pot of Spicy Beef and Beans over Rice last night and I think we have enough for tonight’s dinner. If not I will mix the beef and beans with the rice and add broth and a few veggies to make it into a soup. Either way I will serve the meal with a green salad, tortilla chips and salsa.