Thursday, January 20, 2011

Fall Garden video.MP4

I almost forgot...we now have a youtube channel! Here's video #1. I hope to do more soon. If you like it, please subscribe to our channel. ~Thanks!

Deals for the week...

First let me say, I don't normally shop at County Market, as the stores around here aren't in the best of areas. However, you can take your ad to Wal-mart & they will match the prices so that is what I do. There is alot on sale, but I'll share the things I would possibly use or buy:

Del Monte Ketchup .88 for 24oz bottle (I've tried homemade ketchup & org & we really don't care for any we've tried so far)
Tony Chachere's Rice Mix .88 for 8oz box (their dirty rice is pretty good if you don't like to make your own)
5lb bag red potatoes $1.48
Jumbo roma tomatoes .98 lb.
Fresh green onions 2/.88
Florida sunburst tangerines 10/$1.99
3lb. bag red delicious apples $2.98
Sunkist tuna .58 (not as good as the .44 deal I got a while back, but not bad for today's prices)

Brookshires Deals:
3lb bag boneless/skinless chicken breast fillets 2/$10
hass avocados $1 each (says large & my daughter loves them. Fish tacos are on the menu so I'll probably get a few)
Charmin tp & bounty towels 8pk 2/$10
Maxwell house coffee 4/$10 (hubby takes coffee thermos everyday to work)
Kotex fem care 4/$10 I think I have coupons for this!
Colgate toothbrushes 10/$10
Cabot cheese 2/$4 (My favorite is the white sharp cheddar)
There are many other 10 for $10 deals this week there too. No where do I see where you HAVE to buy 10 for them to be $1 each (unlike Kroger where you do). Brookshires also does double & triple coupons!

Thursday already...

This week has flown by for me!
On Tuesday I watched a show called "Extreem Couponing." Anyone else see it? Anyhoo...these people saved so much by using coupons. I'm talking like a bill over $600 down to $50. Another woman had over $200 and got it down to $6!!! So I started investigating. I've been looking online and in the sale ads but so far no super deals like they got. I must admit I'm skeptical about coupons. In the past it seems like most of them are for things we don't buy anyway like alot of boxed dinners, processed meats, etc. I do however usually use the ones for toothpaste & other personal care products. So I'm just going to keep an eye out & start collecting coupons a little more & see how I do.
I'm really working hard on getting things cleaned out & organized around my house. It seems like there are always areas that tend to collect junk around here. So this week I did get my desk area organized. That included going through old magazines, filing cabinets, & tossing (actually burning) old bill statements & things like that.
I also made up new lesson plans for my children for them to begin next Mon. Schooling is another area where I feel we are needing more organization. I found a really neat book with some art projects in it for Abby's history for the next few weeks. With my children being ages 16 & 12 they can do much more on there own. This has freed my time up some so I can work on my own projects more too.
I've also gotten a new meal plan made for my binder. I plan on updating that today.
It's cold & wet again...and very muddy around here so other than to feed the animals I really plan on spending most of our time indoors. Get a load of laundry done & possibly clean out the pantry.
Hope ya'll have a nice day!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Deal of the day...


Beans & Rice...
Brookshires has 1lb. bags of pinto beans & 1lb. bags of rice for .79 cents. So stock up!

Friday around the homestead...

It's another cold one today. I plan on baking some bread & some hot pocket type pies. I saw the recipe in a magazine and don't rember it all, but basically it's a flaky pie type dough with a filling of meat & sweet potatoes. I'm just going to season it up where it tastes good & then bake the little pies. I figure they will be good for lunches.

I also plan on figuring out my co-op orders for the future. I think if I plan more carefully I can get stocked up & save some money.

Take care all & hope you have a great day!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Crockpot soup (Semi-homemade)

Potato ham chowder

1 box scallop potatoes
1 can ham
4 cups chicken broth
3 green onions
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cups milk
1/3 cup flour

Place potatoes, sauce packet, ham, broth, onions, & pepper in crockpot. Turn on high. Allow to cook for about 3 hours. Then place the milk & flour into a jar. Shake well to get out all lumps. When potatoes are tender pour this in and stir. Allow to cook for about another 20-30 minutes. Serve.

This was really good! I'm adding it to my recipe binder as an easy meal to have on hand.

Deals this week...CARROTS


It's not advertised, but Super 1 has 5lb bags of whole carrots for $2.50 so that's .50 lb. Anyhow, here's what I did...
1. Bought some carrots.
2. Peel, wash, & slice them into rounds.
3. Blanch in salted water for 3-5 minutes.
4. Allow to dry a little on a clean towel.
5. Place into freezer bags & freeze.
Use just as you would any other frozen carrots but feel happy that you spent way less!
Don't foget that carrots are good for your eyes...Did you ever see a rabbit wearing glasses???

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Plain old pintos

Here is a favorite dish around here that's cheap & easy. You can cook these on the stovetop, crockpot, or pressure cooker. The ingredients are the same the time only changes by the desired way of cooking.

1/2 cup of pintos per person
3x the amount of water
(so for our family I put 2 cups beans, 6 cups water)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder or a couple fresh cloves
1 tsp basil

Put all in pot and allow to cook until tender. For pressure cooker this will take about 35 minutes at 15lbs pressure.

I usually double or triple this recipe when I make it. Freeze left overs for refried beans, bean soup, or anything you would use pintos in.

For our meal last night we had a bowl of beans with a few jalapeno slices mixed in and a tad of the pepper juice. Along side we had warm corn tortillias with butter. A big slice of cornbread & rice is good with this too!

Monday, January 10, 2011

The "not so glamorous" life on the homestead


Funny to me that I would say that some think living like we do would be glamorous...however when you look at the pretty pictures and magazine articles about farming & homesteading it tends to always lean tward the "glamorous" side.
While I love living the way we do, it's not reality to think you can wake up to a perfectly landscaped lawn, beautiful roosters crowing, and go take a dip in the gorgeous, bug free pond and lounge for the day while sipping on fresh squeezed lemonade and then go and admire the ever-so-tidy home and rows of canned goods without realizing the work that has gone into them. I love looking at that stuff too but I thought today I'd share a winter day with you.
Let's start off with that we had an ice storm yesterday and it's now melting, even though it's still really cold out. Then on Saturday evening my husband's back got a pinched nerve (for which he's at the chiropractor right now with our son) So....chores were up to us.
Back to my day... I did sleep in a bit, then did the usual morning routine: make coffee, breakfast, computer a bit, and even watched a show with the kids. Then I made a batch of lye soap. Did some laundry, and cleaned up the kitchen & washroom.
The chiropracter called to say they could get him in so he & my son left.
I bundled up and went out to get the feeding and watering done. I guess the chickens were impatient as feeding was a little later than usual and one jumped on my head as I was getting the feed out and scratched me. (peroxide has been applied!) Then I fed the banty chickens that are in separate cages for now. Then off to the ducks, the little pig, and then the other chicken coop. While in there I realized the tarps we are using as a temporary roof have come apart so they are able to get out. Luckily I guess they didn't realize that yet. So I got a pole and tried to prop it up in the middle to shake off some of the snow & ice. Well of course it fell and then so did a chunk of ice on my head (guess it was my day for head injuries)lol. So I finally got that fixed good enough. Then I fed the dogs in the kennels. Well one of them had pooed in his bowl (who knows why) So I cleaned that out but of course he jumped on me in the process and of course when I turned on the hose to clean out the bowl someone had left the spout on so it sprayed all over me. By now my gloves were soaked and my hands were freezing. Then it was off to the back to feed the hogs. While back there they jumped up and splashed pig mud on me. Lastly I fed the dogs in the yard, who also enjoyed jumping around in the mud right by me. So finally I was headed back inside... freezing hands, wet, and probably had just about every kind of manure on me somewhere.---How glamorous!
So here I now sit at my computer. In my warm little house with blankets hung over the windows to help keep the cold out. I have a pot of beans in the pressure cooker and a warm fire in the fireplace. AND still I'm thankful for being able to live the way we do! ~Perhaps only other homesteaders would understand...