Cooking Day Today

I had a cooking day today.
I made:
Granola cereal
Chewy granola bars - heavenly homemakers recipe
Mexican chocolate dipped pecans
Breakfast burritos (freezer)

Tomorrow I plan on making:
applesauce muffins (freezer) - heavenly homemakers recipe
pancakes (freezer and for our breakfast)

I also cleaned out 2 of the pantries and the small freezer. I spent most of the day indoors other than to hang clothes on the line. It's been around 106-110 the last few days so the dryer will not be on any time soon! The only plus is the clothes sure don't take long to dry.

Well, not quite...

I posted on Mon. that I was glad my canning season was over. Well, I should have said "mostly" over. My husband made a run through the remains of the garden & came in with a big basket full of jalapeno peppers. So yesterday I canned 5 more pints of sliced peppers.
I see lots of nachos and spicey food in our future!

How to can jalapeno slices:
#1 most important tip is WEAR GLOVES!!!
Next wash and slice the peppers. (you could remove the seeds, but who really has time for that?)
Place in clean jars.
Then in a big pot fill with half white vinegar & have water.
Put 1/4 tsp salt into the jars on top of the peppers.
The pour the very hot vinegar water mixture on leaving the headspace.
Quickly wipe rims & put on your lids & rings.
Leave untouched on the counter & they will seal.
--Now, technically the book says you have to water bath process these for about 10 minutes. So I need to add that. --However I don't & they have lasted for years. So it's up to you.

Canning season

My summer canning season is over...whew!

Now time to start some decluttering that's gotten away from me!

Homemade Ketchup

It is a tad spicey for my daughter's taste so later in the week I made a batch omitting the cayenne pepper...and it was DELISH!

The rest of the family LOVED the spicey flavor. My son said it was the best ketchup he's ever had!


It was a bit time consuming but, as with all other homemade goods, I know exactly what's in mine. to make 5 pints there was 1 cup of sugar, tomatoes, 1 onion, vinegar, & seasonings. 1 cup of sugar is not too bad when you figure that's divided among 5 pints. -Most ketchups contain lots more sugar and/or corn syrup along with loads of other un-pronouncables.

So homemade ketchup gets a big thumbs up. I now have 9 jars preserved and 1 in the fridge!

1,2,3, Easy & Delicious Chicken Dinner

#1-Place some chicken in crockpot (bone in or out). Pour on a can of cream of chicken soup. Then sprinkle on some cajun seasoning (we use Tony's). Cover and cook for about 7 hours.
#2-When almost done, make some noodles, mashed potatoes, or rice to smother with the delicious gravy that this will make in the crockpot.
#3-Open a can of veggies and viola!

Ketchup

Going to attempt to make ketchup for the first time today!

A little of what I've been up to...

I made 17 jars of tomato juice today & 17 jars of tomato sauce. In the picture are some jars of pasta/spaghetti sauce I made a couple of days ago.

Tomorrow I've got a bushel of tomatoes & peppers waiting to be made into chunky salsa. Whew...

Meatball subs

Oven Meatball subs:

1lb ground beef or pork
1/2 cup oats
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder

Also need 1 jar spaghetti sauce, hotdog buns, & motzarella cheese.

Mix all in bowl. Place meatballs in a 9x13 casserole dish. Put in oven at 350* for about 30-40 minutes or until done.
Then pour on a jar of red pasta/spaghetti sauce.
Put back in oven for about 10 minutes or until bubbly.
Slice meatballs in half (or if you make smaller ones leave them whole). Lay on a hotdog bun & sprinkle with motzarella cheese.
Delish!
**As with almost all my recipes feel free to replace some ingredients with what you have. Use fresh garlic, spices, or onions. Use breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs in place of oats. Use cheddar cheese, or no cheese, whatever! lol This is just what we had tonight.

FLYing again

A few years ago I read a book by the flylady. I followed her guides and for about a year or so my home & house were running like a well-oiled machine. Then, I really don't know or remember why, but I got out of the routines. Many things have happened in our lives since then & I feel the need for more order around here. So...I checked the book out at the library & her we go again! I like to start things on Monday's so today is my first day back to doing the "baby steps."
Also today I've got laundry going & then after a little break in the pool I'll get back to making tomato sauce. We've got tomatoes galore! With prices being around $2 and up per pound I feel very greatful to have all of these tomatoes.

My Friday & Homeschool Planning

I've already got the tomatoes on the stove to boil for spaghetti sauce. I decided that since I've got the peppers & spices I'll go ahead and season this batch up. (The others I've done this year are plain)
Also today I think my mom, niece, & nephew are going to come over and swim. It looks to be in the high 90's again. The pool stays shaded about half through the day so that is nice. What's not nice is, and I do this almost every year, I swam & layed on my raft yesterday with my daughter & guess who's got a sunburn today??? Not too bad but I'm a pinky face, sholders, back, etc. Today the sunscreen will be loaded on!
While my sauce is simmering, I'm trying to plan out next year's homeschool curriculum. A little while back we changed some things & I think I've finally found a good balance of what we do. We are mostly of what I like to call "Real learning." We do a math curriculum (saxon) and then lots of reading, writing & practical "real" learning. Gardening, animal care, cooking, canning, caring for the home, shopping, budgeting, shopping, and of course we start our day off with devotions & Bible reading.
Things I am thinking of ordering this year are:
Apologia Botany
A good sketch pad (or the notebook thing that goes along with the botany book)
good colored pencils
LLATL
I already have everything else & more so unless something pops out at me as I'm browsing the RR & CBD websites that will probably be all we need.

Tomato sauce

Making tomato sauce again today. Using my most favorite & easy recipe from heavenly homemaker.

Wash & core tomatoes. Put in blender & blend up. Put in pot and cook down to desired consistancy. Then waterbath for 25 minutes.

Perfect, yummy, fresh sauce everytime!

...today will make 10 pints jarred up!

More food storage

Today I've got some sad news...a gopher has killed one of my big yellow squash plants. -Stinker-
Also most of my cucumbers!!!

Anyhow, the good news is I picked a batch of green beans yesterday. Also our ton of potato plants will be harvested over the weekend so I'm hoping for a good crop of them. The fun/neat thing about potatoes is it's like you're digging up burried treasure. You never know what you've got until you dig!

Today I will be freezing squash & making a couple of squash casseroles to freeze for busy nights. Also more bell peppers to freeze. I'm going to make some stuffed bell peppers (the same recipe I shared here) to freeze as well.

This and a quick trip to the library & my mom's should keep us busy for the day.

Food Storage Update

8 pts jalapeno slices

2 qts jalapeno slices

4 pts & 2 half pits of grape jelly made

4 half pints apple jelly made (this one didn't set up so now I need to see what I can do with it) Any ideas???

Also got some squash blanched & frozen & 3 gallon bags of bell peppers.

Today's kitchen tasks:

Make 2 loaves bread & 1 batch sandwich buns

Make granola

Make 1 batch cookies

Get stew going in the crockpot

I figure since it's going to be in the 90's and I'll have to run the big oven I may as well get several things done at one time. Mostly I use my little electric oven out on the porch during summer. The crockpot is run outdoors mostly too!

Menu for March

I've decided to go back to doing my main shopping 1x a month. Here's what's on the menu for the month:

Breakfasts- eggs, sausage, bacon, oatmeal, granola, toast, french toast, pancakes, waffles, biscuits, gravy, applesauce muffins, ham, smoothies

Lunches- left-overs, salad, sandwiches (tuna, turkey, ham, cheese, pb&j, blt), pita with guac or hummus, crackers & cream cheese or peanutbutter, applesauce, fresh fruit

Snacks or to-go bags- vienna sausages (I hate these but the kids & hubby love them), nuts, granola, string cheese, crackers, yogurt

Dinners-

1-bean burritos, chips & salsa

2-crunchy tacos, rice

3-flautas, rice, salad

4- enchilada casserole, rice, mexi-corn

5-spaghetti, meatballs, garlic rolls

6-feticcuine w/clam sauce, garlic rolls

7-lasaguna roll-ups, garlic toast, salad

8-vegetable soup, crackers

9-chicken stirfry, fried rice

10-blueberry pancakes, sausage

11-fritata w/veggies, biscuits

12-lentil soup, cornbread

13-chicken fried stead, mash pot w/gravy, green beans

14-chicken in white sauce, mash pot, peas

15-homemade chicken nuggets, baked pot, corn on cob

16-pork cutlets, rice, honey carrots

17- grilled pork chops, sweet potatoes, peas

18- shish kabobs (steak, peppers, mushrooms) grilled potatoes w/onions

19-grilled rib eyes, boiled green beans w/potatoes, cornbread

20- grilled pork steaks & hot dogs, macaroni salad

21- crockpot stew, cornbread

22-crockpot pintos

23- crockpot beef tips & rice, peas

24- crockpot pork roast w/sour kraut, potatoes, mustard greens

25- sloppy joes, fries

26- mexican cornbread casserole, salad, & fruit cobbler

27-hamburgers, fries

28-boiled shrimp, corn, & potatoes

29- pizza

30-pizza

To fit my budget I've set for the next 30 days I will be making just about everything from scratch that I can. I will also buy a couple of things still every week like a gallon milk, lettuce, & fresh fruit. Other than that my shopping is done!

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!

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!

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.

Playing around

I've been having fun playing around with the blog templates this afternoon. I'm waiting for dinner to come out of the oven. We're having chicken casserole, peas, & apple pie for dessert.
We watch Survivor on Wednesday's so we'll have our pie then! Just wish I had some fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream to go with it...

Canned fruit dessert

Ok so I've been using up some of the things in my pantry & I've vowed not to shop this next week. Tonight we are having hamburgers on homemade buns, sweet potato fries & pineapple peach dessert.

Canned or frozen fruit dessert

I made this one up and used a cobbler type top.

Today I used abou 2 cups frozen peach slices & 1 can crushed pineapple.

Take 2 cans of fruit or about 4 cups frozen. Put them in a pan with a little cinnamon & 1/2 cup sugar. (if your fruit has syrup then only put 1/4 cup sugar or none at all depending how sweet you like things. So put this in a pan and bring to a boil.
While waiting on this to boil, mix up 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, & 2 tsp baking powder. Mix together and then pour in 3/4 cup milk. Mix until smooth.
Now, grease a 9x13 pan with some butter. Pour in the fruit. Then pour the batter over the top. Bake for about 40 minutes. Then sprinkle with some cinnamon & sugar. Put back in the oven for a few minutes until set & golden.