Dinner Salad

Last night I made THE dinner salad.

In a really big bowl put:

(All chopped fine)
Lettuce
1 tart apple
chicken breast
bacon

A handful of:
dried cranberries
pecans
feta cheese

Pour over this some poppy seed dressing.

Toss to coat and let set for about 15 minutes.

Serve & enjoy!

Halloween Chips!

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!

Tomatoes...

Well, we picked our first 4 red tomatoes yesterday. So as for my plans next week...I'll probably be up to my eyeballs in tomatoes. That's when the real fun begins..cough...lol
I was trying to decide if I wanted to buy a tomato press, or food processer for my tomatoes this year since my blender is barely moving.
We decided on a blender called the Ninja. It's a biggie with 3 blades in it. I'm hoping this will do the job. If not, an express order on a press will be going out to amazon.
Hope ya'll have a good day!

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!

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!

Buying in Bulk

For a few months now I've been a happy member of a local food co-op. Now I get to order things in bulk. While there is an initial bigger check to write, I've found I'm saving some money in the long run. Most of the products are organic. So I thought I'd share what I've gotten so far:

soft white wheat berries, 25# bags

hard white wheat berries, 25# bags

pinto beans, 25# bags

ground cinnamon, 1#

basil, 1#

sesame seeds, 1#

onion powder, 1#

frozen rhubarb, 12 packages

I think that's all that I've ordered so far. The catalogs have SO much to chose from. We try to eat as natural & organic as we can, but it does get costly sometimes. I'm in the process of budgeting how I can get some more things. So far I've come up with $100 to be my budget. I spend about that at the grocery/discount stores per week so if I just replenish our milk & a couple of necessities to be bought that week I can buy some things in bulk that month.

I've introduced my sister to this too & that way if we want we can split some things. -like the rhubarb. (you can't find it anywhere around here)

I store my bulk in white 5 gallon buckets I bought new at a paint store. Make sure to get some with a good seal for the lid. Also in case you were wondering about the spices as I was...the onion powder filled 1 quart canning jar. The same for the sesame seeds & cinnamon. The basil fit tightly into 3 quart jars. Guess I'm set on basil for quite some time! :)

Tuesday- Baking and Cooking Day

What will I make today? 2 loaves of bread & 1 batch of cinnamon rolls.

Yes, we grind our own wheat. My mill is a nutrimill & our preferred grain is hard white wheat.

All-around home organization...

I didn't want to say at the time, but my children were on vacation to Alabama & Virginia with my mother for a couple of weeks. So I was here all alone during the work days. I got so much accomplished though & worked out a few things around the home that I'd been putting off for one reason or another.

In my home binder: a new monthly menu planned, pantry/shopping lists, bills in order, & new daily routines printed out

In my home: kitchen floor down, cubbords wiped down & organized, fridge wiped down & organized, all bookshelves organized, slip covers washed, bathroom cabinets all washed & organized, I also bought a potato/onion bin at a yard sale for $5 and love it...now I just need 2 more!

Homeschool: All books ordered & are now here ready to go, put a couple things on ebay, school supplies bought

I had plenty of extra time on my hands so I was able to accomplish alot. I mostly wanted to get things in order so come school time we can get back to a routine & be able to basically "upkeep" what was done.

Another thing I worked on was scheduling in a baking/cooking day. Now I prepare the majority of our meals anyway, but I am meaning like a day to bake our weekly bread & extras to freeze. I'm really trying to keep eating healthier and part of the drawbacks to all scratch meals is time. I usually have the time, but when it's getting late & we've been out or whatever then it's like what do I do now. So I made up a few things that are in the freezer now & will make at least 1 extra thing on baking day to keep it stocked.

Right now I have 2 meals frozen:

chili & vegetable barley soup

Other I made:

1 gallon bag filled with french toast

1 bag of pancakes

2 loaves strawberry bread

2 single layer zucchini cakes

All made with low or no sugar (honey) and my freshly ground flour so they are more healthy.

Baking and Cooking Day Around the Homestead

Yesterday we all went out to the lake for the day so nothing got accomplished at home. We did have a pretty good day though.

Saturday is not always the day I do cooking & baking, but that's what's on the plan for the day.
I need to make & put up:

Fresh salsa
Peach lunch box pies
2 loaves bread
hamburger buns

When hubby wakes up we will run by the produce stand to get a watermelon for our fruit for the week!

Here's our list of dinner meals for the coming week:

cowboy beans, rice, zucchini cornbread, watermelon
sloppy joes, macaroni salad, corn on cob
pork chops, baked taters, green beans
venison fajitas, pinto beans
hamburgers, fries
apple pork roast, mashed potatoes, brocoli
smoked sausage, pinto beans, salad

With those fairly big dinners we will make enough most days for left-overs for lunches. If no left-overs we'll have tuna or pb sandwiches, chips & salsa, watermelon. Breakfasts either raisin bran cereal (was on sale), pancakes, eggs, or oatmeal.

Well, soon as I finish this cup of coffee I'll get started! Hope ya'll have a super day!

Apple Butter

This was the first time I've tried this & it turned out really well.

First peel and core your apples. (Would be much faster if you had one of those neat crank peeler things, but we don't.)
Then slice them & put into a crockpot. I really didn't count how many apples, as they were on the small side. It filled up my 5 qt crockpot to over the top.
Then turn on high and allow to start cooking down a little. The lid just sat on top of the apples for about an hour or so and then it started going down.
When lid can fit right, sprinkle with 1 T. ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp salt, & 4 cups white sugar.
Stir occasionally & turn on low. Allow to cook for about 8 hours or so until it looks brown & tastes yummy.
Put into jars or freezer containers. Refrigerate or freeze.
It is pretty thick, but really yummy!

Food Storage...

Hubby helped me put the food up yesterday which made it much easier & fun. So we can now add to our list:

4 pints + 4 half-pints Apple butter

3 gallons Sliced peaches (frozen)

5 Quarts + 1 pint more pasta sauce

9 pints more enchilada sauce

Today I'm going to shred up the zucchini and put into freezer bags. I do this in 2 cup portions as that is the amount I use for soups, zucchini bread/muffins & for zucchini cornbread.

Zucchini cornbread (or could be called fritters)

1 c. corn meal

1/4 c. flour

1 level tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. soda

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. buttermilk

1 c. shredded squash (1 cup if fresh, 2 cups if frozen & squeeze all the water out that you can)

Mix dry ingredients real well. Add enough boiling water to make stiff dough. Add buttermilk and squash. Mix well. Drop by spoonfulls into a hot cast iron skillet with hot oil. Cook until golden on both sides.

This is great by itself or served along side a bowl of soup, red beans & rice, or beef tips & rice!

4th of July Harvest

Today will be spent dealing with this harvest!

HOME

A new week. I am planning on staying around the homestead most of the week. Afterall homesteading is HOME steading! lol To get most of the things done around here that I want to accomplish means just that staying HOME. It's also where my favorite 4 people are...

In the kitchen today:

16 pints of tomato sauce put up

bread rising on the counter

flours ground & put into the freezer

soup & zucchini cornbread for supper!

In the home:

Bills paid

Home management binder cleaned out & organized

laundry done

floor mopped

bathroom cleaned

Around the homestead:

1 dog in heat set up in a kennel

eggs gathered

chicken fed & watered

ducks fed & watered

dogs fed & watered

pigs fed (still had water)

water & chlorine added to swimming pool

Food Storage...

I must be honest, cooking & canning I know how to do, but the food storage aspect is fairly new to me. I am going to do my best this year to preserve at least most of the vegetables, sauces, & meats that we will use.

I've printed up some lists of things that I feel we "need" in the household & then food & other items that maybe aren't 100% necessities, but things we like to have around. ~example...peroxide is a need in case of injury, ketchup we all like but would survive without. lol

Today I thought I'd start with meats.

I must admit I'm blessed with the fact that other than a couple of chickens a month or some canned tuna I have not had to purchase meat at a grocery store in about 2 years!

I never thought that was possible, but here's how we have done it.

Beef- a friend raises a cow for us that will be ready in the fall. Come next spring we will be raising our own steer!

Pork- we raise our own hogs

Venison- I'm lucky to have 2 hunters that usually get at least a couple of deer a year, sometimes more.

Fish- I've also got fishermen. We live about 5 miles from a big lake so we usually have bream, catfish, perch, & bass in the freezer.

I have not canned meat, but I have canned the stock & it's delicious.I saw a recipe online for a chunky type beef stew that you can. I plan on trying this and also canning some of the beef in chunks this in broth.There are many recipes online to do this & my pressure canner came with some recipes as well.

Anyone have anything to share about this? Any recipes for storing meats? Just leave me a comment...

Tamales, A Family Affair

This past weekend we made a big batch of tamales. All of us had our part in the "assembly line."

We used the recipe from Alton Brown (Good eats on food network) The only thing we changed was that we cooked 2 whole chickens overnight in the roaster oven & used this meat in place of the pork in his recipe.

They turned out GREAT!!!

We ate a bunch that night & the next day for lunch. The rest were wrapped in newspaper & placed in the freezer.

There was a pretty good bit of chicken filling left-over so I divided it in 2 and used one part to make chicken enchiladas for supper last night...oh yeah! I will share that recipe later.