Homemaking on the Homestead

What a busy week. I have been taking care of a lot of things in my home this week. Our school year is in full swing and going well. I have been baking and cooking with the secondary motivation to warm up the house. We have been enjoying many fall like mornings and evenings with sun during the day. I have been making a lot of soups and baking bread and rolls.. does a great job of warming things up!   Yesterday the rain came and it looks like it is going to stay now for a few days.. Gotta work on that 75 to 100 inches of rain year!  One nice thing about the rain is that it means we most likely won’t be running out of water. Our water comes from a spring. If the weather goes dry for an extended period of time then our spring dries up. We have a second spring that we pump from when this happens but we can’t drink the water so we have to buy drinking water or get it from our very kind neighbor who lets us fill up our wat...

My son who is in the Army is on his way to Iraq .  If it comes to mind, prayers for him (and us.. sniff, sniff) and all our soldiers over there, would be appreciated. 

  Today is looking like a beautiful fall day!! It will be sunny and about 70 with the morning and evening very cool. We had a few days this last week that we thought about starting a fire in the morning to take the chill off.. but we did not. Instead I just put a pot of soup to simmer on the stove and started doing some baking! That did the trick.    This last week has been busy. It has been our first week of school. So far the kids like the new curriculum and things seem to be flowing smoothly. I am working on a new routine with school and housework so I can better keep it altogether around here!   I had someone here on the blog and my message board ask me about he fire in my area. It is several miles from me so I am fine.. (thank you for asking  ).. But I am keeping that area in my prayers.. 3 or 4 houses have burned, last I heard and several families have been evacuated so it is not sounding good at all. ...

  I have 2 new soap scents ready for fall time at Crystal’s Country Store ..  _   Oak Leaves and Acorns :  a very pleasant combination of rustic pine, wild violets and fall leaves.  This one is a favorite of mine!   Brown Sugar & Spice: This one is pretty much what is says.. a scent of brown sugar with spice…. and a little hint of vanilla. If you like the scent "warm vanilla sugar" I am sure you will like this one!   And I carry another favorite Pumpkin Spice all year long due to its popularity!  -    

  After 3 months and lots of work, the south side of our house is finally finished; at least the living room and the sunroom. The windows to the far left are another project for another year.. we have big plans..   but they will have to wait for another summer! We also are working a little bit on the east side of the house; we put in a new front door and are doing some painting. But the changes don’t seem as dramatic as this side.    I have been asked by a couple people if I would share pics of our remodel job.. so here they are!   Here is a pic of what it looks like now…  - - Here is what it looked like before… -   I am very proud of my hubby Tobin.. he did all the work himself.. including building the window frames and doing a lot of repair. The house was built in 1925 and there is/was dry rot in a few areas. He has repaired all of it in this part of the house (and he repaired rotten areas o...

  3 cups milk 3T cornstarch 2 chicken bouillon cubes Salt and pepper to taste 4 cups cooked, cubed chicken 2 cans green beans (or 1qt. home canned green beans), drained 2 cups homemade croutons (recipe follows) cheddar cheese     In a sauce pan, combine milk and cornstarch and stir until dissolved. Turn heat on and add bouillon cubes, salt and pepper. Whisk and stir until bubbling and thick. Remove from heat. Stir in chicken and green beans. Pour into 9x13 pan. Top with homemade croutons and as much or as little cheese as you desire. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly and cheese is melted.   To make croutons for this recipe:   Cut up 4 to 6 slices of bread (enough to make a generous 2 cups) into cubes. Melt ½ cup butter in a medium hot frying pan. Add bread and gently stir and let them absorb the butter. Stir and mix and cook them until crusty and browned. Remove from heat and use in ...

  It has been almost 2 weeks since I have blogged. We have had a lot going on here on our homestead and I have not had a lot of extra time.    Last week I took several trips into town; all necessary, but more than I usually do. I had a nice day with my daughter Emily. Her and I went to the mall and shopped and had lunch and frappuccino’s and just had some nice mom/daughter time. Tobin and I made a trip to town and then there was another one for some grocery shopping.   The biggest highlight of last week was my daughter Leanne’s birthday! She turned 16 and of course I ask myself the same question.. Where have all the years gone!!   We celebrated her day with family. It was very nice.  I am thankful for the love of family. We were all so blessed by the visit from my brother in law and his new bride and her children. It made Leanne’s day even more special.  - -   I made some peach ja...

  Sunday: Pot roast in crockpot Yummy Pinto Beans Salad Peanut butter pie   Monday: Baked fish Laurie’s macaroni & cheese Salad   Tuesday: Meatloaf Cheesy potatoes Green beans   Wednesday: Crockpot chicken enchiladas Chips & salsa Salad   Thursday: ~Happy Birthday Leanne!~ Pizza!!   Friday: Soup made from leftovers on Sunday French bread or dinner rolls Salad   Saturday: Spaghetti French bread Fresh veggie of some sort  

  After I posted last weeks menu I got a few recipe requests and here they are:   I had a couple requests for the pizza rice casserole. It was very good!    Pizza Rice Casserole Crystal Miller   2 cups cooked brown rice 1 ½ cups cottage cheese 1 lb. sausage or hamburger or a combo of both 1 onion, chopped 1 -14oz can diced tomatoes 1 -8oz can tomato sauce 2 t Italian seasonings ½ t salt Mozzarella cheese Optional: Pepperoni Black olives, sliced   Combine cooked rice and cottage cheese and spread into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Cook sausage and onions until sausage is done and onions are soft. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasonings and salt. Spread this over the top of the rice. If you want to use the optional items layer those on top of the sausage/tomato mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese (as much or as little as desired). Bake at 325 for 30 minutes or until all is bubbly and hot and cheese has melte...