Homemaking on the Homestead

  This afternoon was a little busy in the kitchen. It was a quiet afternoon and seemed like a good day to get a few things done. We ate up just about all our turkey. It lasted Thursday, Friday and Saturday for lunch. On Saturday evening I took what little meat that was left off the bird and used most of it in a Me xican rice casserole. I mixed about 5 cups cooked brown rice with 3 cups chopped turkey, 1 can spicy tomatoes, a little salsa and put it in a 9x13 pan, topped it with cheese and baked it until the cheese was melted and all was hot. While that was baking I made a double batch of my Cuban black bean patties (a new recipe that is in my Cooking with Beans! eBook). We had the rice casserole, black bean patties and salad for dinner.    Today I took the carcass and covered it with water, added a chopped onion, chopped celery and salt and it is currently simmering on the stove. I will leave it simmering until tomorrow mornin...

  Do you have leftover turkey meat to use up and need some ideas? We usually eat Thanksgiving dinner the day after but by the 3rd day we are ready for something different. I find just about any recipe that uses cooked chicken works quite well with cooked turkey. The recipes below are actually chicken recipes but you can just sub turkey meat in place of the chicken:   Turkey Enchiladas This recipe is for the enchilada sauce. Fill corn or whole wheat tortillas with chopped up turkey and cheese. Roll them up and place in a 9x13 pan (or 9x9 or 11x15 pan, depending on how many people you are feeding). Pour enchilada sauce over all, top with more cheese and bake at 350 until all is hot and bubbly and cheese has melted. Sweet and Sour Turkey Turkey Lasagna Black Bean Turkey Chili Turkey Pot Pie Turkey Green Bean Casserole Ranch House Turkey Casserole Turkey Tettrazzini for the Freezer     And finally the last thing I do with my turkey is make Turkey Noodle ...

  Well we are in Thanksgiving home recovery mode today! LOL.. Time for clean up and then bringing out the Christmas decorations. I have already decorated my website and blog!     We had a very nice Thanksgiving. It was just the kids, Tobin and me and Tobin’s dad came too. The food was delicious. We ate dinner at about 3:00 and then I took a nap..  Funny how turkey does that to a person  . While I napped the kids and Tobin played Taboo. Then we moved onto pumpkin and apple pie.  Emily was in charge of table decorations and she did such a nice job. Here is a pic of the table and place settings…   .   . Here is a pic of me and Emily and Leanne '     And one of Isaac being his silly little self  .   . Grandpa left to go home around 6:30 and we all chatted in the living room until about 8:00 and decided it was time to watch a couple episodes of LOST. Then it was bedtime...

    Well my house has been full of activity, voices chatting and music playing today.  The girls and I have been baking and cooking in preparation for tomorrow. We started the morning by putting on Christmas music to give us all a holiday feel.     And it worked.. we rolled up our sleeves and got busy in the kitchen. Amazing what four ladies working side by side can accomplish.   So far here is what we have done: Pot roast in the crockpot (that is for tonight’s dinner) Bread cubed and dried for stuffing (I’ll make the stuffing tomorrow morning) 2 pumpkin pies made 1 batch dinner roll dough made, rolled into rolls and flash frozen. We will take them out of the freezer tomorrow morning and bake them as soon as the turkey comes out of the oven. 1 apple pie is currently being made 8lbs potatoes peeled Jello salad all made   Tomorrow will be a quiet Thanksgiving Day with my family but I am very much looking forward ...

  Sierra is my 7th child and 5th daughter. She turned 13 yesterday!  One more teenager in the home!   She had a great day. After church Emily and Leanne took her and her best friend Makayla shopping in the city.  Then they came home to pizza dinner and birthday celebrations. Sierra actually had a weekend full of birthday excitement. Makayla’s mom took the two of them to the Revolve Tour . They spent Friday evening and all day Saturday there and both girls had a wonderful time.    Here are a few pictures from her birthday.. . .       Makayla and Sierra     . Happy Birthday to my sweet Sierra Beth!!    

. Looking for a little help in easing grocery costs? Try serving more beans. Beans are an excellent quality, frugal food for your family. This eBook is filled with how to information, bean cooking information, step-by-step picture tutorials and lots of recipes!       Click HERE for more information

  I love the liquid coffee creamers that come in all kinds of yummy flavors, but… I don’t like the unhealthy ingredients they contain. So every now and again I try my hand at making my own with better quality ingredients. I made this one today and I hope you enjoy it too! . . Pumpkin Pie Coffee Creamer Crystal Miller   1 cup half-n-half ½ cup cane juice crystals (can use white sugar instead) 3T canned pumpkin ½ t vanilla ½ t cinnamon ¼ t ginger 1/8 t nutmeg 1/8 t cloves   Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Heat until cane juice crystals dissolved and ingredients are well combined. Enjoy in a hot cup of coffee. Store in refrigerator.  . .

  Happy birthday to my son Richard! He is my oldest child..  and definitely not a “child” anymore! He turned 26 yesterday.. hard to believe where all the years have gone!    Richard is in the Army and currently deployed in Iraq . His unit will be back in North Carolina ( Ft. Bragg )  in 5 weeks! And then home to us in Washington in time for Christmas! The family can’t wait to see him!!   Here are a few current pictures of him:             And this is Richard with his girlfriend Lolot:             Happy Birthday to my boy! 

  Monday: Leftovers   Tuesday: Polish dogs Sauerkraut Brown rice pilaf   Wednesday: Crockpot chicken and gravy Mashed potatoes Salad   Thursday: Yummy pinto beans Dinner rolls Salad   Friday: Lasagna Bread sticks Salad   Saturday: Mexican Rice Bake Salad   Sunday: Pizza: Sierra’s Birthday!     

  I think today we might get a break from the rain and wind. A real fall like storm moved in a couple of days ago and dumped a ton of rain on us and came with major high winds. We lost power once too. The leaves lost a lot of there leaves as well.   Despite the windy, rainy weather my sweet hubby told me yesterday afternoon that he wanted a BBQ! So a BBQ he got! I pulled a some steaks from the freezer and put them in a little warm water to defrost quick and through some potatoes in the oven to bake and made a salad. Dinner was easy. It was fun to defy the yucky weather have an enjoyable afternoon and evening! LOL..    With all that rainy weather coming down we just focused on inside things mostly for the last few days. Tobin had his own list of details to take care of and so did I. Leanne took Emily ’s place with the twins on a couple days this week so Emily could study. One day the girls all left to spend...

  I have my Country Store stocked with wonderful smelling Goat Milk Soaps for the fall and winter season!     Back by popular demand..   Brown Sugar and Spice Oak Leaves and Acorns   And new this year..   Gingerbread Spice        

    I had a couple College Plus! questions I am going to answer..   Homesteadinthemaking asked about scholarships and financial aid. You can read on the College Plus website for info on this here: http://www.collegeplus.org/whatitcosts/scholarshipsfinancialaid         madiantin.blogspot.com asked about Emily ’s schedule and resources books.  Emily works about 40 hours or more a week as a nanny to a set of twins. She has one weekday off and the weekends off. A typical work day looks like this for her:   She gets up at 4:30 or 5:00 am and spends a couple hours with Bible time and study time. Then she leaves for work. She is typically gone for about 10 plus hours a day. During the day she is usually able to get in a couple hours of study time (sometimes 3 hours) when the twins nap.  Then she comes home, eats, and will do a little more study and goes to bed rather early. On her w...

.   These were really yummy! Sierra made them for us a couple of days ago. I think they tasted even better the next morning.. all those autumn flavors had a chance to blend I guess.      Click HERE for the recipe . Looking for more pumpkin recipes?  I have a whole bunch on my site.  Click HERE to see them  

  I wanted to give an update on how Emily is doing with her home study college (I have had several ladies ask for this as we are progressing through the program). This last week she took her English Literature CLEP test and passed. She now has 52 college credits. She has one more 6 credit test to take (Natural Science) and if she passes this one she will be done with the equivalent of 2 years of college and will begin working on her 3rd year.     We are so very proud of her and all the hard work she is putting into this. I really can’t say enough good things about College Plus!  If you want your child to earn a degree I really encourage looking into this non-traditional (thinking “outside the box”) option.     College Plus! has provided Emily with a fantastic coach.  Emily speaks with her twice a month and emails regularly. This gal is so encouraging to Emily and has helped to keep her on track and a...

  Well this must be the time of year for me to finish all my unfinished projects! LOL.. first I finished my basket weave afghan and posted about that last week. On Sunday afternoon I finally pulled out my sewing machine and finished two more projects.    The first was a blue jean quilt that I started last year for my grandson, Caden. I got so busy with other things that I was not able to finish it. Yesterday I finished it!   It was supposed to be last years Christmas present (I sent something else instead).. now it will be this years.. hope my daughter Carolyn is not reading this post! LOL..   Here is a picture of it: . .      For the denim squares I used a denim jumper that was too big for me to wear. And the red fabric is flannel that I purchased off eBay. This quilt is very soft and comfy feeling.     The second project was an apron. I bought a fun and unique apron pattern on line...