Homemaking on the Homestead

I took my own bread recipe and converted it to a recipe where I soaked the flour for 24 hours first and then made the bread the next day.   I have done this 3 times now and think I have some success.   You can see my two loaves that I made yesterday…   I have had several comments left with people asking for this recipe when I get done so here goes…   Soaked Whole Wheat Bread Recipe – 2 loaves   1 ½ cups warm water 2T whey ½ cup olive oil 5 ½ cups freshly ground whole wheat flour   Using a mixer combine the above ingredients until they form a ball of dough.   Place dough ball in an oiled pan and cover.   Let sit for 24 hours.      After 24 hours   In a measuring cup combine the following: ½ cup warm water 1T yeast ¼ cup honey    Let this sit until the yeast bubbles.   Then add: ½ t baking soda 2 t salt   Pour this mixture into your mixing bowl. ...

    In the Barn Well I woke up to snow again this morning.   I just KNOW spring will be here soon!   I was hoping we were done with the snowy stuff..   <sigh>   ..   But it does make a pretty site..   Sierra took this pic this morning…     I pulled out my goat sweaters and took them down to the barn to put on my babies to give them a little extra warmth….   I think they look so cute with their little sweaters on…   Here is the pattern for those goat sweaters if you have some little goat babies that need a little extra warmth..   http://thefamilyhomestead.com/crochetgoatsweater.htm       In the Kitchen I am finding that keeping up with my Nourishing Traditions food prep is getting much easier now.   I figured it would be a matter of making these steps a habit.   This is what the extra steps have looked like this week…   On Tuesday evening I put two free range o...

  I received a question that I thought I would answer …   I was thinking about getting goats. What do they provide you. We have cows right now. Milk, cheese, butter, and beef is what they provide us. Do you ever get meat from your goats. I hate to ask that question, but wanted to ask some one who would know. Can you eat goat and what does it taste like. I don't think I could seeing these beautiful little kids. I might should stick with cows, their not as cute.   That is a good question!   I have articles on my website where I have discussed various topics on goats that might better answer your question..    http://thefamilyhomestead.com/onthehomestead.htm     Basically our goat’s biggest job is helping to keep our property clear and clean of overgrowth.   We have lots of hills and places where it is not possible to get to with any thing other than a machete and that is so much work.   If we did not keep it under control we w...

  My mama goat, Lilly, had her kids yesterday!   She had triplets!   I thought twins .. but instead we got 3 new sweet little goat kids.   Two bucks and one doe.          proud papa looking on...     Yesterday and Monday were so busy that I was wondering if she was going to deliver..   seems like that always happens.   I wait and watch and wait and watch and then have a day or two when I am everywhere but the barn and that is when it happens! LOL..      I checked on her in the morning and she was fine. I took Leanne into town to take her 3rd GED test and then do some grocery shopping.   On top of that my refrigerator died yesterday too..   so when I got home it was time to make dinner, put groceries away and move the stuff I had not moved yet from one fridge to the other (I have a small second fridge in the basement).   I was feeling pretty tired by the end of the day and was just sitting down...

    Monday BLT sandwiches Homemade tomato soup     Tuesday Nacho’s for a Crowd Tortilla chips and homemade salsa Salad     Wednesday Salmon patties (I follow the brown rice patties recipe this is on the page and add canned salmon) made with leftover rice from freezer Salad Homemade sauerkraut French bread from freezer (I make the pizza crust recipe into two loaves of French bread)   Thursday Navy bean soup Salad Chips and homemade salsa     Friday Spaghetti Garlic toast Salad     Saturday Black bean sloppy joes on Whole wheat toast Salad     Sunday Salisbury steak Salad Brown rice pilaf  (I put all the ingredients in my rice cooker plus 2T whey or yogurt and set the timer to have it done by meal time) Homemade sauerkraut      

  This has been a crazy busy week!   I have been into town every day.   And with all the busyness I am sure glad my mama goat did not decide it was her week to deliver! She is getting close however.. and is looking very big right now!      On Monday Tobin and I had are weekly date into town.   We both love our day to hang out, run errands and spend some one on one time together.   The fact that we can get away like we do makes me appreciate life with older kids… it certainly does have its rewards!       On Tuesday I took Leanne, Jacob, Sierra, and Isaac into town with me. We dropped Leanne off at the college to take her second GED test and while she was doing that the rest of the kids and I went to the library.   Everyone got a few books to read, except Jacob who spent his library time working on math..   he is determined to get his math book finished ASAP!   After we picked up Leanne (have not got the test res...

  http://www.naturalnews.com/022194.html     I have always been aware that fast food is not healthy.. but we all have our moments (however we are not big fast food people by any means)..   The above article was sure an eye opener and it has me thinking twice about eating out!!     Guess I will be packing lunches more often when we head into town!   

I like to play around in the kitchen quite a bit.   Over the years I have purchased various small appliances and gadgets for cooking and baking.   As I was using a new appliance that I recently purchased I had this thought.   There are some things we buy because they look like we could use them, some we buy for fun and some maybe are impulse purchases and before you know it many of our appliances end up stored on a shelf or given away.      My recent purchase of a rice cooker got me thinking about how to best define the multitude of appliances available. I have seen so many different appliances that it could require a storage building to house them if I owned them all!   So I like to think carefully before buying any appliance or gadget for my kitchen today.   I try and define my appliances in two ways.   They are either going to be a servant for me or a toy to play with.   With budgets being what they are I look now only to buy tho...

  Sunday: Pot roast in the crockpot Baked potatoes Honey carrots Homemade sauerkraut French bread (leftover from yesterday’s dinner) Salad   Monday: Roast beef n’ gravy over toast triangles (using leftover roast beef) Salad Organic tortilla chips w/homemade salsa   Tuesday: Chicken pot pie (using my 2 leftover pie crusts from our V-day pie dessert) Salad Fresh fruit: oranges & bananas Homemade sauerkraut   Wednesday: Grilled steaks Baked potatoes Homemade sauerkraut Salad   Thursday: Crockpot chicken and gravy over Brown rice Homemade sauerkraut Salad   Friday: Salmon patties made with leftover brown rice Fresh fruit: oranges & bananas French bread (made last Saturday.. I made two loaves and froze one) Homemade sauerkraut Salad   Saturday: Black bean chicken chili Organic tortilla chips w/homemade salsa Salad    

  If you want to dabble in cheese making then feta cheese is a great place to start.   I have been using a lot of whey lately and was making yogurt and straining that to get the whey but I don’t get to much whey from a quart of yogurt.   So I decided to make feta instead.      Here is what the process looked like…    I start with a gallon of milk and my culture and rennet.   Then after the cheese has been made I hang it in an old sheet that I wash well in hot, soapy water with bleach added.   I set a big pan under it to collect the whey:     Then after 24 hours or so I take the cheese down.   Sometimes I will take the cheese down before the 24 hours are up and stir it and hang it up again to help get the whey completely drained out.   When I am done this is what the cheese looks like:   And this is how much whey I have:       The last step is to cut the cheese up and layer cheese, salt...

blueyedgirl left me a comment that I thought I would attempt to answer..   “I really want to try making the fermented salsa. I've read about fermented foods on so many blogs. The thing is, I just can't get past the idea of feeding my family something that sat on the counter for two days. Could someone please let me know how this works and what makes it safe. By the way, I love this blog!” Before the days of canning and freezing, fermenting of food is how people kept their food from going bad.   The fermenting process created lactic acid which is naturally a preservative and will keep your food from going bad.   You are not just setting jars on the counter for a few days and then eating them..   you are putting them through a process called: Fermentation …   very different.   I have fed my family a lot of fermented food over the last couple of years (since being introduced to the book Nourishing Traditions) and no one has ever gotten sic...

  Monday: Lentil tacos on ww tortillas w/all the trimmings   Tuesday: Hamburgers on homemade buns w/all the trimmings   Wednesday: Navy bean soup made with bacon Salad Dinner rolls or crackers   Thursday: Chicken soup made with leftover chicken from Tuesday Dinner rolls Salad   Friday: Baked chicken Mashed potatoes Salad Saturday: Valentines Day (and FIL’s birthday!) Lasagna Homemade French bread Salad Fruit platter Something sweet and festive for dessert (haven’t figured it out yet! )   Sunday: Crockpot Chili Chips and homemade salsa (recipe on my last blog post) Salad    

    I can’t believe it has been more than a week since I last blogged.   Life has been very busy around here.   I spent a lot of time making products for my store.   I have some previously sold out items back in stock.   I have had a few emails asking when I was going to get out of stock items back.. well some of them are in now! You can check out my store and take a peek.       Aside from keeping up on my products and other web chores (update site, get Feb. newsletter out, etc)..   I have been very busy in my kitchen and just loving all the results.   You may remember from a past blog post my goals for this New Year?   (if not you can read them here )..   well so far I am still keeping up with it!   In fact I just made a batch of salsa that I put in the fridge last night.    The first time I made it I chopped everything by hand.. and what a job it was!   In the meantime I received an early ...