Homemaking on the Homestead

  Sunday Leftover lasagna Soft bread sticks (also leftover from yesterday’s dinner) Garden salad   Monday Fried brats and cabbage Corn on the cob Garden salad Dinner rolls   Tuesday Zucchini hamburger sauté Dinner rolls Garden salad Watermelon   Wednesday BLT sandwiches (or bbq burgers) Potato salad Watermelon   Thursday Yummy pinto beans Corn on the cob Garden salad Whole grain crackers   Friday Baked chicken legs Laurie’s mac & cheese Garden salad   Saturday Cheesy Broccoli Ham Bake Coleslaw Garlic cheese dinner rolls  

Leanne and I picked the corn in our garden yesterday morning and got it into the freezer. I only planted 1 ½ rows of corn but was pretty happy with the amount of ears I have ended up with. We have had corn on the cob for dinner a few times now, plus I ended up with 5 gallon size bags of corn (each bag holds about 7 ears of corn) and there is still some corn on the stalks that should ripen up here in the next week or so and provide us with another couple of dinners worth. I took some pictures to show how I prepare corn on the cob for the freezer. Leanne and I went down to the garden early (before the yellow jackets were out.. we have had a terrible year with wasps around here!). We picked a laundry basket full of ears…. Leanne and Isaac laid newspapers on the dining room floor and started shucking the corn (the goats got all the corn husks and they loved the treat! :).   While they did that I cleaned up the kitchen, got my large pot out and started water boiling s...

  This weekend Leanne and I spent a good deal of time in the kitchen. We made 8 loaves of bread , 2 zucchini coffee cakes (1 1/2 of them are now cut up and in the freezer for an easy breakfast), peanut butter oatmeal cookies and my latest adventure was to make my own bulk pancake mix. As the cooler weather is approaching I am thinking more about hot breakfasts but also quick ones too.  Mornings are busy around here.   We tried out the pancake mix for Saturday’s breakfast and it worked just fine! The kids are looking forward to having pancakes more often!  Here is the recipe..   Whole Wheat Pancake Mix   25 cups whole wheat pastry flour 1 ¼ cups baking powder ¼ cup salt 6 2/3 cups powdered milk   Combine all ingredients very well in a large bowl. Transfer to zip type freezer bags, label. Store in freezer to keep flour fresh.   To make one batch:   3 cups mix 2 eggs ¼ cup olive oil 2 cu...

    I had another question on my last blog post on school work and house work…   Chrystal, how long do you make the kids work? I do 30 min, take a 5 min break or so if they need it and then 30 min. one lady does 15 min of school work, 15 min of play, 15 min of school work. with your experience, what works the best? Well, I have my daily chores all written out and divided by the days of the week.   You can see them HERE .   Before we start school we all spend about 45minutes to an hour working through as many of the chores as we can.   I like to have my house in order before we start school.   Usually with all of us working on the jobs together we can get just about everything on the list done in that time.   I think better and can concentrate on other daily activities when things around me are in order and I know my kids do too. After the chores are done then we move onto school.   If there are any big cleaning jobs that did not get d...

  Today is an exciting day!   This will be Jacobs first day of school.   He is eager to get going so is starting early.   Plus he has a little trip coming up next month and wanted to get a jump on the school year so he would not fall behind.   Last night we went over his school subjects, text books and DVD ’s for this year and wrote up his first weeks assignments on our school schedule.   Since he is pretty independent in his school work I find making weekly school schedules for my kids a way of keeping them accountable. They turn in the completed schedule on Friday and we go over their finished work and prepare the next weeks schedule.     I will start Sierra and Isaac next month sometime.. after my curriculum arrives in the mail! I ordered it last week.      After Jacob is off and running with his school work I (with the help of my children) need to run through the house and get it picked up and cleaned up.     Th...

I received a question from “anonymous” about making pizza after posting my weekly menu…. Crystal , how much sauce do you put on the pizza. I am trying to make home made pizza with your dough recipe but I can not achieve what we buy at the store. I wonder what I am missing. I just flat the dough, put 1 can of pizza sauce and 1 pound of mozzarella shredded. What should I put? thanks   I have never measured out how much sauce to use.   I just put on what looks right which I guess comes from experience in making pizza.   You may just have to try different amounts each time you make pizza until you reach your preference.      I also do not use canned sauce, I make my own.   Occasionally I have purchased a can of pizza sauce from my food co-op but have never really cared for that as much as home made.   Here is the sauce I made for our pizza this last week..   3- 8oz cans tomato sauce 1- 6oz can tomato paste 1T Italian seaso...

  I had a couple people ask me what the variety of zucchini squash I planted.   Here is a pic of some I just picked….   The variety is called “Bush Baby Squash” and I purchased the seeds from Territorial Seed Company.   Here is a direct link: http://www.territorialseed.com/product/9909/220  

Rain!   I woke up to the sound of rain this morning.. not the “light showers” that were forecasted but ‘rain’…   oh well.. I guess the garden can use it and our springs around here could use the boost..   so I won’t complain..   too much..        One challenge Tobin has this morning is getting drywall.. can’t do that while it is raining.   We are remodeling Sierra’s bedroom and he had some areas to drywall.   Yesterday he got them framed in and today’s plan was to hit Home Depot just as the opened to get what he needed, come home and keep working.    After he does all the drywall and such then Sierra and I will paint.   Then Tobin will lay carpet.   Sierra has picked lime green walls and purple carpet..   When she told me the color scheme she wanted everything in me said.. no, no, no..   haa.. haa..   but ever wise Dad said.. it is her room.. let he...

    Monday Homemade pizza Buffalo wings Watermelon Salad Homemade peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream   Tuesday BBQ burgers Watermelon Homemade peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream     Wednesday Grilled chicken salad Homemade dinner rolls Me lon Zucchini cake   Thursday Pot roast Baked potatoes Green beans Salad   Friday Baked chicken legs Sautéed zucchini Brown rice pilaf Salad   Saturday Mexican hamburger rice bake Chips & salsa Salad   Sunday Lasagna French bread Salad    

The kids and I just did the third picking of our green beans yesterday morning.   I only planted 1 ½ rows so was not expecting a huge amount.. but it was enough to have to stop and deal with!   J    I made a double batch of my 3 Bean Salad and canned it and Leanne helped to get the rest of the green beans blanched and in the freezer.       Here is the recipe for the 3 Bean Salad:   3 Bean Salad Makes 6 qts.   6 cups green beans 6 cups cooked red beans 4 cups cooked garbonzo beans 2 large sweet onions, peeled and sliced thin 2 large green peppers, seeded and sliced 2 cups white vinegar 1 cup lemon juice 3 cups sugar 1 cup oil 2 t canning salt 5 cups water   Wash green beans, snap off ends and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces.   Blanch and cool immediately.   Prepare and set aside all other veggies.    In a large stock pot, combine vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and water.   Bring this to a boil and remove from...