Homemaking on the Homestead

It’s that time of the month again.. menu planning time!!   :)   I just spent a little time last weekend getting my March menu written out.   You can find a March calendar for writing out your menu here:   http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/menuplanningcalendars.htm   1 st – Hamburgers, coleslaw, chips 2 nd – Potato sausage chowder , dinner rolls, salad 3 rd – spaghetti, dinner rolls, salad 4 th – tuna noodle casserole , salad 5 th – Chinese beef and broccoli w/noodles, salad 6 th – leftovers 7 th – leftovers 8 th – fish tacos w/all the trimmings 9 th –   leftover fish and rice stir fry, salad 10 th – chicken potato chowder , dinner rolls, salad 11 th – Southwest Stew (CP), cornbread, salad 12 th – pizza   - Isaac’s birthday!! 13 th – pumpkin chili, chips & salsa, salad 14 th – hot dogs, coleslaw , chips 15 th – leftovers 16 th - baked chicken legs , coconut/pineapple rice, ...

Day 3 Today we are making our last meal with the remaining 3 cups of chicken.  In Part 1 and Part 2 we roasted our chicken, started making our chicken stock, made enchiladas and now we wrap this meal plan up with some delicious tasting chicken noodle soup!  By mid afternoon my stock had been simmering for 20 hours. It was time to strain out the stock. To do this I put a large bowl (you can use another stock pot if you wish) in my sink and put my strainer in the bowl. Then I poured it all into the strainer separating the bones from the stock… When all was said and done I ended up 24 cups of rich looking and great tasting stock. For my day 3 dinner of chicken noodle soup I will be using 12 cups of stock. I put my 12 cups in a soup pot and set it on the burner to heat up to a boil. While this was coming to a boil I got the rest of the soup ingredients ready.  2 cups sliced carrots 10oz. pasta of your choice (I used spinach linguini noodles, b...

  Day 2 I left off in Part 1 with my chicken stock beginning to simmer and getting ready to make chicken enchiladas. I had 6 cups of chopped up chicken meat left. I took 3 cups to use for this meal. I also used 3 cups of leftover Spanish rice. To begin with I made a batch of enchilada sauce . To make the enchiladas you will need: 3 cups chopped chicken meat 3 cups Spanish rice 1 batch enchilada sauce (not shown in the pic above because I had not made it yet:) 12 corn tortillas Cheddar cheese (3 cups or so) Make the sauce first according to the directions (recipe here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/enchiladasauce1.htm . Then in a medium size bowl combine the chicken meat and Spanish rice. Next, soften the tortillas by heating up a little coconut oil in a frying pan and quickly fry them. Spray a 9x13 pan with non sticky spray. When the sauce is done and the tortillas are soft we are ready to assemble the enchiladas… I set out a plate to wor...

This time it was two chickens!! I cooked 2 chickens and stretched them into 3 meals and had 3 quarts of chicken stock to put in the freezer! I ended up with a lot of pictures so I am dividing this into two blog posts.  This is what I made: First Night: Roasted chicken, Spanish rice (recipe at end of blog post), cornbread ( h ttp://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/cornbread1.htm ), salad Second Night: Chicken enchiladas, cornbread, salad Third Night: Chicken noodle soup, dinner rolls (or you could serve biscuits or crackers), salad Here is how I did it… Day 1 I had 2 chickens and their combined weight was a little over 10lbs. I always look for the biggest chickens when I buy them; 5lbs each is always my goal. The bigger the chicken the more meat to work with. The first day I decided we would have roasted chicken, Spanish rice, cornbread and a salad. I started off by washing my chickens and removing the giblets. I put the giblets in a bowl and put them in the fridg...

I really enjoyed reading everyone’s responses to my “How often do you…” post . Animals, kids, country living or not, family size, all played a part in how often we do housekeeping basics. I had one question from a commenter: I've been reading your website and blog for over a year now. My question is (and you may have previously addressed it) what cleaning products do you use (mainly bathroom, mopping liquid, etc)? I thought you might use homemade products or strictly Borax. Please share if you can. Thanks:)! Mainly I use vinegar. Funny how after trying this and that I come down to vinegar. I make a small bucket of cleaning water (about a gallon) using vinegar and a little essential oil for a nice fresh lemon smell. I use 1 gallon of water, ½ cup vinegar and a drop or two of lemon essential oil. Technically it is a floor cleaner, but I end up using it for wiping down counters, wiping down walls, and of course cleaning floors. I use this cleaner more than any othe...

I promised in February’s newsletter I would be posting a tutorial on making McMom’s Breakfast Sandwiches for the freezer.. and here it is! My kids really love these sandwiches and I love the fact they make a quick and easy, no mess, no fuss breakfast. When I make them I make 24 at a time. Costco sells English muffins , 12 to a package and I buy two packages. But you can make less if you would like or more if you want to! :) Ingredients for 24 breakfast sandwiches: 20 eggs 2 ½ (or so) lbs. sausage 24 English muffins 12 slices cheddar cheese (I use real cheese, not American cheese) butter I begin by cracking 20 eggs into a bowl and scrambling them up… I spray an 11x15 inch pan with non stick spray and pour the eggs into the pan…. I bake them at 350 for about 25 minutes or until the eggs are cooked and the center of them is set. When they come out of the oven I cut them into 24 squares. While the eggs are cooking I slice up the sausage.. I slice up 24 ...