Homemaking on the Homestead

If you ever need a quick and easy dessert this would be the one. All you need to have on hand is a 28oz can of sliced peaches and your basic baking ingredients. I made this the other night for my family and it was enjoyed by all. Super Easy Peach Cobbler ½ cup melted butter 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour 1 cup cane juice crystals or sugar 2t baking powder ¼ t salt 2/3 cup milk 1 egg 1 28oz can sliced peaches, drained 1 cup cane juice crystals or sugar 1t cinnamon ½ t nutmeg Preheat oven to 350 and pour melted butter into a 9x13 pan. In a medium size bowl combine flour, cane juice crystals (or sugar), baking powder and salt. Mix well. Add milk and egg and stir to combine. Pour this mixture over the melted butter, don’t worry about smoothing it out.. just pour it over the butter. Set this aside. In another bowl combine peaches, cane juice crystals (or sugar) and spices. Spoon and/or pour the peaches over the top of cobbler batter. Don’t stir anything, just spoo...

I made sourdough coffeecake yesterday and it was delicious! The whole family ate it up. It was also very easy to make. Here is my recipe: Sourdough Coffeecake 1 cup proofed starter (see link below on how to proof your starter) 1/3 cup olive oil 1 slightly beaten egg 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour ¾ cup cane juice crystals or sugar 1t baking soda 1 t cinnamon ½ t salt Topping ½ cup Sucanat or brown sugar 1T whole wheat flour 1t cinnamon 2T butter In a mixer combine proofed starter, olive oil, and egg. Mix to combine. Add flour, cane juice crystals (or sugar), baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix again to combine all ingredients. Spray a 9 inch square pan with non stick spray. Pour batter into pan. Set aside while you make the topping. To make topping combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or your clean hands. Spread topping over cake batter. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Enjoy!! You can find information ...

I made sourdough rye bread yesterday. It turned out pretty good. I would do a few things different next time. I shaped it into a round circle and it spread out pretty large as it rose. Next time I will put it in a round cake pan so it will rise up, not out. I also found the dough to be sticky. Stickier than wheat, which is what I’m use to working with. I think a certain amount of stickiness is normal with rye. I ended up adding about half rye flour and half white flour. I was hoping for less white and more rye… next time I will see if I can add more rye and less white and accept the fact that sticky is normal. In any case, it tasted very good! It had a nice sour/rye flavor to it. I do want to make it again. Here was my process.. The night before I took my jar of starter out of the fridge and I poured all of it into a glass bowl. I added ½ cup whole wheat flour, ½ cup white flour and 1 cup of warm water (this is called “proofing” the starter). I let this sit out all nigh...

I’m back from taking my break! It was nice to have some time off the computer.. helps perspective sometimes, I think. During this time off Tobin and I got away for a few days. It was very nice. It was also good to get home and get back into the swing of life again… always so much to do. The nice thing about getting away is you come home with fresh thoughts and renewed enthusiasm. I also came home to sunshine! Finally after so much rain and gray skies it was great to have some sunshine here at home in the last few days. One thing that excites me is getting my garden going. My tomato starts are huge! I have had to repot some of them 4 times now. It is still a little too cool out at night to put them in the garden. Right now I am just setting them outside during the day and bringing them in at night to get them adjusted to the real world :). Tobin got the garden rototilled again yesterday so it is ready to go. I hope to get some lettuce and a few other things planted toda...

I will be taking an internet break for about 2 weeks..   If you currently have an order placed with my Country Store , it will be going out tomorrow morning.  All orders received by tonight (May 8th), will go out tomorrow.  If you place your order after May 9th I will ship it out May 23rd.   This does not include ebooks..  All ebooks are automatic downloads.   After you order your ebook you should see an email that will have the link to download it.   If you don’t see this email (it is sent out immediately, no waiting)..  check your spam folder.   Also check the email address you have on account with PayPal.. the ebook will be sent to that email address, so make sure it is current before you order. If you have any problems with your ebooks, email me and I will get back to you on the 23rd. See you in a couple of weeks!   Crystal :)

Yesterday my daughter Hannah had a baby girl!! She did such a great job! Had the baby without drugs or epidural.. and to see how uncommon this is the student nurse who was there said this was the first birth she had witnessed where the mother did not have an epidural! She was in awe to see how it all worked naturally!! :)  And I was in awe to see how my daughter handled it all and to once again see the miracle of birth!  What a blessing! My new granddaughter’s name is Rylee Skye and she weighed 7lbs 14.5oz! And she is just beautiful :)  

Woo Hoo!! Emily is 21 years old today! Yea! .. but I am sad.. :( This is her first birthday I am not with her to enjoy. But she is having an awesome time in Europe and I am so very happy for her! :) Emily has always been my daughter with a million dreams and plans.. so many in fact it would, at times, stress me out.. she wanted to do this and that and this and that and .. “oh by the way mom I have 25 College Plus kids coming to our house in October” ..LOL..! Yea.. she has always kept me on my toes.. but oh, my, how I love her for her spunk, her determination in life, her tenacity! When she settles down on what she wants .. she is tenacious to get it. She earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2 ½ years! She then decided she wanted to travel the world and not just for a vacation.. no, my little Miss Em.. wanted to live and work and learn and experience all she could. So she signed up on an au pair website and started getting requests from families looking for an ...

Here is what's on my menu for the month of May.    If you need a menu planning calendar to help plan your monthly menus you can find them here:  http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/menuplanningcalendars.htm   1 st – leftover lasagna, sourdough French bread , salad 2 nd – cream cheese chicken enchiladas , cornbread , salad 3 rd – sausage, noodles & sauerkraut skillet meal, salad 4 th – fish tacos w/ all the trimmings 5 th – spaghetti, sourdough French bread , salad 6 th – ranch house chicken casserole , salad 7 th – leftovers 8 th – pizza rice casserole , salad 9 th – hamburgers w/all the trimmings 10 th – beef & bean burritos, salad 11 th – leftovers 12 th – hot dogs, coleslaw 13 th – pizza 14 th – chili, tortilla chips & salsa 15 th – tacos w/all the trimmings 16 th – leftovers 17 th – CP bbq meatballs & CP mac & cheese 18 th – chicken noodle soup , biscuits , salad 19 th – hamburgers, ...