Homemaking on the Homestead

As promised I took pictures of my meal preparations yesterday. This is a fairly simple recipe to put together. I served it with a tossed green salad and watermelon.   Crustless Chicken Pot Pie w/Cheesy Biscuit Topping 1 medium onion, chopped 1 cup chopped green pepper (I used several mini peppers) 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms 1 ½ to 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken, cut into bite size pieces 4T olive oil ½ cup whole wheat pastry flour 4 cups broth – this can be homemade chicken, beef or vegetable broth. If you don’t have homemade broth you can substitute 4 cups of water and 2 to 3 bouillon cubes. 2 cans green beans, drained or 1 quart home canned green beans, drained 1 recipe cheesy buttermilk biscuits (recipe follows) 1+ cups grated cheddar cheese In a large frying pan over medium high heat sauté veggies and chicken in olive oil until veggies are soft and chicken is cooked. Add the flour and stir. Add broth all at once and stir to make sure there are no...

Today is going to mostly be a home-keeping and garden day. The house needs some attention. I have had some busy days and the house is showing it.. I will also need to run to the post office to get a few orders out. By late afternoon if we actually get to see some sunshine I may spend a little time relaxing by my pond.. we will see how the day goes! My to-do list looks like this: Load/unload dishwasher Wipe down kitchen cupboards Clean out fridge and wipe down Laundry (about 3 loads) Pick up clutter Vacuum/Sweep/Mop floors Weed garden Make dinner My menu got a little turned around this month so I do believe tonight’s dinner will be a crustless chicken pot pie with biscuit topping. This is a favorite of my family’s and I don’t think I have shared it .. so will take some pics to share soon. My all time favorite days are the ones where I don’t have outside obligations and can simply focus on my home.. and thankfully this Wednesday is one of those days. Hop...

This is another yummy recipe using brown rice. On Friday I baked a large bone-in ham and we had it for dinner on both Friday and Saturday. By today it was time to deal with what was left of it. I put the bone and juices and some of the meat in a zip type bag in the freezer to make soup later on. Then I chopped up the leftover meat and put some in the freezer and used some of it to make tonight’s dinner. This was a yummy meal and my family really enjoyed it. You can also buy a boneless ham and cut it into pieces to use in this recipe. BBQ Ham & Cornbread Casserole 2 to 3 T olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 2 ½ cups cut up ham pieces 1 cup frozen corn 1 cup sliced olives 2 ½ cups cooked brown rice 1 ½ cups bbq sauce 1 cup water 1 recipe cornbread (you can find the recipe here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/cornbread1.htm ) In a large frying pan heat olive oil on medium high heat. Add chopped onion and cook until onion is soft and transparent looking. Add...

After 2 days of rain the sun came back!! And so did the weeds in my garden! I spent hour and half in the garden weeding today. My son Isaac helped me as well, so together we made great progress and I think the weeds are under control (at least for right now :).  You know I use to hate weeding with a passion, so much so that I rarely did it and my garden always ended up a jungle by the end of the season. Then one year I decided it was important to me have a well tended garden. My dad use to say, “Any job worth doing is worth doing right”… that may not be his original saying, but that is where I first heard it. So I took on a new attitude with weeding.. what good things come from it? For me this is the list.. I get some quiet time to think! Weeding is mundane work and it provides a great moment in my day to just think. I can also pray! I can be productive, have solitude doing this homemaking chore and spend a little time talking to the Lord. I am one who loves the ...

As I was contemplating a variety of subjects to blog about this morning I thought to myself.. I should be blogging about summer related things, such as surviving a heat wave, cooking in the summer, staying cool type posts.. and honestly I wish could. However we here in the Pacific Northwest are still waiting for summer to arrive. Oh we’ve had a day here and there that was nice and gave the hope that summer was on its way. But many days have been just like yesterday. Cloudy, cool, rainy at times, highs in the mid to upper 60’s. Yep.. kind of depressing for someone who loves everything about summer.. the hotter the better (except humidity.. which is something we don’t deal with here.. hot AND humid is not that great). Anywho.. imagine my surprise when I woke up to sunshine this morning! The weather man told me different and he was wrong.. at least this time and I am thrilled that he was wrong! :) So this morning I had to go outside and sit for a bit to enjoy my cup of coffe...

This month has been busy in my home and my sourdough starter was forgotten in the fridge. It had been a week or two since I had fed it and wondered if it had survived my harsh treatment. I took it out of the fridge and poured off a very thick and dark layer of hooch (the naturally occurring liquid that forms at the top of the starter. You can pour this off or stir it in. Since I had quite a bit of starter I decided to just pour it off). I fed my starter some flour and water and let it sit overnight. In the morning it smelled fermented and was bubbly. I was happy to see it was still alive! That day I made 2 loaves of sourdough banana bread and a batch of sourdough pancakes. The banana bread recipe is here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/sourdoughbananabread.htm   The sourdough pancake recipe follows… Sourdough Pancakes 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour 1T cane juice crystals or white sugar 1t salt ½ t baking powder ½ t baking soda 2 eggs 3T olive oil ½ cup ...

Another brown rice recipe inspired by a family favorite recipe. We love lasagna and so I thought.. how about using brown rice instead of the pasta? It was delish!! My family really enjoyed it. Here is my recipe. Brown Rice Lasagna 1lb hamburger ½ a large onion, chopped 1 jar spaghetti sauce (approx 28oz or 1 quart home canned sauce or the equivalent – about 4 cups- of homemade sauce) 16oz cottage cheese 1 egg 2t Italian seasonings ½ t salt 4 to 5 cups cooked brown rice (5 cups if you want to stretch the dish to feed more people) 3 to 4 cups grated mozzarella cheese In a frying pan cook hamburger and chopped onions until the meat is no longer pink and the onions are soft. Add spaghetti sauce, stir and let heat up then set aside. In a bowl combine cottage cheese, egg and Italian seasonings and salt. Set this aside. Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray. Spread half of cooked brown rice on the bottom of the casserole pan. Spread half the hamburger/spaghetti sa...

Wow.. July has been a super busy month on my homestead. It started with hubby & I celebrating our 27th anniversary.. which I already posted about. A few days later we had good friends that we have not seen in 10 years stop by to see and visit with us. It was soo great to see them and to see how their kids have grown! Why is it that your own kids can grow and mature but when you see your friends kids grown and matured it is so surprising?! :)  During all this time our niece Megan came to spend a week with us. She is Tobin’s sister’s oldest daughter. We LOVED her visit. She is a full of life 25 year old and it was great to have all that energy in our home. Leanne kept her busy with trips to town and meeting up with all the cousins. It has been 5 or maybe 6 years since she has been here to visit us. (in the pic below... Sierra, Leanne and my niece Megan).. On Tuesday Tobin tuned 50! We had a big 5-0 birthday party for him. We bbq’ed salmon and I made potato salad,...

. Shampoo Bars are Back in Stock!! Click here to order: http://crystalscountrystore.com/shampoobars.htm  

. The inspiration for this recipe came from one of my favorite casserole recipes, chile relleno casserole. I added rice and hamburger to it and it was really good! My family enjoyed it very much. I served refried beans and a salad with it. Beef & Rice Chile Relleno Casserole 1 lb hamburger ½ onion, chopped 2 – 7oz cans chopped green chilies 5 cups cooked brown rice 3 to 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese 1 cup milk 2T whole wheat flour 4 eggs ½ t salt In a large frying pan cook hamburger and onion until meat is no longer pink and onions are soft. Add the chopped green chilies and brown rice. Stir to combine ingredients. Spoon hamburger rice mixture into a 9x13 pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top. In a bowl combine with a wire whip the milk, flour, eggs & salt. Pour this mixture over the casserole. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes. Enjoy!! :)  

. On July 1 st Tobin and I celebrated 27 years of marriage!  We have known each other for 31 years.  I was 16 and he was 18 when we met.  Life with my husband has been a wonderful journey.  With any journey there are ups and downs and smooth sailing and bumpy waters.  I don’t think anyone has a perfect marriage..  but marriage is not about perfection.  It is about growing, learning, loving, sharing and staying connected.   And we certainly have enjoyed the process..  :) I love my hubby and it has been a great 27 years!  I thank God for His blessings in our lives..

Better late than never!!  :)  My menu for July!!  If you would like a calendar to write down your meals for the month you can find that here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/menuplanningcalendars.htm   I post a new calendar every month!  1 st – organic chicken sausage w/onions, peppers, mushrooms and pasta, salad 2 nd – leftovers 3 rd – Italian rice casserole (recipe coming soon), salad 4 th – bbq chicken, potato salad , sourdough French bread , deviled eggs , salad 5 th – split pea soup , pepperoni bread , salad 6 th – leftovers 7 th – crockpot chili, cornbread , salad 8 th – homemade pizza , watermelon 9 th - Chicken Cacciatore , French bread, salad 10 th – leftovers 11 th – yummy pinto beans , dinner rolls , salad 12 th – bbq salmon, potato salad ,french bread, watermelon, salad, homemade ice cream & angel food cake with strawberries(hubby’s bday ) 13 th – honey glazed chicken legs , potato salad , salad 14 ...

A couple of months ago I ran out of laundry soap and laundry soap kits. Life has been crazy busy for me this year and soap making went to the end of list as I reorganized my homemaking and daily life. But the month of June was a soap making month for me. I am slowly getting back on track once again. In the meantime I have had tons and tons of emails asking me when I would have my laundry soap and kits back in stock. I am very happy to say that they're finally back in stock!! If you are interested in purchasing the laundry soap or the soap making kits you can find ordering information here: http://crystalscountrystore.com/laundryroom.htm   Printable order form (if you don’t have PayPal) is here: http://crystalscountrystore.com/orderform.htm   FYI – I have also gotten tons of emails on Shampoo Bars… and I have made them. They are currently curing and will be back in stock in a week or two.. I will post here on my blog when they are ready for sale..