Homemaking on the Homestead

  Monday Split pea soup (made in the crockpot), pepperoni bread , salad   Tuesday Crockpot Bbq Beef (from freezer) over brown rice, salad   Wednesday Beef veggie soup (using my canned beef stew , home canned green beans and veggie stock ), biscuits, salad   Thursday Chili bean soup , tortilla chips & salsa, salad   Friday Crustless chicken pot pie w/ cheesy biscuit topping , salad   Saturday Leftovers   Sunday Salmon patties, cheesy brown rice , salad   I thought I’d share my breakfast & lunch menus this week.  I roughly plan ideas for these meals and don’t follow a weekly schedule like I do with dinner.  Sometimes the kids eat toast w/peanut butter and a glass of milk or make a smoothie or something easy for breakfast.  Usually I keep breakfast a simple as possible through most of the week.   Lunch is often leftovers or somet...

On Thursday night I served the Crockpot Honey & Dijon Mustard Chicken that I posted here: http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-had-this-idea-that-it-would-be-nice.html     This is the review of the recipe.. It was good!!  :)  ..  I served it over brown rice.  The family really enjoyed it and wanted to see it on the menu again.  I personally thought it could be a little less sweet.  Next time I will use about ¼ cup less honey..   but it was good the way it was, I just wanted to taste the Dijon mustard a little more.  I served it with a salad and some apple cinnamon muffins .  I will be making this one again!!  It was so simple to make and made for really easy work on cooking day..  a great combo!!  

In my last blog post I shared that I had bought 10 pounds of beef roast. I cut it all up and used 4 pounds in 2 crockpot freezer meals ( http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/02/two-more-crockpot-meals-for-freezer.html ) . I used the other 6 pounds of meat along with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery to can beef stew. Here were the general proportions I used in canning 7 quarts of beef stew.. 6# beef 2# potatoes 2# carrots 1# onions 1# celery After I cut up the meat and got the freezer meals done I moved to the beef stew. I peeled and cut up the potatoes and carrots. I chopped up the onions and sliced the celery. I pulled out 3 quarts of veggie stock from my freezer to use for liquid in the stew. You can use beef or chicken stock or you can use water. I did not add anything to thicken the liquid as usually thickeners don’t hold up in canning. You can thicken the broth after it is opened if you would like. I added 1 teaspoon salt to each of my ...

On Saturday when I went grocery shopping I bought 10lbs of beef roast. It was a pretty good deal, a little less expensive than hamburger. On Monday I spent some time and cut the meat up into bite size pieces. It took a bit a time but if I had bought the meat already cut it would have doubled the cost. So I figured it was worth my time to cut it up myself. This is what I started with.. And this is what I ended up with… I used 4lbs of the meat to make 2 crockpot meals for the freezer. I used the rest of the meat to can beef stew. I will post about canning beef stew in my next blog post. This post is about the freezer meals I put together. The first 2 freezer meals were BBQ Beef . I made the same bbq sauce mix that I used on the bbq chicken legs. You can find that recipe here: http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/02/bbq-chicken-legs.html   I put 2lbs of cut up beef in 2 gallon size zip lock bags (4lbs total.. 2lbs in each bag).. I then add...

Last night we had the Mexican Chicken crockpot recipe that I posted on Saturday . I forgot to take it out of the freezer on Sunday night .. oops.. :) .. I took it out first thing in the morning and after about 4 hours I could break it up enough to put in the crockpot… I turned the crockpot on low and let it cook for 6 hours. At the end it looked like this… I also made a batch of brown rice ( http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/cookingwithbrownrice.htm ) to go with the meal. I put some brown rice on the plate first… Then ladled the Mexican Chicken over the top… Then added some sour cream and cheese and served it with a salad (with homemade ranch dressing), tortilla chips & salsa.. This got rave reviews from the family.. and I agreed.. it was yummy and will be on the menu in the future!!!

  Monday Crockpot Mexican Chicken (from the freezer), Tortilla chips & salsa, salad   Tuesday Pizza (using pizza crusts from the freezer )   Wednesday Sausage potato soup, dinner rolls , salad   Thursday Crockpot Honey & Dijon Mustard Chicken (from the freezer), mashed potatoes or brown rice pilaf, salad   Friday Crockpot Italian Sausage and Peppers (from the freezer) w/whole wheat spaghetti noodles, salad   Saturday Leftovers   Sunday Hamburger noodle soup, oatmeal muffins , salad

I had this idea that it would be nice to put together a couple of crockpot meals ahead of time in the freezer. How nice it would be to take a meal ready to cook out of the freezer and put it into the crockpot and not have to think about dinner until dinner time rolls around and then add a salad (and in the case of the first recipe some brown rice pilaf). Here are the meals that I assembled tonight after grocery shopping today. I bought a large package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6 lbs) from Costco and wanted to get them in the freezer as soon as possible. This was fresh chicken, not the frozen type. You can also use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I used the thighs because they were less expensive, and lately grocery prices in my part of the world have seemed to really sky rocket in price and every little bit of savings helps. I feed basically 5 adults and 2 teens so these meals are on the larger size. If your family does not need this much food for a...

I made this dish the other night. It is one of my family’s favorite meals. It is easy to make. I used a home canned jar of zucchini pineapple that I canned last summer ( http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2011/09/zucchini-pineapple-for-canning.ht ml ). However I’ve made this dish for years and typically I used homemade jam or jelly (you can use store bought jam or jelly as well). I have used my own peach jam or grape jelly ( http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/makejam.htm   ) and have even made it with beet jelly ( http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2010/09/pickled-beets-and-beet-jelly.html ). Here is how I make it… Lay the chicken legs in a 11x15 pan that has been sprayed with non stick spray. I used about 4lbs of chicken legs for this meal… Put the chicken legs in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. While the chicken is baking make your sauce. Measure out 1 ½ cups of bbq sauce. This can be homemade sauce ( http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com...

This morning I woke up to a chilly house and got a fire going to warm the house. When it was light enough to see outside I noticed snow on the top of the hills across the way. Soon I heard my daughter Emily get up. And she came and joined me in the living room. We enjoyed a wonderful cup of coffee together and some awesome chat time. My daughter Leanne then joined us as well. I find these times with my daughters such a treat. Emily is 21 and Leanne is 20 and both have busy lives working and socializing, coming and going. So when we do have a moment where our schedules meet together it is a time to discuss so many things; issues in life, work, friends, family and more. As my children are growing up and moving on with their own lives these moments we spend together are special indeed.

The day of hearts, flowers and love.. The day everyone is supposed to be romantic and all that jazz. Not that I have a problem with being romantic but I’ve always bristled at having a day were I’m told I’m supposed to be that way.. just my independent streak coming through I guess.. :) .. Love, to me, is something that is shown all year long, every day. Love is giving selflessly to the ones that the Lord has put in my life, those that are nearest and dearest to my heart, my family. Love is serving. As my husband has said to me many times, “Love is an action”. It’s a verb.. it’s what we do each day to care, support, and provide for those we love. When we love and serve and give to our families we show the love of God to them, the love that we have for our Savior comes through our actions to those He has entrusted to our care.  Matt. 25:40 And the King will answer and say to them, ”Assuredly, I say to you inasmuch as you did it to one of the le...