Homemaking on the Homestead

I get in these moods and try something new and then make it over and over because everyone seems to love it so much. That is the case for this breakfast casserole. It is so good, and (at least I think) so good for you. I make it for my family at least once a week and it lasts for a couple of days (sometimes 3 if my teenage eating machine son is not here.. :) .. I like it most of all because it is not your typical bread based breakfast casserole (never have liked those) and it is versatile. You can use a variety of veggies in it and it tastes good each time. I listed the veggies I use most often when I make it. You can add or omit other veggies instead. Here is my recipe… Sweet Potato Breakfast Casserole 1 sweet potato (medium to large size), peeled and grated (grating it with a food processor makes it easy) 2T butter 1 medium onion, chopped ½ of a red or green pepper, chopped 3 large mushrooms, sliced ½ cup (or so) sliced celery 1 lb sausage (such as Jimmy Dean) 12 e...

  Monday Leftover sautéed cabbage w/chicken & shrimp, grapes & melon slices Tuesday Crockpot chili (or I may make a huge pot of it and can a few jars, we’ll see how my day goes), tortilla chips & salsa, salad Wednesday Salmon salad, deviled eggs , oven roasted veggies (sweet potatoes, peppers, mushrooms, onions, garlic), honey dew melon Thursday Sierra’s night to cook – she is still deciding on what she wants to make Friday Coconut chicken, baked sweet potatoes, green beans (if I have enough from the garden, otherwise it will be salad), watermelon Saturday Leftovers Sunday Baked ham , potato salad , salad, watermelon

I wanted to use up the last of the green beans I picked the other day and boiled or steamed green beans just did not sound that great to me. So I decided to roast them instead… oh my.. that was the ticket! And it was so easy to do. I put my snapped fresh green beans in a bowl and added about 5 cloves of chopped garlic (we LOVE garlic.. :) .. then I drizzled enough olive oil to coat them well. I put them on a large baking tray…. Then put them in a 400 degree oven. I stirred them a couple of times while they cooked. It took about 20 minutes for them to cook. I sprinkled salt and pepper over them when I pulled them out of the oven… all I can say is… DELISH!!

My daughter Sierra has been in charge of one dinner a week for the last several weeks. She is enjoying this quite a bit. I have a good time just watching her creativity bloom in the food arena. Her recipe choices and cooking practice is showing me she is on her way to being quite a chef!! :) This week she chose Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken and Zucchini Pesto Pasta. She had to make a few changes to the chicken recipe. The original recipe (which can be found here: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=376900   ) called for 12 oz of chicken. There was no way that amount would feed our family. Three pounds is more like it! The original recipe also called for frying the chicken until it was fully cooked. Since she was doing so much more chicken she decided to just brown it well and then bake it to finish the cooking time. She also used skinless boneless thigh fillets instead breast meat. She began by chopping up a LOT of garlic. We love garlic and I’m pret...

I had 4 large heads of cabbage that weighted about 25 pounds. We had some really hot days and I figured I better get the last of them picked soon. My daughter Sierra and I ended up processing 3 of them yesterday and I have one left for a meal on my menu this week. I made pickled cabbage and then canned up the last of the cabbage. Here is the recipe for the pickled cabbage (according to how I made it)… 8 pounds cabbage 1 large onion 1 ½ red peppers 1 lb carrots ¾ cup salt 9 cups water 12 cups white vinegar 10 cups sugar 1t mustard seed 1t celery seed Slice cabbage thinly. Slice onion and peppers. Grate carrots. Mix all veggies together in a very large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix in well. Let sit for 2 hours to soften veggies. Rinse veggies well.  In a large stock pot (mine was 14 quarts) combine water, vinegar, sugar, spices. Bring to a boil. Add cabbage/veggies. Bring to a boil. Fill hot pint jars with veggies using a slotted spoon. Fill jar with brine...

Monday Leftover spaghetti (made a huge batch yesterday to eat on for a couple of days), french bread, salad (this is normally Sierra’s night to cook..   she is cooking on Tuesday instead) Tuesday Garlic brown sugar chicken, macaroni salad, salad (Sierra’s night to cook and recipe choices) Wednesday Crockpot Chili , tortilla chips & salsa, salad Thursday Chicken & shrimp sautéed with onions, mushrooms, peppers and cabbage (this meal will be like the hamburger cabbage meal I made a couple of weeks ago only using chicken & shrimp instead of hamburger: http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/08/cooking-with-cabbage.html   ), salad Friday Leftovers Saturday Baked pork chops, potato salad , salad Sunday Lasagna , french bread, salad

My green beans have not done as well as they have in the past. Our summer has been on the cooler side (except the last week) and it took them awhile to get going. My kids and I did our second picking today. I’m thankful for what I was able to can. I may have enough to get a few more jars canned with the next picking, which will most likely be the last. Our afternoon started with picking the beans. Then I washed them and we had a little bean snapping party! :) (Sierra took the pic so she is not in it)… After the beans were snapped it was time to get them canned up. I began by washing 7 quart jars in my dishwasher. While it was running I pulled out my canner and got my lids put in some hot water and pulled out the rings. When the jars were washed I was ready to go. I raw pack my green beans. I begin by adding 1 teaspoon salt to the quart jar… Then I fill the jar with green beans. I shake the jar around a bit to get as many beans in as I can.. Then I fil...

I took a few pictures of my garden this evening. It is growing well and we have some nice hot days coming this week and I’m hoping it the garden will grow even more and my tomatoes will ripen soon.