Homemaking on the Homestead

  I’m going to keep it real simple this week. Cooking and working in the kitchen is still a challenge for me. Thankfully my 2 youngest children have been great helpers. I try and do what I can because I know it is good for my hand to use it as much as I am able. It just takes me a lot longer to do basic things. I decided to utilize my crockpot as much as possible. I figured each meal will last the 4 of us 2 nights. So there are 3 days of leftovers. Monday Crockpot pork roast made w/ my home canned pickled cabbage (this is a super easy one that I will share soon), mashed potatoes ( I bought dehydrated instant mashed potatoes from Costco for the first time in over 20 years! LOL .. the ingredients on the box were simple: potatoes, butter and salt.. I figured in times like these it is nice to have ), salad Tuesday Leftovers Wednesday Crockpot Island Chicken (this recipe is floating around in my head… if it turns out I’ll share it :), brown rice, salad Thursda...

Slowly but surely my hand is making improvements. However it is not without a lot of effort on my part. I spend a good portion of my days bending, flexing, and stretching and exercising my hand to regain use. I’m not there yet but am encouraged with the progress I see. I can type with much more ease now so I figured it was time for a recipe. ~smile~ I made this the week before I went into the hospital. Yum! It was delish and my family ate it up. It goes together quickly and can simmer all day in the crockpot. I served it with tortilla chips, salsa and a salad. Crockpot Beef Veggie Chili 2lbs stew beef 2T olive oil onions, mushrooms, peppers, celery, chopped equaling about 6 cups 2 cups carrots,sliced 2 cups corn, canned or frozen 2T chili powder 2t cumin 2t salt 1T hot pepper sauce such as Tabasco, optional if you want a little kick Pepper to taste Put stew beef in crockpot. Saute onions, mushrooms, peppers and celery in olive oil until soft. When cooked add to...

What a week I’ve had. I went to the doctor last Tuesday morning because I had a very swollen and painful right hand. I literally could not use my hand at all. The doctor took one look at it and said I needed to be admitted into the hospital immediately! I knew it was bad just had no idea how bad it was or how serious the situation was. I ended up in the hospital for 5 days. As I found out infections of the hands are very complex and very serious. I had a staph infection in my hand. Over a week prior to this I cut my thumb on a piece of glass. I cleaned it up and figured it would heal. The thumb was a bit sore and red but nothing that caused me any great alarm. I washed and used hydrogen peroxide on it. Then the cut healed shut. In less than 36 hours I went from a slightly sore and swollen thumb to an entire hand that was VERY swollen, unusable, bright red and extremely painful. Apparently as soon as the cut healed it basically locked the staff infection inside my hand a...

I did pretty good last week as far as planning goes. I am still adjusting to just 4 of us. I ended up cooking 3 times, leftovers 3 times and one night Sierra and I were the only ones home so we just made ourselves a sandwich and salad. This week I’ll aim for 4 meals and see how it goes. Monday Leftover beef and veggie chili (recipe post coming soon). I made a large crockpot full of this on Sunday and have enough for Monday’s dinner as well. I’ll be serving it with tortilla chips and a salad Tuesday Chicken parmesan, french bread, salad – this was one of those meals from last week that did not get made Wednesday Salmon patties (I may be making some for the freezer which is what the link shows), brown rice pilaf , garlic roasted brussel sprouts – another meal from last week that did not get made Thursday Leftovers Friday Chicken & bacon crockpot chowder (another recipe I'll share if it turns out good), dinner rolls, salad Saturday Spaghetti (us...

This recipe is amazing!! My daughter Emily gave it to me. She does a lot of Asian cooking and said this was soooo good. It is really just a marinade. For the pictures in this I used thinly sliced pork ribs (riblets is what the package said). I have also made this recipe using chicken and today bought some beef to use for next week. After trying this recipe out now a couple of times I know it would make a fantastic freezer recipe (this is my plan with the beef I just bought). You can easily mix it together and put your meat and the sauce in a freezer bag and freeze it. When you want to use it, pull it out the night before and put it in the fridge. Let it defrost and marinade until the following day. The longer the meat is mixed with the sauce the better it tastes. But even a few hours is great. Korean Marinade 1 cup sugar 1 cup soy sauce 1 cup water ½ large onion, sliced 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 t ginger 1 T lemon juice 1 to 2 T hot chile paste, (this option...

I thought I would share one way that I recently used my home canned chicken (I will try and share more as I continue to use the chicken). You can find directions on how I canned the chicken HERE . I don’t have actual measurements for this meal as I just threw it together one evening when we needed dinner rather quick like! I opened 1 pint jar of chicken, drained it and then chopped it up on the cutting board.. Then I sautéed up some sliced onions, peppers, and carrot sticks. I cooked this until the carrots were soft… Then I added the chicken and let this heat up (sorry about the blurry pic :)… Finally I added about 4 cups of cooked brown rice. I seasoned it with soy sauce and a little bit of fish sauce. I just added the sauces until it tasted right to me.. :) .. just go easy on them as you can always add more but can’t take it out if you discover you over seasoned it… This was very tasty! Since I had the rice leftover from a previous meal (I also keep ...

The recipes that have the * next to them indicate that I hope to share the recipe and photos with you soon. Some weeks my menus are my best intentions and they don’t always get made exactly as shown. Sometimes we end up with more leftovers, sometimes our plans change for the day and we need something that is faster to put together (that is usually when I reach for my canned soups, stews and meat). Monday Hamburger/rice enchiladas, tortilla chips & salsa, salad - This recipe will be made similar to this one HERE only using hamburger . I will use 1lb hamburger cooked with some onion and 2 cups cooked brown rice for the filling. This is enough to fill 12 corn tortillas and maybe a little extra which I’ll spread on top of the finished tortillas This will be cooked in a 9x13 pan. Tuesday Korean pork*, egg rolls, salad – this was on my menu a couple of weeks ago and did not get made, I’ll try again! Wednesday Salmon patties (I may be making some for the freezer ...

Happy New Year!!!  My blogging has been so spotty lately. Seemed like so much going on for the holidays with friends and family coming and going. A few days after Christmas I decided it was time to take the tree down and put all the Christmas decorations away for the season. I always like starting out the New Year with my house in order. New Year’s Eve was spent with just Tobin and me at home. Our children all had plans with their siblings and Tobin and I enjoyed ringing in the New Year quietly. I’m currently involved in my yearly basement clean out project. This year I have been rather ruthless and driven when it comes to lightening up my belongings. Oh how many things I hang onto because somewhere in the back of mind I think.. hmm, I MIGHT use this again.  During my clean out process I also discovered something interesting. I can see why it is people have such a hard time getting rid of things. And to a degree why people hoard. My first task was ...