Homemaking on the Homestead

For those that receive my newsletter I wanted to give you a little update.. I’ve not sent out a newsletter for the last two months and won’t be sending one out this month. I’m at a point where I think it’s time for a little break. Not sure how long but after 9+ years of publishing a monthly newsletter, a little break sounds like a good plan to me!! I do desire to continue the newsletter in the future and will keep you posted! I will continue with my blog and website.. just a little break from the monthly newsletter. Also the September menu calendar has been posted to my site: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/MenuSept%202013.pdf    

This has to be the most different school year ever for me. Why? Because I am really only planning for one student! And that is vastly different from the first time, 25 years ago, when I was setting out on my homeschool journey and preparing for one Kindergarten student. I had no experience and very few curriculum choices available. How quickly the years seem to have gone by! Sierra will be graduating very soon. She is currently working on a few remaining subjects for her diploma. I will be issuing her diploma when her required courses are finished. If all goes according to plan she should be done by the end of the year (spring time at the latest). She has not taken a summer break in order to try and finish up this year. She is currently working on Civics & Economics, English writing and Literature. And her love of learning more and more about photography and art will continue to be part of her schedule. That leaves me with my son Isaac as my only student ...

Monday Veggie bacon deep dish pie (my own adaptation of this recipe: ( http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/veggie-bacon-squares/cb14f7dd-9e2c-43e5-9249-87925484b21a )  it was good and I'll share soon!), salad, watermelon Tuesday Bbq hamburger & cornbread casserole (this recipe is linked to my bbq ham & cornbread casserole.. I’ll substitute 1lb of hamburger for the ham), salad, watermelon Wednesday Roasted chicken, potato salad, garlic roasted beets (from my garden), salad Thursday Leftovers Friday Skillet chicken w/sundried tomatoes & feta, zucchini pesto pasta , salad (Sierra’s menu choice and night to cook) Saturday Baked potatoes topped with my home canned chili and cheese, salad Sunday Leftovers

I tried a new recipe for guacamole. It was so yummy! I’ve been using my standard recipe for years but was read to try something new. I found one online: http://blogs.babycenter.com/life_and_home/four-seasons-secret-guacamole-ole/   It was amazing! If you like guacamole.. then I recommend you give it a try! Instead of the taco filling I was going to make I decided I needed a crockpot meal for the day. So I came up with this one.. Crockpot Mexican Soup   1 cup dried black beans 2 ½ to 3lbs beef pot roast, cut into chunks 4 cups chicken broth 4 cups corn, frozen or canned (drained if using canned) 1 medium onion, diced 1 red or green pepper, chopped 1 to 2 jalapeno chopped peppers, remove as many seeds as you like, the more seeds the hotter the soup 2t chili powder 2t cumin Salt & pepper, to taste Do a quick soak of the beans. To do this, put beans in a large pot and cover well with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Turn heat off...

Tuna noodle casserole is one of those comfort foods in life. My family has always enjoyed it. The one thing I have not liked about tuna noodle casserole is the typical recipe has cream of something soup in it. I stopped buying these soups years ago. I don’t like the ingredients label at all. So I had to figure out a way to make this family favorite without the soups. This is what I came up with…. No Cream Soup Tuna Noodle Casserole 8oz pasta, any type, boiled & drained 2 cans tuna, drained 3T butter 3T flour 3 cups chicken broth 8oz cream cheese, softened 2 cups grated cheddar cheese Put cooked pasta and drained tuna into a bowl. Heat a saucepan on medium high add butter to melt and add flour. Stir and cook briefly. Add chicken broth. Stir and bring to a boil until thickened. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add cream cheese and cheddar and stir until melted. Pour sauce into bowl of tuna and cooked pasta. Pour mixture into 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 2...

  I’ve been posting my weekly menu for some time now. I figured it was time to give this weekly post a catchier name. I’m not always the most clever when it comes to things like this. I asked my daughter Sierra for suggestions. She had several but the one that made me laugh the most was “Chow Chow for Now” .. despite the laugh I got from that one, This Weeks Menu will now be known as Menu Monday!  Monday Crockpot pork roast, garlic roasted green beans , brown rice pilaf , salad Tuesday Salmon patties topped w/ homemade guacamole , fried potatoes, salad Wednesday Mexican beef tacos , tortilla chips w/guacamole, salad Thursday Leftovers Friday Chicken sausages sautéed w/onions & broccoli slaw, brown rice, watermelon Saturday Lasagna , garlic toast, salad Sunday Leftovers  

Ever had one of those huge zucchini’s in your garden that just seemed to explode in size overnight? Then the question always is, “what to do with it?”. The 2 on the bottom are size they are supposed to be picked at. The one on the top was my project. ~smile~ I decided to try freezing it. I’ve grated it and frozen it for making muffins, but what I found is I just don’t use it up very well that way. So I wanted to try something different. I was given this idea from a friend of mine. You cut it up, sauté it and then flash freeze it for use in stir-fry’s, soups, casseroles, etc.. I’ve not tried it before but it seemes like a great idea… Cut the zucchini in half and scoop out the seeds. Chop the zucchini into small pieces. Heat a frying pan and add a little oil. I used coconut oil. Add zucchini and cook until just done… Lay cooked zucchini on a tray and put in freezer overnight. I lined the tray with parchment paper to make it easier to remove frozen pieces. ...

I had my first picking of green beans (and yellow wax beans) from my garden. Due to various issues this year (which I’ve previously shared) I decided to plant a smaller garden, and I’m thankful for it. So our first picking was not huge (in comparison to years past)…. But it was enough to have to deal with. I used some of them for dinner.. I made garlic roasted green beans .. oh yum!! They were delish and I look forward to the next picking and making this again. As for the rest of the beans… I decided there were not enough to bother canning them. So I decided to freeze them. Freezing green beans is pretty simple. After the beans had been washed and snapped I put on a pot of water to boil. I put my little basket in the pot. This holds the veggies and makes it easy to pull them out of the boiling water. As soon as the water came to a boil I added the beans (not all of them).. I boiled them for 3 minutes. While they were boiling I filled my sink with cold water ...

  Monday Chicken pad thai, chinese noodles, egg rolls, salad (didn’t make this last night so it got moved to Monday night..  and it was yummy!) Tuesday Tuna pot pie w/cheesy biscuit topping (basically THIS recipe only using 2 cans tuna instead of chicken), garlic roasted green beans, coleslaw Wednesday Chili dogs (homemade chili over hot dogs on buns), coleslaw, watermelon Thursday Leftovers Friday Sour cream enchiladas (made with hamburger instead of chicken), tortilla chips & salsa, watermelon Saturday BBQ baked chicken legs, mac & cheese , green salad Sunday Leftovers

I’ve made a few trips to the Midwest. My hubby was raised in Chicago and we would go and visit family. One thing I vividly remember from my trips is summer thunder storms. The humidity levels would soar, the clouds would come and it was quite a display of thunder, lighting & rain. Then it would end almost as quickly as it began. This was something I did not see often here in the Northwest. We have our rain, and plenty of it, but summers are usually dry and the rain is saved for the rest of the year. On Friday the humidity levels were higher than what is usual for the PNW and the prediction was for a thunderstorm. Early in the evening the storm began. It was quite an awesome site. As the sun was setting in the west the storm was rumbling and rolling in from the east. We could hear the thunder boom but what made this storm so beautiful was how it made the sky look. With the sun setting and casting it lights against the incoming storm the colors that appeared were brea...

Another cloudy day in the PNW, at least it was for half the day then the sun came out. I decided to do a little cooking early in the day. I had on my menu this week roasted chicken. However, when I got to my last grocery stop, Costco, they were out of whole chickens. Instead I changed the menu plan and made some chicken in coconut basil sauce. I also made a batch of cilantro lime rice and some cheesy biscuits. I served this meal with a big green salad using some of the lettuce I picked recently from my garden. Chicken in Coconut Basil Sauce 2lbs boneless, skinless chicken pieces cut in pieces 2T olive or coconut oil Salt & pepper, to taste 5 to 6 mushrooms, sliced 1 small zucchini, cut in pieces 4 garlic cloves, chopped or pressed 2 to 3T fresh basil, chopped (or 1 to 2 teaspoons, dried) 2 cups chicken broth 1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk   Heat a large frying pan on medium high. Add oil and chicken pieces. Salt & pepper chicken pieces and cook unt...

Oh my, this was so good!! Over the weekend I made this. It was not on my menu plan. Have you ever looked at your menu and said.. “blahh”… that was the case for me. I wanted to make something different. I went to my freezer and found 2lbs of thinly sliced round steak. I pulled it out and let it sit in a sink of warm water for about 30 minutes. It was defrosted enough for me to cut up into small pieces. I also cut up one onion, several small mini peppers, and sliced up 1 head of romain lettuce and pressed 8 cloves of garlic. I was doing this recipe on just inspiration! LOL.. no formal recipe. Sooo.. here is what I did.. I heated up my large cast iron frying pan. I put 2T coconut oil in the pan. I added the onions, peppers and garlic and sautéed this until the veggies were soft… I added the beef and cooked this until the meat was complete cooked.   I then added the romain lettuce. I know this may sound strange.. but lettuce is a green.. you could sub ...

  Monday Spaghetti , french bread, salad Tuesday Bbq pork chops, macaroni salad, green beans Wednesday Leftovers Thursday Roasted chicken, potato salad , watermelon Friday Sweet & sour meatballs , brown rice w/sautéed veggies, coleslaw Saturday Leftovers Sunday Chicken pad thai, chinese noodles, egg rolls, salad  

My garden has been a bit neglected as of late. It is in desperate need of weeding. I went down there this afternoon and did some, but there is so much more to do. Tomorrow my son Jacob is going to rototill it for me and that will take care of a lot of those pesky weeds, at least for now. Then my youngest two kids and I will finish up weeding between the plants and rows. I have a much smaller garden this year than normal. It has been a good thing for me but I do miss the abundance of fresh veggies that normally come this time of year. Perhaps I’ll hit the farmers market soon and see what I can purchase. However, today I did pick a little lettuce and my first little zucchini. I washed it up and put it in the fridge to crisp for tomorrow’s salad. After an afternoon in the garden I really enjoy a nice foot soak. In the summer I live in my flip flops and wear them in the garden or often go barefoot in the garden. So my feet can get dry & cracked pretty quickly. I wa...

I spent a little time in the kitchen today. The cool weather and cloudy skies was certainly not feeling like a summer day! Instead I put on a sweater and my fuzzy slippers and decided chili was the perfect meal for the family. This is my basic chili recipe and it can be made on the stove top or assembled and put in the crockpot on low to simmer and blend flavors. I got a later start in the kitchen so opted to make it on the stove top. I served it with a little cheese sprinkled on the top and dollop of sour cream and on the side we had a green salad, tortilla chips & homemade salsa (canned from last year’s tomatoes). Super Yummy Chili 3 cups dried red beans 12 cups water 1T salt 1 lb hamburger 1 cup chopped onions 1 cup chopped peppers (these can be green or red or yellow peppers or a combo of any of them) 1 cup chopped celery 2 14oz cans diced tomatoes 2T chili powder 1T hot pepper sauce (such as the brand Tabasco) 1T minced garlic 1t salt, if desire...