Homemaking on the Homestead

Summer is here pretty early for our area. So I'm focusing on quick meals, easy meals.. and meals that can be prepared outside such as grilling or putting the crockpot or roaster oven on the deck to cook instead of heating up the house and perhaps a little more use of the deli! Ha, ha!! Monday Spaghetti & meatballs, french bread, salad Tuesday Crockpot orange & garlic chicken, buttered pasta, salad Wednesday BBQ (still planning) Thursday Leftovers Friday Crockpot tater tot casserole, fruit platter Saturday 4th of July BBQ & party at our home: burgers, hotdogs, potato salad, watermelon, s'mores Sunday Leftovers    

On Saturday evening last week I was in the garden planting my corn starts. I heard the siren of the local fire department going off. I always wonder what is happening when I hear it. Typically I never learn what happened. But, a bit after I heard the siren I heard emergency vehicles like crazy. Shortly after that I saw the life flight helicopter landing at the local school yard. It is the only flat place in our area for it to land. I knew at that moment it was bad. I learned later that evening from friends that live in the area that it had been a head on collision right down at the end of my road on the main highway. A truck went over the center line and collided with a minivan. A family. They had been in our area on vacation. Had just spent a fun day in the area taking a boat tour and heading back home, near Seattle Wa. The father and 3 of his children died in the accident. The driver of the truck that crossed over the center line died at the scene. ...

My garden has been growing like crazy.. but so have the weeds!! This evening my hubby and son Jacob helped to get all under control again.. they string trimmed around it and rototilled the areas where I don't have anything planted... and between a few rows.. I still need to do a lot of weeding by hand.. but at least the major part of it all is looking neat and clean again. My son Isaac and I got it all watered.. takes a bit as some of it is still watered by hand. Here are a few pics.. really the sun was totally in the wrong place for pic taking.. but what can I say.. that was when I was down there!                

Sorry for the lack of blogging last week. It was a busy week. Hubby and I were working on projects around the house, there was garden work, and my kids had friends over the weekend which made for lots of activity and not a lot of time for blogging. Hoping this week to share some garden updates and share about my walking and my new toy (smile)!! For now, here is my menu for the week..... Monday Tuna patties (actually leftovers from Sunday when I finally got them made from last weeks menu. I made a double batch), rice pilaf, salad Tuesday Polish sausage, fried cabbage & onions, watermelon Wednesday BBQ burgers w/trimmings, chips, fruit platter Thursday Ham, crockpot potatoes, green beans, coleslaw Friday Leftovers Saturday Ham noodle stir fry, salad Sunday Leftovers    

It's Monday! Time to bring in the groceries today. I'm finding menu planning a challenge lately. I plan and sometimes make the meal and then find out my kids have other plans for that night. If I made the meal, then it's unplanned leftovers. And the meal I'd planned for the next night does not get made. I've had meatball subs on my menu for 3 weeks now and still have not made them. Hopefully, they'll get made this week!! :) Monday Sausage gravy over biscuits, strawberries & grapes Tuesday Meatball subs , coleslaw , chips Wednesday Crockpot peach bbq chicken, rice, salad Thursday Leftovers Friday Tuna patties , mac & cheese, watermelon Saturday Summer pasta (made w/chicken), salad Sunday Leftovers      

We've had some beautiful hot summer days and my garden is really taking off. The green beans are up, the squash is up, and many of the flowers are starting to peek through as well. I water my garden with the “ditch irrigation” method. I have a small spring pond that has a pipe that runs underground from the pond to the garden. The elevation is so small that it would be impossible to run sprinklers. The pond has bits of algae and such that end up plugging up soaker hoses. So the best method we came up was to run PVC pipe to each row, make a ditch and let the water run down the ditch. When it gets to the bottom of the row, I put the next pipe on and continue until all the rows are watered. This method has worked great for the many years of gardening I've done. Below are the updated pics....          

This recipe was not on my menu last week. I'd planned something else, but life happened and I wanted a quick meal for the day that I could put in the crockpot and not think about until dinner time. This was the ticket. I found a recipe but had to tweak it some to make it to my liking. A warning.. it is a big recipe. You can cut it down, or just freeze some of it if it is too much for your family size. This lasted us one night for dinner, a couple meals for my hubby's lunch and my kids finished up the leftovers.   Crockpot Aloha Chicken 5#'s boneless, skinless chicken thighs... I'm sure breast would work as well. If using frozen chicken, defrost first 1 can coconut milk 1 cup frozen orange juice concentrate (undiluted) 1 cup soy sauce ¾ cup brown sugar 2T lemon juice Combine everything in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Serve over rice. Add a nice green salad and you have a delish meal!  Talk about simple and yummy!!    ...

Menu Monday!   What a week.. had several things happen, some good, some not.. but for sure last weeks menu planning did not go completely as planned. You may see a few repeats this week that did not get made yet.. Monday Leftovers: I have leftovers from two meals, plus some extra things my son brought home from his job Tuesday Meatball sub sandwiches , coleslaw , watermelon Wednesday Chicken stir fry w/noodles, egg rolls , salad Thursday BBQ chicken , tater tots, fruit salad Friday Leftovers Saturday Lasagna , french bread, salad Sunday   Clam chowder , biscuits, salad

I made this meal last week. It was not on my menu but I had about 3# of chicken thighs in the fridge that needed to be made into something. So I put this meal together based on what I had to work with. It turned out very good and was super easy to make. I served the Italian chicken with some buttered pasta sprinkled with parmesan cheese. I started by cutting up a medium size onion in slices. Then cut up one can of olives and about 5 or 6 large mushrooms. For spices I used pepper, granulated garlic, Italian seasonings and pink Himalayan salt. I put a few of the chicken thighs in the bottom of the crockpot and sprinkled my seasonings over the top... Then put a layer of onions, olives and mushrooms... Then continued repeating the layers until I had used up all the veggies and all the chicken... I cooked it on low for around 7 hours. Served it with the pasta and a green salad... Like I said, it was good and very simple to make. Easy Crock...

  We had such a beautiful weekend! Loved the summer like weather. Has me thinking about BBQ's and fun summer times. Unfortunately, today the forecast calls for rain and cooler temps. Such is life in the Pacific Northwest. It keeps you guessing. No bbq's planned quite yet.... I'm starting the week off with soup! :) How's your menu planning coming along? Monday Beef potato soup, french bread, salad Tuesday Creamy burrito casserole, chips & salsa, veggie platter Wednesday Meatball sub sandwiches , coleslaw, chips Thursday Leftovers Friday Polish sausage, fried cabbage & kale, cornbread Saturday Tuna noodle casserole , salad Sunday Chicken stir fry w/noodles, egg rolls , salad