Homemaking on the Homestead

As the school year ends for so many there are always many questions when it comes to homeschooling.  Can I really do this?  Can I prepare them for college?  And doubts and confusion are very strong.  Mama...  if you homeschool your child/children..  don't doubt yourself or your conviction.  I wrote this a couple years ago..  You can do this..  think outside the box..  and relax.. it will be ok..   I received a comment on a previous article I'd written: “ My Homeschooling Advice to my Daughter ”. I was going to reply to her in the comment section but my reply got so long that I decided to share my thoughts on a blog post. ~smile~ Here was the comment/question: “This was my approach to homeschooling too. My girls are now 9 and 6, and I'm worried about how to homeschool for the next 10 years. I don't know if I have it in me to homeschool for the next 10 years, and I don't know if I would do a good e...

Well we are still waiting on Hannah to have her baby. She has a history of being late (as I did) and so I'm going to try and keep the food planning simple as I don't know when I will need to drop everything and go and help welcome my newest grandbaby into the world. Tonight we are having Texas Beans. I'll use my crockpot recipe ( HERE ) and adapt it to use in my Instant Pot. Basically I will do the recipe as written and cook it on manual for 25 minutes. The rest of the week is looking like this: Lasagna I have one in the freezer so that makes it super easy. French bread and salad from a bag will be a quick meal. Summer Pasta This is a quick and easy meal to make. Basically you boil chicken (breasts or thighs), veggies of choice, spices and pasta all at once. Drain and serve. I'll serve some watermelon to go along with it. Chicken Tacos Cook chicken breasts any way you want. I'll do mine in the Instant Pot. Shred the chicken and add some...

I'm a little late with this Father's Day Post but wanted to share this again.   This is a repost from a couple years ago about my father.  I miss him very much and think of him often especially this time of year....   This last weekend was Father’s Day. I reflected on what an awesome husband I have. He has been an amazing father to our children, and I am certainly blessed. I am thankful that my children have grown up with a good, hardworking, loving and caring father. I had this as well in my childhood. Father’s Day also made me reflect on my own father. He was a wonderful father. He was always there for me no matter what happened. He believed in me. He always told me I could do whatever I set my mind to do. He encouraged my life’s endeavors and supported the decisions I made. He was an independent thinker, always thought outside the box and passed this trait on to me. I learned from him that being my own person, having my own thoughts and ideas (even ...

  Hope everyone had a nice Father's Day and it was a relaxing day for dad. :) My hubby had to work, as usual on the weekends but he did enjoy a little relaxation and attention from the family over the weekend. I've been desperately waiting for summer to start. It has been a lot of days of wet and cool temps. After hubby and I got back from our little trip I had planned to get the rest of my garden in. However it has rained so much that garden planting has not happened. Today, finally, the sun will be out and the weather much better and I hope to be out in the garden!! I have quick and easy pork chops planned for tonight. Twenty minutes in the Instant Pot makes pork chops that are falling apart tender. I'll serve rice and a salad to go along with the meal. That should make it a hassle free dinner after I finish my garden work. This is my plan for the rest of the week... Roasted Chicken I want to make another batch of bone broth this week and figu...

Just when I thought I'd read all the Instant Pot {affiliate link} can do (if you are not familiar with the Instant Pot you can find my original post HERE ), I find something new. I had no idea I could make potato salad so easy and quick. The old days of boiling a pot of potatoes and eggs is officially over. How great to not heat up the kitchen as well. Potato salad for us is a summer food but I don't like how boiling potatoes can warm up the house so much in the middle of summer. Basically you peel your potatoes and put them in the IP on top of the trivet that comes with the IP or a steamer basket. Set the eggs on top. Cook them for 4 minutes (plus the time to come up to pressure and back down, which is not long). Then after the potatoes have cooled down it's time to add the dressing and you are done. Super easy!! You can use any type of potato salad dressing. If you have a favorite dressing you can just use that recipe. Below I've shared the recipe that...

This week life will get back into a little more routine for us. Hubby and I went out of town for a few days and it was great, but always nice to be home. I made last week's chili on Sunday and we have leftovers for tonight. Which is great because I plan to get out in the garden and do some work today. After being gone for a few day the weeds have taken over. So dinner already done is perfect. The rest of the week is looking like this... Mississippi Pot Roast This is a delish Instant Pot beef roast recipe. The IP makes this a pretty quick and easy meal. I'll serve some veggies and potatoes on the side. Sweet Pork Tacos Another Instant Pot recipe that I made once before and am looking forward to trying again. I'll serve this with corn tortillas, pico de gallo, lettuce, cheese and sour cream. Chicken Vegetable Soup Simple & easy to make. Chicken vegetable soup and toasted garlic bread will make a good match for dinner. That should do it ...

My hubby has been working very hard this spring on our homestead. He also works a full time job and commutes 45 minutes each way to work. His weeks are often very long. Last winter we had a huge tree fall during a storm. This spring he began to clean up the tree. The tree was so big it will provide all our firewood for this year and much of what we will need for next year. It has been a big project. He has just kept working at it day by day. Sawing the limbs off one by one, bringing the wood up closer to the house and then cutting it up and splitting it by hand. The other day he said to me that his hands were aching a bit and could I rub them. I of course did. And as I rubbed his hands I just started noticing them even more so. They feel rough and have cuts and callouses from the work he has been doing. I spent time thinking about those hands. These are the hands that work a job to provide for us. The hands that work our homestead to keep it looking nice, to ma...

Oh these were so good! My family loved them. The meat turned out not only falling apart tender but so flavorful. I believe pressure cooking just seals in all those good flavors that the meat is cooked with. And it was so simple to make. I started out with a 3 ½ pork sirloin roast. Normally I would use a shoulder roast for pulled pork but I used what I had in my freezer. If I was making it in a crockpot then I would have ended up with a rather dry roast but this cut of meat in the Instant Pot (IP) turned out moist and delicious. I also used one onion, chicken broth and bbq sauce (recipe below)... I cut the meat up into chunks and salt and peppered it and chopped up my onion... Turned my IP on “Saute” and waited until it the display read “Hot” and added some coconut oil... When the coconut oil had melted I put my onions in the pot to cook and soften up... Remove onions from the pot when they are done cooking.. Add pork to the pot an...

Hubby and I have plans for several days this week and may not be around for meal time. I told my kids that they were on their own. My daughter Sierra likes to cook and she already has a couple meal ideas. My son Isaac, not so much of a cook. I suspect he will be eating sandwiches and hot dogs for a few meals. Sierra said she would like to make Thai Coconut Chicken Curry for one meal. And cook up some salmon that I have in the freezer. For the meals that I do plan to cook... Chili Super easy and quick in the IP. Salad and tortilla chips will be on the side. Lasagna We love lasagna around here and if I make enough it usually lasts us at least a couple days and everyone has leftovers to take to work. French bread and a salad will be served with it. That should do it for the week!  

I'm still amazed at all the things you can make in an Instant Pot (IP). Macaroni & Cheese is another one! Everything is done right in the IP. No pot of water boiling, no draining, no separate pot to make the sauce. And it is all done in record time. I have yet to try and convert my favorite mac & cheese recipe to the IP, but I'll give that a try one of these days. For now I follow a recipe I found online. At the end of the post I'll give the link to the recipe (and it is from an awesome IP recipe site!). The ingredient list is pretty simple, pasta of some sort. I used a mix of pasta I had on hand. You will also need canned milk (or half n half), cheese, mustard, hot sauce (it is not spicy, just adds a nice flavor), butter, salt and water. Pretty simple.. Put the pasta, water, mustard, hot sauce, butter and salt in the IP... Put the lid on, set to “Sealing” and press the “Manual” button. Set the time for 4 minutes. It will come up to p...

The biggest update for this year is.. babies! :) Bring on the grandbabies is what I say. A blessing to our family. My daughter Carolyn just had another baby boy. He weighed 8lbs 8oz and is super cute. She had an unassisted home birth. Just her and her hubby were there.. Little Cendricc is doing great.. My daughter Hannah is due to deliver in a couple weeks now. We are so excited.. the baby countdown is on! She and her hubby decided once again to wait and see if it is a boy or a girl. She is having her first homebirth (the rest of her children were born in the hospital). The baby news does not stop there. My daughter Emily and her hubby surprised us on Mother's Day by telling us... “Baby makes 3”.. She is due in November. It will make an interesting Thanksgiving holiday. I don't know if I will be here at home or down in California with her. We feel God's wonderful blessings in these new little lives that He is adding to our family..