Homemaking on the Homestead

As quick as it seems summer started here things are starting to cool down. We have a couple more days of warm weather and then it starts hitting the low 70's. It also makes it hard to blog consistently when I'm outside enjoying the few days of hot weather we've had this year. :) I do kind of feel like I missed out on summer this season. Such is life. But the cooler weather and a little rain in the forecast have me thinking of soups. Tonight I'm making a “roasted” chicken in my Instant Pot . I'll make some mashed potatoes and turn all those wonderful juices the IP makes into some yummy tasting gravy. My neighbor also blessed us with some corn on the cob from his garden. So that will also be served along with a nice green salad. The rest of the week is looking like this: Sausage Potato Chowder This is one of my favorite recipes. I'm converting it into an Instant Pot recipe so we'll see how that goes. Garlic bread and a salad will be ...

My husbands schedule has been a bit jumbled up lately and that gets me off track as well! So I'm a little late in getting this out today.  Summer heat continues you here, which I'm loving as I feel we finally have a summer! I think we are probably one of the only states (other than Alaska) that has not spent the summer in sweltering hot heat! The hot days means I really don't want to be heating up my kitchen and cooking all day. My cooking, as of late, is relying heavily on my Instant Pot . I love that not only do I get a meal cooked quickly but it does not heat up my kitchen. Tonight we will be having pork roast with potatoes, carrots, onions, and peppers. It will all be cooked in my IP. Last time I made this meal I had a falling apart tender roast and the veggies (put in towards the end of the cooking time) in less than an hour and a half. I'll make a salad to go along with this meal. The rest of the week is looking like this: Korean Chicken...

Oh how I loved this cheesecake! :) Oh how my family loved it! It was gone in no time. I'm actually glad that the Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker, 6Qt/1000W makes a small cheesecake. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing for the hips! Ha, ha.. To make a cheesecake in the Instant Pot you will need a Springform Cake Pan, MCIRCO 7 Inches . I made this 7”'s of amazing-ness from this recipe: http://cookiesandcups.com/instant-pot-salted-caramel-cheesecake-2/ I gathered together all my ingredients.... I made the crust first. The crust uses Ritz crackers and it was a perfect compliment to the sweet goodness. The recipe also has you line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper. This was a good thing. The last cheesecake I made I did not do that and just sprayed with non-stick spray (I use: Kelapo Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Cooking Spray, 5-Ounce Can ). The parchment paper and spray combo made it even easier to remove pieces f...

I was thinking all weekend about the meals for the week ahead.. without getting very far.. :), which is not good because we need to eat this week and I needed a plan. So I started looking through all my saved recipes, my own recipes, my freezer and pantry to get some ideas. Finally I came up with a plan. Tonight we are having chicken thighs cooked in the Instant Pot with Yoshida's sauce. I have some rice already cooked up in the fridge and a salad already made. Pretty simple, but then the IP makes most all meals pretty simple! The rest of the week is looking like this... Lasagna I have one in the freezer. I'll serve garlic bread and a salad on the side. Salmon Patties Ok, I'm cheating on this one. It is to hot to heat up the kitchen and I'm using already made patties from Costco. They are super good. I'll serve potato salad (made in the Instant Pot) , and sliced cucumber salad. Beef Stroganoff Once again this is an Instant Pot meal. I...

I'm a year and a half into my goal of getting fit. My goal was not to lose weight.. it was to get fit.. I did not care about the weight loss. How much stupid wasted time have I spent on focusing on weight loss only to gain it all back. Only when I stopped focusing on weight loss and started focusing on getting fit did I finally see some changes. Last year I decided to start walking. I wanted to just move. I wanted to be more active. One mile about killed me.. LOL.. today I walk 4, 5 or 6 miles and have no problem with it. I've even started doing a little running during my walks. I go easy.. because.. well.. I'm 52.. my knee joints don't like it when I stress them out.. the joys of getting older. But, step by step.. walking or jogging.. I am getting fit. I have a FitBit.. and I LOVE this thing. Daily my goal is 10,000 steps or more. More has been my goal this year. In January (my one year anniversary to making the choice to get up off the couch and j...

This blog post does contain affiliate links, thank you for your support!   I did not have this on my menu this week. I went grocery shopping and saw Costco had pork shoulder/butt roasts at a great price and I immediately thought.. Kalua Pork!!! One of my favorite meals. But the only reason I don't make it that often is that it takes 16 hours in a crockpot. That is a lot of pre-planning. However with the Instant Pot ( Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker, 6Qt/1000W ) it was only 90 minutes of cook time. Much better. And it turned out fantastic. To make Kalua Pork you will need Red Hawaiian Sea Salt. This salt has a naturally light smoky flavor that makes this meal authentic. I'm sure another salt would work but you would want to add some liquid smoke. I've never made it with any other type of salt so I'm not sure of the measurements. The recipe to make this meal is pretty simple. Besides the salt you will need a pork shoulder...

The busyness in my home has settled down, the leftovers are gone and it's time to plan a new menu this week. And get some groceries in the house. Which is my plan for today. I have errands to run and the groceries to buy so I'm not sure what time I will get home and dinner needs to be quick and easy. I'm going to make Instant Pot spaghetti. I love how fast it comes together. While it's cooking in the IP I'll make a salad and slice up some french bread to go along with the meal. The rest of the week is looking like this... Meatball Subs Typically I make my meatballs in sauce in the crockpot. I am going to give it a try in my IP. Meatballs in sauce in a sandwich roll topped with coleslaw is a family favorite. I have one more cabbage left in my garden and I'm going to make coleslaw with it. Plus potato chips on the side will make a nice quick summer time meal. Burrito Bowl I saw this video online: h ttp://www.hippressurecooking.com/press...

I had such a busy week last week. My daughter Leanne, who is an English teacher in S. Korea, was coming home for a short one week vacation. Her biggest desire was to spend time with family. It had been a year since she was home. So I planned a family get together. I asked my daughter Emily if she and her hubby could come up from California for the weekend, and they did. My other local children and their families came. It was a big event. When you have a big family and they grow up and start families of their own and have husbands/wives, boyfriends/girlfriends.. the number of people is pretty big! I had 25 people.. adults and children... When the night ended and some went home, some stayed the night.. my husband and I looked at each other and were a little bit in awe of what we had started... LOL.. we both felt more than blessed by that day. The Bible says.. blessed is the man that has his quiver full.. and on the hard days, the stressful days, the difficult days, the t...

  This week's menu is really late.. it is the first quiet moment I've had.. :) What a great week … my daughter Leanne came home for a visit from S. Korea, my daughter Emily & her hubby Brandon came up from Cali, and all my local kids and grandkids (and friends) arrived here on Saturday for a little (ok.. big..  when you have a big family and they have families... it is always BIG :)  family reunion and barbecue. My daughters left this morning and I moved into home recovery mode! Ha, ha.. :) I'll share more about it all in my next blog post. But the week marches on and we need to eat. I need to do a little shout out for my Instant Pot. On Sunday I still had several of my children here and never have I been able to feed so many people and spend so little time in the kitchen. I made chicken thighs smothered in Yoshidas sauce, rice, green beans (from my garden) all in the IP. I also had garlic bread as well. Tonight we were eating the lef...