Homemaking on the Homestead

Since I'm still in recovery mode this Monday morning and don't have a menu I thought I'd share a few recipes that I compiled from this blog to give you some ideas for your menu this week!  ***************************** Cheddar Bacon Chicken Bake Easy, delicious and quick to make.... who could ask for more from a meal? I used about 3lbs of chicken breasts divided into 2 9x13 pans. This recipe could be cut in half very easily.   3lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (thighs would work as well) 1 cup ranch dressing, divided 1lb bacon, cooked and crumbled 4 cups grated cheddar cheese, approx Cut up chicken into bite size pieces. Divide between 2 9x13 pans. Drizzle ½ cup ranch dressing over each pan of chicken. Divide cook and crumbled bacon and spread half of it over each pan of chicken. Top with cheese. The recipe gives and approximate amount of cheese. You can top it with more or less depending on your tastes. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 ...

I wrote this post in 2015.  And it is fitting, as soon my youngest child and last child living at home will be moving out on his own.   Hubby and I will be turning a new page in our journey of life.  We often ask/say to ourselves,  "Where did the time go!?" and, "It went by too fast!"  ☺    All my kids in 2002... I remember getting frustrated in the morning.. I just needed a little coffee before the kids all stared talking to me... just a little.. but no, as soon as they were up they were talking to me.. Sometimes I just needed a few moments of peace and quiet.. they went to bed, the house was quiet, finally.. but I was exhausted.. and went to bed.. no time to enjoy that peace and quiet. I just wanted a few moments to myself.. go to the bathroom.. they knock on the door.. and start talking to me.. I tell them to work on their school .. as soon as I walk out of the room... to put some laundry through.. they suddenly ALL ne...

Today is my surgery day so there will be no WSS. Thank you to all who have said a prayer for me, I appreciate it! I'll be back to blogging as soon as I'm able to.  I've set up a few posts for the next week for you to read while I'm on the mend. I hope you all have an amazing week!! Crystal :)

Good morning! This week's menu is looking a little different as I'm a couple days away from surgery and won't be doing a lot of cooking afterwards. I'll be on a special post surgery diet of soft liquids (such as smoothies and broth, etc.) but I wanted to make sure my hubby still had food to eat. Last week I did some extra cooking and packed up individual meals for him. I'll share more specifically about that in another post. Tonight we are taking our son and his girlfriend out to dinner to celebrate his birthday. His actual birthday is later in the week so we decided to celebrate with him tonight. I told him the choice of restaurant is up to him. So we'll see what he has decided on when we get to his home. The rest of the week is looking like this.. Veggie Soup & Chicken I plan to make a batch of veggie soup with my leftover chicken stock (leftover from last weeks cooking). I'll freeze some of it for me for lat...

Wednesday Snap Shot is a quick peek into my week. If you'd like to join in on my Wednesday Snap Shot.. copy and paste my post, add your answers (you can also copy the pic.. BUT Please download the picture to your computer first.. do not just directly copy and paste.. otherwise you are using my bandwidth..thank you! :) .. link your post to my blog and then come back and let me know you shared your week. I'll come and visit you and read about your homemaking week!! :) So Far This Week It's been a good week so far. I am happy to say I got a new stove. My oven on my old stove has not worked for a very long time. I was torn as to what I wanted to do. We had replaced the mother board on it 3 times already and were looking at doing it again. The cost for each mother board is $400. So do I replace it again knowing it will also fail eventually? Or do I purchase a new range? The other issue was that it was a downdraft oven and I was l...

Good morning! My first menu of the new year. I've had my mind on so many things that I've thrown together food for the last week. I'm happy to be back to a menu. Makes life simpler. I need to go grocery shopping. Not sure if it will be today or tomorrow. So I'm planning on a simple meal tonight with the foods I have on hand. I'm making hamburger potato chowder. I'll serve this with a big green salad. The rest of the week is looking like this... Chicken Bacon Pesto Pasta I made this while my family was visiting and it was a big hit. I made it in the crockpot. I don't have a specific recipe written down but I'll share what I did.  I put boneless, skinless chicken thighs and breasts in my crockpot (you can use both or one or the other, does not matter). I had about 3 ½ pounds. I sprinkled it with salt & pepper, and garlic. I poured a can of cream of mushroom soup over it and put 8oz of cream cheese in i...

Wednesday Snap Shot is a quick peek into my week. If you'd like to join in on my Wednesday Snap Shot.. copy and paste my post, add your answers (you can also copy the pic.. BUT Please download the picture to your computer first.. do not just directly copy and paste.. otherwise you are using my bandwidth..thank you! :) .. link your post to my blog and then come back and let me know you shared your week. I'll come and visit you and read about your homemaking week!! :) So Far This Week Good morning to you all! I hope your week is going well and your off to a positive start with this brand new year. It's been a whirlwind of busyness for the last 2 weeks. It takes a lot of energy to put together Christmas (or any gathering) for a big family. But I loved it. I loved having my children home. We had 6 out of 8 kids with us, which is not bad. My oldest daughter lives in Kentucky and she and her family were not able to make it and my dau...

**Since a few days before Christmas my life has been a whirlwind of busyness with family coming and going and keeping up on so many details. This is the first opportunity I've had to sit down and blog. The last of my family left this morning and I have not had time to think about a menu. Menu Monday will return next week.. In the meantime I wanted to welcome in the New Year! Crystal Happy New Year! A new day, a fresh start, a clean sheet of paper, a brand new year. There's something about the start of a new year that I really love. It seems to hold promise, excitement, and the desire in many of us to change things that bother us, to do things that push us just a bit, and to improve. Some call this making resolutions or setting goals. I've always preferred to think of it in terms of goals but this year my son said something to me that gave me a completely different way of viewing this. It has to do with themes for the year and with vis...