Homemaking on the Homestead

Wow, it's the last day of April and the first week of menus for May. The year is zipping on by it seems. Today is grocery shopping day. I don't have a whole lot to pick up so it should be a quick trip. Well, as quick as it can be considering we are 45 minutes from town :). Tonight we are having Cuban Pork Sandwiches . I've made these in the Instant Pot in the past but this time it was the crockpot. I cooked the pork in my crockpot last night. I wanted it cooked and cleaned up before I left for shopping. All I'll have to do when I get home is assemble the sandwiches and grill them. I am going to be using rye bread. That is not typical, but I still have another loaf of rye bread in the freezer from when I made corned beef sandwiches. I'll pick up coleslaw from the deli to have with this. The rest of the weeks is looking like this: BBQ Garlic Chicken Tenders THIS RECIPE looked easy, quick and yummy. I'll make a batch of pota...

It's time for my weekly grocery haul! We shopped at both Winco and Costco this week. I'll start with my Winco haul. I picked up our weekly supply of fruits and veggies. I hope everyone is aware of the recall on romaine lettuce. I had bought a package last week of romaine hearts and returned them when I was there. They had no problem taking them back. I'm sad about this as I love romaine. However spinach and cabbage will work for this week (I tried to purchase some red or green leaf lettuce and they were nearly out and what was left was to pathetic looking to bother with).. I picked up the usual apples, oranges and bananas as well as some grapes which have been super sweet and good. I also grabbed a few potatoes, tomatoes and a green pepper. The rest of the groceries were granola bars, balsamic vinegar, peanut butter, ice cream (yes that's 3 of them! :) Hubby likes his ice cream) mozzarella cheese and a couple cans of olives...

Wednesday Snap Shot will have a little different look for awhile. When I'm back up and running again, I'll return to the previous format. ************* Good Afternoon! My WSS is up later then typical. I woke up this morning and the first thing on my mind, other then a cup of hot coffee :) was my to do list. The sun is shining and I'm feeling motivated. I had a long list that I started yesterday and did not get finished. So I started working on that. Then got a phone call from my daughter in California and we chatted over and hour, which was wonderful. I love catching up with her busy life when she has a moment to chat. My week has been going very well. I am up and out the door as often as the weather cooperates for my walks and getting other household chores taken care of. I've been in a cleaning and purging mode lately. I went through a tote of clothes and started pulling out summer clothes and putting the winter sweaters awa...

Good Morning! I spent a little time over the weekend getting my menu lined up. I have my grocery list in hand and today is grocery shopping day. This evening's dinner is pretty simple, leftovers. I made the pork roast and mac & cheese that was on last weeks menu, yesterday. I still have enough left for our dinner tonight. Plus I was able to get some put in the freezer for future dinners for hubby to take to work. The rest of the weeks is looking like this: Chicken Sandwiches & Tomato Soup I'm going to use boneless, skinless chicken for the sandwiches. I'll flatten them to make them thin, season them and quickly fry them. I'll serve them in english muffins. I could use hamburger buns but I bought a large pack of english muffins last week from Costco and figured this would be a good way to use them. I'll serve tomato soup and a salad on the side. Pizza Beans Years ago I use to make pinto beans and season...

This week we shopped at both Winco and Costco. The Costco haul was pretty small and we even debated if she should go. However we were there for gas and decided to go anyway. The Winco haul was a bit bigger then typical. I had a hard time getting it all in one picture so I took 2 pics..    We picked up the typical milk and half n half. I also was almost out of sugar and that should last us for a while. I don't do a lot of baking any more and typically only use it to make my hubby's lemonade. The potato rounds are Winco's version of tater tots, only much less expensive. I have vowed not to peruse the meat until I use up more of what I have stored in the freezer. But... my hubby apparently has his own thoughts.. ha, ha.. he spotted hamburger on sale and picked up about 8#'s (I show at the bottom of this post what I did with it). I got another box of almond/coconut milk, a small container of coleslaw from the d...

Wednesday Snap Shot will have a little different look for awhile. When I'm back up and running again, I'll return to the previous format.    ************************** Good Morning! How is your week going? I'm kind of slow going this morning, still enjoying my first cup of coffee.  Yesterday was a very long day. Hubby and I headed north to go and visit his mom and her husband. It was the first road trip I've taken since my surgery. It was a very nice trip. We got home late and I was exhausted, but it was worth the trip for the visit. It's about a 4 ½ hour drive each way to see them. They are doing great on their little homestead. They still have their goats (that she milks daily) and chickens and my mother in law is busy getting her garden underway and planting her seed starts. I got an updated picture of them... My weekend was also busy. My daughter Sierra and her fiance, Rex, came to visit over the weeke...

Good Morning! Time for another week of menus. Today is grocery shopping day and I plan to serve meatloaf. I have one left in the freezer all ready to pop in the oven. I'll have tater tots and green beans to go with this. The rest of the week is looking like this: Chili Dogs I'm going to use the hot dogs and the buns that I have in my freezer along with a can of chili in my pantry. I'll serve chips and coleslaw on the side.    Beef Broccoli Ramen THIS RECIPE sounded easy and good. I have everything I need in freezer and pantry to put this together. It's basically a mean in itself but I'll add a salad on the side. Pork Roast, Mac & Cheese I have the pork roast in the freezer and will make a batch of mac &cheese in my Instant Pot . I plan on having roasted brussel sprouts on the side. That should do it for this week!

This week it was time to head back to Costco as well as our usual Winco for our groceries. It had been 3 weeks since we'd been there. Our first stop was Winco and this is what we got... Our regular supply of fruits and veggies, a half gallon of milk and half-n-half for our coffee and yogurt. The Jimmy Dean sausage was on sale and I picked up one for the freezer. I also got 3 cans of spaghetti sauce for the pantry and a bag of bbq chips and hot dog buns. I have hot dogs in the freezer and no buns. So now both are in there waiting until we have a craving for some hot dogs! :) The total for Winco this week was $32 Next stop was Costco... I was out of cheese completely so I picked up 5#'s of grated cheddar and a pack of cheese slices. I've never tried this brand before as I'm typically a Tillamook cheese person but we decided to give it a try...    Despite my plan to not buy any meat p...

Wednesday Snap Shot will have a little different look for awhile. When I'm back up and running again, I'll return to the previous format. *************************** Good Morning! I'm running late this morning. Yesterday was a long day and we didn't get home until late so this morning was a sleep in day. We have some power lines that run through our property. The power company was here last week to let us know they were making some changes and rerouting a few lines. They also need to move the power pole that feeds our house. There was a tree in the way of their plans and they were going to trim the tree but my hubby asked if they could cut it down instead. It was a tree that we were planning to have cut down anyway but had not done it yet. They said yes they would and we were thrilled. It costs about $600 to have our tree guy cut down a tree so we were able to save that expense and it worked much better for the power company, a...