Homemaking on the Homestead

I am home now and my new grandson arrived safe and sound. We also got to visit with our other daughters and grandsons and that was a blessing to us. It was also a very long drive in a short time. We drove down to an area in California right outside of San Diego. That was over 1000 miles of driving to get there. We drove around a lot while we were there. Then headed home. In all we drove 2500 miles in one week. All that time driving gave me a lot of time to think. My husband and I have some changes coming in our life and a lot of preparation to do for this. I've decided that I need to take a blogging break for a few weeks. I made my very first blog post in December of 2005. Seems crazy to me that I've been blogging for this long. By December of this year I will have been blogging for 14 years. I started my website the year before. I've had a 15 year presence on the internet and I do feel an extended break is in order for me at t

The end of summer always meant a lot of tomatoes for me. I would plant somewhere around 30 roma type tomato plants and that would yield a lot of tomatoes each year!  Each year salsa was always on my list.  A friend of mine (Leah) gave me her tried and true salsa recipe and we loved it. It was the recipe I used over and over again. Salsa for Canning… 10 lbs tomatoes, chopped 6 medium onions, chopped 3 cups bell peppers (any kind), chopped 12 jalapeno peppers, chopped and seeded 5 chili peppers, chopped and seeded (this will make it spicy or milder, depending on the peppers you choose) 10 cloves garlic, minced 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped 1 1/3 cups white vinegar 1/4 cup salt 2 tsp pepper 2 tsp cayenne pepper 2 tsp cumin 2 tbsp lime juice 3 cans tomato paste (the bigger cans, not the tiny ones) Combine all ingredients except tomato paste in a large stock pot. Simmer approximately 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomato paste and mix well. Simmer anot

Ranch dressing has always been a favorite at our house. For many years I made my own. It's easy to make and a good frugal alternative to buying store bought. I have a couple different ways I want to share on how to do this.  One is mixing up a batch as you need it and the other is making a powdered mix to have hand when you want a batch.  For starters here is my basic ranch dressing recipe.. Ranch Dressing 1 cup mayonnaise ½ c sour cream ½  cup milk, buttermilk is fine too 1 T lemon juice 1 t. onion powder ½ t. (slightly heaping) minced garlic, I buy the kind in the jar 2 t. parsley dash dill weed ½ t. salt ½ t. seasoning salt dash of pepper Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Allow to sit in fridge for a little while to thicken and allow flavors to blend. When my kids were at home I use to mix this up in bulk. I would quadruple the recipe and make it in my Bosch (or Kitchenaid) mixer. I would add the mayo and sour cream to the mixer

Garden season usually means a lot of zucchini! I am forever looking for ways to use it and preserve it. This recipe was a favorite of mine. ************************************** If you have an abundance of zucchini or yellow squash this is a great way to use it up!  Zucchini pineapple can be used in place of crushed pineapple. I also mix it with equal parts bbq sauce to go over meatballs, meatloaf or chicken. It can also be mixed into fruit salads. Lots of possibilities! (I had a large amount of yellow summer squash and that is why mine is all yellow in color.  If you use zucchini you will have green specks and that is ok too!)   8 quarts grated zucchini 1 #10 can pineapple chunks in juice 6 cups sugar 3 cups lemon juice Combine all ingredients (do not drain pineapple).. heat to a boiling, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Ladle hot mixture into hot pint jars and can in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Use in place of recipes that call for crushed pineap