Homemaking on the Homestead

  I've really enjoyed using my Dutch Oven this winter. I'm made quite a few meals with it. I wanted to share 3 simple and delicious meals with you.. The first one is Roasted Chicken. I could not believe how moist and delicious this roasted chicken was. I don't plan on roasting chickens any other way in the future!  Dutch Oven Roasted Chicken Delicious & Moist! Season a 3 to 4 lb chicken with your favorite seasonings. Wash & cut up a few potatoes Put half the potatoes on the bottom of a Dutch oven. Place whole chicken on top. Add remaining potatoes around chicken. Put the lid on and bake at 375 for 1 hour. Remove lid and bake 30 minutes more or until internal temp is at least 165. Serve with potatoes and veggies of choice. I served it with potatoes and some roasted frozen veggies ********************************** If you enjoy One Pot Meals.. then you may really like this one! A lot of wonderful flavor, and so easy!! Mexican Hamburger Rice Bake 1lb hambu...

      All Purpose Muffin Mix 18 cups flour, whole wheat pastry or white flour or a combination of both 5 cups sugar or cane juice crystal’s 2 ¼ cups powdered milk 6 T baking powder 2 T baking soda 2 T salt 3 T cinnamon 3 t nutmeg Combine all ingredients into a very large mixing bowl. Stir until everything is mixed evenly. Spoon the mix into either gallon size zip type bags or empty and clean coffee cans. To keep this mix fresh it needs to be stored in the freezer. To make 2 dozen muffins: In a large bowl mix: 3 eggs 3 t. vanilla 2 cups water ½ cup butter (melted first) or oil of choice such as light olive oil, avocado oil, etc.. **See note below Now add to above mixture: 5 ½ cups muffin mix Any other OPTIONAL ingredients according to recipes that follow Spoon muffin batter evenly between 2 muffin pans. Bake at 400 for 18 to 20 minutes. These muffins freeze very well. **Muffins do not necessarily need a lot of fat. The typical amount of oil is 1/4 cup per dozen (or 1/2 cup...

  It's no secret to those who know me, I am not a fan of winter! I don't like being cold, I don't like the long dark gray days we can have here in the Pacific Northwest and long nights. Each year I seem to go into a winter funk. Last year I decided to try something new and that is, learn to embrace each season for it's uniqueness and difference from the last. Find the positive, find the blessings. As long as I continue to tell myself I don't like winter, I won't see anything different. Here is some of what I have discovered. Winter is a lot about resting. The trees that look dead are not dead, they are resting in preparation for the spring. In the past very little to no traveling was done in the winter. People rested. Not the rest and sleep type rest as life still has to go forward each day. The type of rest that you do when you can't move about as easily as other seasons. The type of rest where more time is spent at home with family or friends. Maybe ...

  Daily life is made up of routines. Those simple things we do that make life flow during the day. I've thought a lot about routines since hubby retired almost a year ago now. We have our morning routines. Hubby starts the fire to warm things up and I get the coffee made. After that we sit by the warmth of the fire, sip our coffee and talk about our plans for the day. He usually has some project he's working on or weather providing he is outside doing various tasks. I have home things I work on, chat/text with family, work on YouTube videos. And so the day begins for us. In the afternoon I usually have either a cup of coffee or sometimes I'll have a cup of tea. The tea makes me smile and remember and think of the days when my daughters were young and I was homeschooling them. In the winter afternoons our routine was to make tea and have some homemade snack. Sometimes it was just a slice of warm, just out of the oven bread, with butter, if it was baking day. Other day...