Homemaking on the Homestead

 It's fall time so let's make an apple pie!!  Apple pies and fall time are a great combination! I'm sharing my favorite apple pie recipe. I also have a link to my Never Fail Pie Crust recipe.  Below the recipes is my video showing you how to make this delicious pie!  ************************* Our Favorite Apple Pie 5 to 7 tart apples (5 cups) 1 Double crust pastry shell ½ cup sugar 3 to 4T flour (use the higher amount for juicy apples) ¾ tsp. cinnamon Peel and core apples and cut into slices. Put them in a large bowl and sprinkle the remaining ingredients over the apples. Toss carefully to coat the apples slices without breaking. Pour this into the pie shell. Top the pie with with second crust. Bake at 400 for 35 to 45 minutes or until apples are soft. Never Fail Pie Crust: https://youtu.be/HXgTzo06IXU I had some leftover apple slices so I turned them into Stewed Apples. Stewed Apples: I did not use a recipe. I melted butter (3 or 4T) added apples and a lit...

  I love these pumpkin cinnamon rolls!! I hope you do to. A great fall time treat! :) This recipe makes 2 9x13 pans or 1 large jelly roll pan. If that is more than you want the recipe can be cut in half.  Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls Crystal Miller   2/3 cup milk ¼ cup butter (half of a stick or cube) 1 cup pumpkin puree ¼ cup honey 1 t salt 2 eggs 1 T yeast 5 1/4 cups to 6 cups flour** Butter Brown sugar Cinnamon **Options: you can use half white flour and half whole wheat flour   In a sauce pan combine milk and butter.  Heat until the milk is hot and the butter almost melted. Pour the milk/butter combination in the bowl of a Kitchen Aid or Bosch mixer.  Let this cool to lukewarm.  Add the pumpkin pure, honey, salt, eggs and yeast.  Stir until well mixed.  Add flour and mix until the dough is no longer sticking to the sides of your bowl but is still soft and pliable.  Let this sit and rise for 30 to 45 minutes.   Turn the mixer back on t...

  These cookies are a family favorite! With fall time here I decided it was time to do a little baking. I haven't made this recipe in a long time! It hit the spot for a little sweetness on a cool fall day.  Below the recipe you see my YouTube video showing you how to make them.  ******************** Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup brown sugar ¾ cup white sugar 2 eggs 1 t. vanilla 2c. oats 1 ½ cups flour 1 t. baking powder 1 t. baking soda ¼ t. salt In a mixing bowl (a stand mixer works best) cream butter, peanut butter and Sucanat. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Now add flour, oats, baking powder, soda and salt and beat well. Place rounded walnut size spoonfuls on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for about 12 minutes. Makes approx. 4 dozen ******************** Watch me make them here...

This article originally appeared on The Family Homestead (my previous website that is now closed down). In the article I have Amazon affiliate links and I thank you for your support! You can read more about this in my Disclosure page HERE .   ******************* Apple Harvest! Fall time here in the North West means apple harvest time. I have 2 nice big apple trees that seem full of fruit this season. My daughters and I have our eyes peeled for when the apples start dropping. That is the sign for us that they are ripe. Then we have to work hard to collect all the apples before the deer get them! After the apples are collected it is time to start processing them. I have done many things over the years with my apples. One of the most common things I do each year is make applesauce. I was blessed several years ago by my very sweet sister-in-law with a Victorio Strainer. This is a great little device that hooks the table. You put your cooked apples (unpeeled and seeds still there)...

Hi Friends! My latest video is out :) Come and spend a little time with me on my homestead enjoying some beautiful fall days! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF0JYr6gqWQ

Is it feeling like fall in your area? Are you ready for a hot bowl of yummy chowder? This is clam chowder might be the answer! This recipe makes a big pot of chowder. It does freeze pretty well. I often freeze portions of it for my hubby to take to work. I buy my clams from Costco. The cans are large and come two in a pack. The size of the can is 51 ounces. If you can't find this or something similar you can use small cans to get as close to the size as possible.    Open the can of clams and drain, saving the clam juice. The big can of clams gives me about 4 cups of reserved clam juice. To begin with I peel and chop 4#'s of potatoes into approximately 1 to 2 inch cubes. Then cover with water and add a couple teaspoons of salt and put them on the stove to cook.  While they are cooking melt a...

I've made acorn squash in my Instant Pot several times now. It is sooo good and so easy. I made a YouTube to show you how to do it. I'm showing 1 acorn squash, but I have done 2 and think 3 might work as well. Also I'm planning on trying this method out with a butternut squash that I have. I'm guessing the time should about the same, but I will find out.. :)  Hope you have a chance to try some yummy winter squash!

This time of year always seems to make me want to pull out my sewing machine and make something. I have a few things floating around in my head that I'd like to make soon. A common step in sewing is gathering fabric. Thanks to a good friend of mine I learned how to do this very easily several years ago. I thought I'd post this tutorial for anyone out there who may be doing a little fall sewing. Maybe it will help! The traditional method of gathering fabric has you sew a large strait basting stitch across the fabric and then pull the bobbin side to gather in the fabric. What would always happen to me is the bobbin threads would break or the task was just painfully time consuming.  I learned this trick a few years ago from a friend of mine. You will need some cotton crochet thread: Set your sewing machine to a large size zig-zag setting with a long stitch length.   Set your presser food on the very edge of the fabric and put the croch...

I decided to gently step into this fall season with a meal that had a fall-ish feel to it. I bought a turkey breast, boneless, and cooked it in my Instant Pot. I really could not believe how moist it was. Usually turkey breast is dry (at least to me) and not always my favorite part of the turkey. But a pressure cooked turkey breast is so incredibly moist. It was devoured in no time. I bought my turkey breast at Costco. It was a Butterball in the frozen section. I started opening it up and thought.. I should take a pic of it in case anyone looks for them. So it is a little wrinkled in picture but it will give you an idea of what it looks like... The turkey comes with a gravy packet as well. I poured the gravy packet into the IP stainless steel pot and added 1 cup of water. I sprinkled a little salt, pepper and garlic over the turkey and put it in the pot. I left the netting that is on the breast on so it would be easier to remove from the pot. It came off very easil...