The sun finally made an appearance! Boy it was nice. I got out of the house and got a few smallish errands done. The library was first, but I also made a visit to the local orchard. The only thing we needed was local honey, but I picked up some locally made apple cider and some red delicious apples that were on sale. I'm thinking apple oatmeal breakfast bake, pork chops and apples, and more.
Pioneer Woman at Heart
One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!
One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.
Adopted Motto
"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~
Friday, March 8, 2024
Local Eats ~ Book Goals ~ Sweet Energy Treat
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Tidbits ~ Flourless Pumpkin Bread
Tuesday was our "Monday" this week. We both took Monday "off" and spent the day enjoying it. Tuesday was the day for thunderstorms to roll in late afternoon, so laundry went out on the line early.
I am working my way through my garden freezer goodies, and made us some flourless pumpkin bread with frozen garden pumpkin puree.
It is a very dense, thicker bread, and with less sweetness and flavor, but by adding some extra cinnamon and nutmeg it's pretty good.
The bread is also about half the height of other baked pumpkin breads. I test the bread about 30 minutes into the cooking time, and let it cool almost completely in the pan. I finish the cooling on a wire rack before slicing.
Flourless Pumpkin Bread
In a blender mix all of the ingredients:
2 cups organic old-fashioned oats
15 oz. of frozen, thawed garden pumpkin puree (I measure it, as it will weigh differently depending on the thickness of your pumpkin puree). You can use 1 can of pure pumpkin as well.
1/2 cup pure maple syrup (I have not tried a substitute yet)
2 farm fresh eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. of homemade pumpkin pie spice (or add cinnamon, nutmeg)
Pour into greased loaf pan (I do not flour the pan) and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until done in the center. 350°F.
Personally, I like a bit of of honey on this bread, but if you are watching sugar, I'm thinking a thin layer of cream cheese or your other favorite topping.
Now that I am writing out this post, I am thinking I will make us some homemade cinnamon honey butter for this bread.
I gifted the homemade butter one Christmas, and it was a hit. The recipe is on my blog: Homemade Cinnamon Honey Butter.
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Sunshine ~ This and That
Sheesh. There were lots of dishes, more laundry, cleaning, cooking and so on. I also started on the stairway clean up project. It may take a month to finish, as I am fitting it in my cleaning schedule, as I have time for it.
I finished dusting and cleaning all of the kitchen blinds and windows, and the valances were washed and put out on the line.
It was so nice to open windows and let the fresh air flow for a day. So intoxicating for the soul. Winter can seem so long sometimes, and this day was welcomed by all.
To focus on what's in the freezer and pantry. . .
I made a batch of Einkorn pumpkin pancakes for us for breakfast, and more egg cups, as I had one more cup of cooked sage sausage to use. I used thawed frozen pumpkin puree from last year's garden, for the pancakes. Einkorn flour pancakes are the best. These pumpkin ones are more of a scoop and spread type batter. It is much thicker, but so good.
Today the rain moves in, but the temperature is still nice. For now anyway.
Sunshine ~ This and That © Feb 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart
Sunday, December 31, 2023
Homemade Granola Bars
I have had homemade granola bars on my to-do list for months, and have not gotten around to making a batch. A daughter had requested the recipe, but I have made a few different ones over the years.
My Mom gave me a recipe for peanut butter granola bars. They require a cereal, but when I made them, I found an organic non-gmo cereal variety that worked with with them. I have no idea if the cereal even exists anymore, but the recipe for those can be found HERE.
I do roast the nuts and oats in the oven, but it's not necessary.
Another variety of homemade granola bars, uses a bit of butter, and we do love this one too (more of a fruit/nut bar). The recipe is posted HERE on my blog, but it does contain sugar (brown sugar). I have not tried making them with monkfruit, but I will be giving it a try next time.
Cut, wrap, or put in sandwich bags. Store in the fridge.
Homemade Granola Bars © Dec 2023 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart
Friday, January 27, 2023
Homemade Everything Bagel Seasoning ~ New Snack and other Ramblings
I make this smaller batch recipe of homemade everything bagel seasoning, but you can increase it for larger spice jars. There are many recipes online for this seasoning.
I use 1 tsp of each of the following:
-dried minced garlic (I make mine homemade)
-dried minced onion (again you can make this in a dehydrator)
-sesame seeds
-poppy seeds
(all organic)
I like to spread cream cheese on snack sized bell peppers, sprinkle the seasoning and sometimes add a few pieces of turkey pepperoni/cooked bacon or other choice of meat on top. I gave my husband one the other day, and he is in love with this snack idea. He put his nose up when I mentioned organic cream cheese, but he loves it. The seasoning is the ticket for flavor. So good. I cannot wait for a fresh garden bell pepper this summer.
My husband loves it so much, that he asked for his own seasoning shaker to take to work. You could top these with cooked bacon pieces, turkey pepperoni, or other choice of meat as well.
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Tuesday Tidbits
As hard as I try to put balance in my day, I find myself in the kitchen for hours. First, breakfast prep, then dinner prep, then snack prep, then dishes...just seems endless. Some days I love it, other days not so much.
During our weekend shopping trip, we could not find borax. We had to go to two stores to find ground pork. It's beginning to look like more shortages or lack of product (or lack of employees to get the product on the shelf?).
While we were at Wal-mart to get supplies, I walked down the yarn aisle to look for Caron Simply Soft yarn. They have completely taken all name brand yarn out (other than some redheart), and replaced it with generic brands. Frustrating. It seems the only place to get a good selection is JoAnn Fabrics anymore (higher prices though).
We called the dept. of transportation in our county, to have them pick up the dead deer. They got rid of it yesterday thankfully.
We are gearing up for a snow storm tomorrow. I'm not sure how much we will get, but I have a lot on the to-do list, and I could always take it as an excuse to crochet for the day.
I still have laryngitis. I've switched to sage tea (sage I grew, and dehydrated), and taking Four Thieves Vinegar. I slept better last night, but we'll see what happens by the end of the week.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Routine ~ Ups and Downs ~ Healthy Snacks
There is much stress here. The car was worked on last night, but continues to not start. On top of that my husband has to work with someone exposed to a person who tested positive (it's been 2 weeks, but this is more stress to worry about). Hubby said his boss looks like he aged 20 years since he saw him last. Also, our daughter who works had a co-worker show up for work who claimed she was tested due to being around a positive case (she was sent home). So much to worry about, and there is too many false negative and false positive testing right now. What can we believe to be true? You are lucky if you have no one working in your house.
On top of that, the girls are fighting but it's mostly because of one of them, and I'm about to lose my mind. Being stuck in and the worry and fear this government has put on us is bad for everyone. For the first time in a long, long time, I am worried about my husband.
I'm done with watching our Governor's briefings. They say they have drive thru testing, but only if you have 3 symptoms, yet on the briefing they are saying they are testing people with no symptoms and testing positive, yet saying we lack test kits. Who is to believe? I can't watch it anymore, as I feel they are misleading us with many lies and confusion. Also, if we all have it, how did we get it? Did they put it in our food? Our water? One big headache. Again, be glad if you have no one working right now.
I made sure I sent at least a text to my younger brother who is homeschooling two young kids, and now has to do it then rest of the year. He is so good about being positive in a rough time. I hope I made him laugh. We need more of that. So yeah, our schools here are not going back, and continuing the end of the year online.
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Healthy Homemade Granola Bars
Line an 8 x 8 baking dish with parchment paper. If you do not have parchment paper, you may be successful lining it with foil and lightly oiling it (I have only used parchment and it works great).
In a rimmed sheet pan, place 2 1/2 cups organic oats and 1/2 cup chopped organic nuts of your choice.
Heat oven to 350°F and toast oats and nuts for about 8 minutes. If you chose to add seeds (read below for the additional 3/4 cup of your choice), I like to add them to the sheet pan and toast along with the oats and nuts. I use hemp seeds often.
While that is toasting in the oven, in a small pan heat:
1/4 c. organic butter
1/4 c. organic honey
1/3 c. organic brown sugar
Heat on low until sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and add:
1/2 to 1 tsp. homemade vanilla. I like to use 1 tsp. Stir.
Pour toasted oat/nut/seed mix into a mixing bowl, and add:
3/4 cup of your choice of dried fruits, seeds, coconut etc. If adding chocolate bits, do not add yet.
Pour the heated honey mixture over the oat and fruit/nut mixture.
Mix well until everything is coated. This will prevent anything crumbling off when you cut it into bars.
*wait for mixture to cool before adding any chocolate bits to this.
Pour mixture into the prepared pan and press down. I like to use the back of a measuring cup to do this step. Place in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Remove from the refrigerator, and turn upside down and remove parchment paper. On a cutting board, slice the bars as you prefer.
Store in the refrigerator or freezer.
Note: I do not add any salt to this. I use salted organic butter and the taste is great!
Healthy Homemade Granola Bars © March 2019 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Homemade Dog Treats ~ Treats for the Family ~ Baked Einkorn Chips
I had no produce to put up (feeling sort of odd about that too), so I whipped up some dog treats. I now have them on hand for grand-pup visits here or their place. I used my home grown pumpkin puree to make them. All organic ingredients. Normally, I'd bake these with our homegrown carrots, but we were force to plant late, and I have not even checked them yet. I've used a few different recipes, but here is one of them:
Homemade Organic Dog Treats
3/4 cup organic pumpkin puree (I grow my own pie pumpkins)
1/4 cup shredded organic carrots
1/3 cup organic (ingredients should say peanuts only) peanut butter
1/4 tsp. organic cinnamon
1 egg beaten (I use our organic fed hen eggs)
2 cups organic all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350°F, line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix all ingredients, roll on a pastry cloth or floured surface, to about 1/2 inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut dog treats, place on lined baking sheets and bake about 15-17 minutes, or until they are just turning brown.
I also whipped up some more Einkorn Snickerdoodles for the family. Our youngest was a bit disappointed to come home with no cookies after a very hot day at school. She is also starting to feel the stress of being back to school.
I made baked einkorn chips for the first time. First tray I didn't bake long enough, but I'll definitely be making them again. They are a substitute for store bought organic (expensive) tortilla chips. They are not crispy crunchy like fried, but they are fantastic. They last 3 days, so we used them with our home canned salsa, and of course delicious by themselves. I think they would be fabulous with hummus.
Both einkorn recipes can be found online.
Carpet shampooing resumed too. Oh I cannot wait for the day to rip up carpet. I got about 40% of the bedroom done, but it'll take lifting and moving to get the rest done. Not sure I have Hubby on board either. I need him to look at my shampooer too. I'm not sure it's working properly. I have done what I can, but I'll need him to work on it I think.
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Barn Siding ~ Getting our Legumes ~ Red lentil burgers ~ Beet Hummus
Friday, February 10, 2017
Kitchen Fixin's ~ New Recipes ~ My Hour Off
Funny story about this. I was on my knees, digging through the freezer looking for beef, when I found one last bag of frozen garden tomatoes. I was so excited the girls laughed at me.
Friday, February 3, 2017
Kitchen-ness ~ Dogs
Thursday, January 26, 2017
What's Cookin'?
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Growing Heirloom Peanuts
We grew heirloom peanuts last year. A small "test" patch area of the garden, and although a few did not sprout leaves, many did.
We planted Negrito Manduvi peanuts, and purchased the starter peanuts from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co.
We pulled the plants (or I should say "I" pulled them), and allowed the tops to dry before removing the peanuts.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Garlic, Fresh Tomatoes and Green onions
Easy Layered Dip
1 - 8 oz. cream cheese
2 cloves of garlic minced
1-2 Roma tomatoes (or your choice) chopped
Green onions, snipped
Mozzarella cheese, finely shredded
Set cream cheese out to soften. Once soft, cream it with the minced garlic. Spread it onto a serving plate (I use a regular dinner plate). Top it with chopped tomatoes, and green onions. Add shredded cheese to cover, to your taste.
Refrigerate for several hours for the garlic and cream cheese to infuse flavors. Serve with crackers of your choice, and set the dip out for a few minutes to soften again (or it will be difficult to "dip" your crackers).
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Random Tidbits
Just before the rain arrived, I managed to set the last two rain barrels in place, get laundry off the line and dinner on the table. I finally got around to washing a few aprons and my pastry cloth.