Happy Homemaker Monday

Over the last few days I made a double batch of onion soup (ball recipe) for the freezer. I'm happy to restock on such nasty cold weather days here.

Our grad daughter has now mailed out 13 letters of positivity, and has received two special delivery baskets full of grad gifts.  Graduation will happen the end of May.  We will all line up outside 10 feet apart, be called into the gym one at a time so each can receive their diploma and it will be filmed live on social media for others to watch.

Even though I covered my plants, the asparagus got hit hard with the low temps.  Several new stalks are completely wilted over.  So sad about this.  Not sure yet if I will get any more and I'm worried about the ones just coming up now.  We will get more cold weather today and tomorrow.

I got a "honk, honk" ditch the other day.  We don't have a door bell (instead we have the dogs).  A friend dropped off a bag of birthday gifts for me and it included an adult beverage.

I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom today.



The weather outside is . . .
High of 49, low of 33°F

How I am feeling this morning . . .
Tired, yet can't sleep.

On my mind . . .
The garden plants that are suffering through this strange cold May weather.  

On the breakfast plate . . .
No idea.  I may be back to update this.

On my reading pile . . .
I haven't been reading lately.

On my TV . . . 
Whatever we find on Amazon Prime lately.
On the menu this week . . .
-corn chowder, homemade garlic muffins
-chicken salad sandwiches, 
-beef enchiladas, corn (still on the menu, never got made)
-sheet pan dinner with smoked turkey sausage and veggies
-snacks, banana bread, coffee cake


From the camera . . .

Looking around the house . . .
I have been blessed with many birthday and Mother's day gifts.


To relax this week I will . . .
Crochet

On my prayer list . . .
Our country and for this virus to end so we can all get back to a normal, healthy life.

Crock-pot Beef Burgundy with Homemade Noodles

Although we love Beef Stroganoff, we love beef burgundy with homemade noodles and mashed potatoes as well.  Here is my recipe (all organic ingredients or home grown and homemade ingredients):

First:  Thaw a quart of homemade onion soup from the freezer.  To make the soup, see the blue ball book for the recipe.  I make this when onions are harvested, and I use a mandolin to slice all of my onions.  This soup comes in handy to use for a soup start as well, for corn chowder and other dishes.

Add the quart of soup to the crock pot, and add the following:

2 lbs. of stewing beef, cubed and tossed with 1 Tbsp or so of flour
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced*
1 tsp. salt*
1/2 tsp. marjoram, dried
1/2 tsp. thyme, dried
black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups burgundy wine
*(Salt if your soup hasn't been salted)

Cover.  Cook 8-10 hours on low.

I like to thicken this a bit with arrowroot powder, but it's up to you really.

I boil my homemade noodles, drain them and simply toss them into the crock-pot just before serving.   I have also found non-gmo/organic noodles at our grocery store.

We serve it over mashed potatoes (3 lb. of organic white, with 1/2 cup homemade yogurt, 1-2 minced cloves of fresh garlic, and salt).

*for mushrooms, if you don't have fresh on hand, you could use 2-3 cans of organic mushrooms, drained, or re-hydrate some dehydrated mushrooms as well.

Our beef was very tender.  The photo is store bought noodles for this meal.  I use homemade noodles more often than not, but Non-GMO/organic noodles are available in most stores now.  I really need to restock my noodles.

Losing my Mind. . . Holiday Prep ~ Paranoid Prep

My brain has gone plain insane.  I feel like I'm caught up in a whirlwind and I'm trying to reach out to stop and get a job done, and I'm sucked back in again heading another direction. 

The barn....

Oh lets not talk about that job.  It's getting on my nerves, although I've wanted that job done for several years.  So. Much. Work. The barn siding was delivered.  Then rain arrived, so garden work halted, and I was back indoors.  Deep cleaning, cooking, putting up. . .


The hens are molting.  Egg supply is at it's all time lowest.  I made a crock pot of pumpkin oats.  We are not tired of pumpkin just yet, ha ha!  I picked a handful of red raspberries for topping the oats too.

I baked my first flourless pumpkin bread.  I have always baked it with flour, so this was a new recipe.  I only tired it out of curiosity, and the fact it saves me on ingredients.  Einkorn flour isn't cheap. It was so-so.  Not awesome, yet not bad either. 

Flourless Pumpkin Bread

Kitchen Madness

We finally got some rain.  It's back to humid and hot.  

I've been busy in the kitchen - freezing green peppers, jalapenos, more green beans, some tomatoes, and cauliflower.  Our popcorn is on, and looks pretty promising (although small), but my watermelon is questionable.

What else have I been up to?