Pioneer Woman at Heart

I've been busy in my kitchen these past few days.  The rainy days here, have simply motivated me to bake, mix, and shake it up a little.  I am finally at a point in our self-sufficiency stride, where all of my homemade goods (and home grown) are coming together in all of my recipes. Homemade Mexican Taco Mix is made using home grown oregano, onions, and garlic.  I can then use the seasoning mix for all sorts of recipes, such as my salsa dip (using home canned salsa too).

  It's very convenient to buy the packets of dry fajita mix at the grocery store, but you can make it yourself.  I've been making our dry taco mix for several years now.   You most likely will have all of the ingredients to make this at home.  I buy some of my ingredients in organic/non-gmo bulk, which saves us money and allows me to have extra on hand to make many other dry mixes homemade.  Let me know if you make your dry Fajita mix without the sugar, and if it changes the flavor.   Homemade Fajita Dry Mix (makes about a 1/4 cup of dry mix) I use all organic/non-gmo ingredients, and bulk buy some of them, as I make a lot from scratch 4 tsp. Chili Powder ( I buy bulk) 2 tsp. Ground Cumin (I buy bulk) 2 tsp. Paprika (I buy bulk) 1 tsp. Garlic Powder (we use homemade from homegrown) 1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper (use more for more heat) 1/2 tsp or more of onion powder (we make this homemade) 1 1/2 tsp. salt Optional: 1-2 Tbsp. sugar or brown sugar if you...

Here is how I make our Hot "taco" bean dip now (we've changed it just a bit).  It is great for an appetizer for any get together as well, and especially for a Mexican food themed meal.  So good!  We topped ours with some snipped herb garden green onions too. To make the dip (this is baked): Mix together first: 2 blocks of organic cream cheese (16 oz. total) 1 can of refried black beans (organic, 16 oz.) 1 can of refried pinto beans (organic, 16 oz)  Once that is combined well, add: 8 oz. sour cream (organic) 2 Tbsp. of homemade dry taco mix (add more if needed) Spread the mixture into a baking dish and top with about 1 1/4 cups of shredded cheese of your choice. The thicker it is in a baking dish, the longer it will take to heat up. Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes (30 if it is thicker).  Serve with tortilla dipping chips or any dipping food of your choice. I have not cut the recipe in half, as it goes quickly around here, but I think it would be just as good with o...

  Not much to talk about with winter lingering.  Other than the weather, which is back and forth and all over the map lately.  We may actually leave the cold weather this week, and venture into the lower 70's.  However, the spring rains and thunderstorms come with it.  We have had a lot of foggy days lately too. I have been doing the boring refreshing spring cleaning.  We took a large load to donate (mostly clothing).  We are not even close to being done, but chipping away at getting it done before garden planting season. In the mix of this cleaning/purging and re-organizing, I now have two photo type projects to complete (but frees up space it was taking, and will put it all to a good use). On the zero purchasing this year list: -books (unless it's non-fiction, and absolutely needed), concentration will be on reading what we have (both of us).  I love, love love browsing used book sales, and stores, but no more this year until we have read throu...

  I happened to see this recipe in a cookbook from my Mom's old work place, and thought, "hm, I should try this."  Ha ha!  I love this cookbook, but this recipe was the most poorly written recipe I have ever tried.  The photo is putting the dish together sadly written instructions. I didn't read the instructions when I shopped for ingredients, and what do you know?  There were ingredients in the instructions not listed at the top, and the layering of it all was not correct.  I decided to re-write the recipe, and share it.  You could make homemade corn tortillas for this.  We indulge maybe once (or twice) a year for this, as the corn tortillas spike my husband's sugar. Here is the recipe they way I make it now: We top ours with either onions/tomatoes or pico de gallo, shredded lettuce and sour cream. Note:  I thaw tomatoes I froze from the garden, drain and add them vs. canned tomatoes (in case you grow a garden).  I cut the recipe in hal...

I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom today.  Sunday we fried.  It was 92°F with a heat index of 99°F.  We literally didn't go outside much at all.  Hubby and I hit the garden work first, but it was too hot and humid to be outside.  We even said no to a motorcycle ride to get ice cream.  It was that hot.  Today, rain is once again in the forecast, and we may actually get some this time.  It's to rain all day, so first on the to-do list is work on the green beans in the garden.  If I can resurrect the second row, we plan to mow down the last two and replant. On the breakfast plate. . . Eggs, toast with home canned jam, coffee The weather outside is . . . It's hot and humid, and we are praying we finally get rain. On my reading pile . . . Herbal books from the library. On the TV . . . McCleod's Daughters On the menu . . . -organic roast, carrots, potatoes and onion -stuffed shells, steamed broccoli -chicken ...

It's Monday cleaning day, and although I typically don't get it all done, I get a good majority of it done.  I look forward to sitting, crocheting and sipping hot tea later.   It looks like I'll be needing boots to put my bedding out on the clothesline today. Made another batch of homemade taco seasoning mix, and plan to make taco salads tonight. Taco Seasoning Mix 1/4 cup dried onion flakes 4 tsp. cornstarch 2 Tbsp. salt 3 tsp. cumin 4 Tbsp. chili powder 1 1/2 tsp. oregano 3 tsp. dried minced garlic 3 tsp. crushed hot red pepper flakes 2 tsp. beef bouillon Mix ingredients and store in airtight container.   2 Tbsp. = 1 package I do use whatever dried herbs I have from the herb gardens I grow, such as oregano.  Last year I attempted to grow cumin, but the heavy rains killed off my plants.  I will attempt it again this year.  Now that I have my dehydrator, I can dry my home grown onions and garlic too. My b...

The recipe I use for our dry Fajita seasoning mix, is on my blog HERE .   I store the dry mix in a repurposed jar, and label it.  If you add the dehydrated onion  (especially if you make it yourself), you may want to store the jar in the door of your freezer.  The dehydrated onion can very easily absorb moisture (even in the cupboard), and the mix will become hard. Note:  We plan to add some home grown, dehydrated oregano to this mix next time it's made.  If we like it, I'll add it to the recipe, and how much we add to the recipe.  I almost feel it should contain some garlic powder too.  I've made notes on the original post. We use this dry seasoning mixture for chicken tacos too, but you could use dry taco seasoning as well.  We make that ourselves too. Homemade Fajita Seasoning (Dry Mix)   ©  March 2026 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

I'm up before the sun is again.  The weather is to be in the upper 80's, but it said to feel like 90's.  I need to water flowers before I start canning today. I spent part of the day yesterday on the phone, making appointments. 

New Year's Eve we had tacos, and hot bean taco dip.  I had to refill my homemade taco mix, and since I had my bulk containers of cumin and chili powder out, refilled my pantry jars too.   We spent New Year's Day taking down the trees and outside lights.  Totes were all put away too. Got it all done by 10am too.   It was a blistery snowy, windy day New Year's Eve day.  I took advantage of it and cleaned out the fridge, and tackled one of my UFO's.  I am super excited to stay on task.  I got a lot of craft time on Wed. I had the fabric done, but had to attach them to the burlap and glue them onto the jars.  The final product is on my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot .   Sorry for the bad photo - took it before 5am this morning. I'm thrilled to say I'm using fabric scraps that a wonderful lady mailed me years ago.  I am still using them for gifting.  I also used the embroidery floss for the gifts, which I won from ...

I have never made pumpkin soup of any sort, so this year I did. I roasted one entire pumpkin for this soup.  The recipe in my "pile" or "stash" called for potatoes.  I did some searching, and found there are so many ways to make this soup. I didn't follow the pumpkin and red lentil soup recipe I found online, but adjusted it to what I had.  I seasoned it with home canned hot sauce and garlic both fresh (heated with the onion) and some garlic powder to add more flavor.   I served it with a dollop of sour cream, and freshly chopped parsley.  Some of it is going in the freezer.  The hens are happy gals too.  They are getting the pumpkin "guts" for a treat. The taste test with the soup? Delicious!   I used 2 carrots and 2 potatoes in my soup, as well as the pumpkin. Guess what arrived at the library?

Tip 1:  I found another way to use leftover (when there is any) whiskey butterscotch sauce.  Bake a cinnamon/brown sugar coffee cake, and drizzle some on 10 minutes before it comes out of the oven. I baked the coffee cake, but no sauce to be found (sad face).  Tip 2:  I opened a jar of h ome canned hot sauce to make jalapeno poppers , but nee d to use the rest up before I forget I opened it.  I found that adding home canned hot sauce to greens is a wonderful way to flavor them up.  I used them on spinach recently. We are short on eggs.  The colder weather has slowed production down, but no need to panic (I told myself).  I had a good supply of ingredients to make a crock pot of steel cut oats (with apples , walnuts and raisins).

Honestly, today feels like Monday.  I feel sort of discombobulated due to everyone's schedules being wonky yesterday. Two things happened that surprised me.  I don't even have photos.  Yikes. One, I dressed for cutting wood, and as I was putting on head gear (to keep the wood chips out of my hair) Hubby said, "I going to go pick up R to help me cut wood." "What?"

Last week, I told the kids it was "Operation Extreme Clean" and to not expect anything but cleaning the house.  This weekend? "Operation Garden" if the weather cooperates. I have officially started the gutting of the garden. The girls won't like me, but it needs to be worked on.  The barns may be next, so it's time to pull it all out.   It was very humid, and when I took my camera lens off yesterday, it immediately fogged up.  I have only gotten two hours out there, and much to do.  I only got 1/4 of the distance down the carrot row, beet row and green bean row.  I found many beets yet, and even carrots.  The carrots are no bigger than three inches in length (most are 2 inches or less), so I'm pulling them all out.  It will feed us a few meals, but won't be enough to freeze this year.  Some of the tops will go to Milo, our pet rabbit. This is what all of the vegetable gardens look like.  Full of grass, thistle and va...

I went back through my blog recently, and compiled a post today to share many handmade gifts I made over the years.  Hopefully, you will find an idea here, or have one to share. What I gifted in 2015:  Christmas 2015 Handmade Hand Lotion (they loved this!)  I ended up putting it in 4 oz. canning jars to gift.  I do suggest adding the preservative for gifting too.

We had a Salsa Party, to taste all four of the salsa recipes I canned this year.  The Peach Salsa recipe used a small amount of honey. 

There have been days when I just think ice cream sounds good for dinner, and I don't want to cook.  However, one night I threw together a pasta dinner with what was on hand (too hot to hit the grocery store for restocking). We still have some corn and beets in the freezer, so veggies are still supplying us, but I had to be creative with the pasta dish.

Years ago, we discovered a recipe that was a family favorite.  However, it contains three cans of condensed cream of chicken soup and one of celery soup.  Needless to day, I have not made it in many, many years. Yesterday I made the recipe, and used homemade soups, organic chicken, and organic tortilla chips (which were made with non-gmo oils, believe it or not).  It took a few days to make my soups ahead of time, but it was worth it.  Here is the recipe.  

(So good, I forgot to take a photo until it was almost gone) 1 can organic black refried beans 8 oz. organic cream cheese (or homemade) 8 oz. organic sour cream (or homemade) 2 Tbsp. homemade dry taco seasoning mix.   (or one packet from the store) Mix all ingredients, spread into a baking dish, top with about 1 1/4 cups of shredded organic cheese of our choice, and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes.  Dip organic tortilla chips into the dip and enjoy!  I'll be doubling this next time.  

Sorry if this is a boring post about beans, but I have a few new recipes to share - from "pile to file" keepers.  I've found my voice this month, so watch out for long posts.  I think I have blog-i-tis this October.  I can't blame the weather either.  It's been hot out again. The only other news, is that while I was sitting on the porch with leg up sipping my hot herbal tea yesterday, a car hit a deer just yards from our north drive.  The driver pulled over (a young girl), and the deer flopped around on the road for a few seconds, then got up and ran off.  The same area a car hit one early morning not long ago.  There is a corn field adjacent and north of our property.    Before We also got some barn siding removed last night.  We are tired folks.  Simply tired. We've been eating more beans than meat lately.  It helps the budget as well as our health.  These meals were over a period of time. ...