Pioneer Woman at Heart

  We are getting more rain.  It's a muddy mess, and rain is too continue for the weekend.   Fresh purslane in a salad is my first way to add it to a meal, but to long term store it, I decided to try dehydrating it.  First, you need to pick the smallest, newest plants, as the stems will take longer to dehydrate. I also air-dried the cuttings a few days before adding them to my dehydrator.  Once they are completely dry, I ground them up into a powder, to add to any meal (soup, stew, eggs, sauces, dressings, smoothies, etc.). It is a new "first time" for us to try this way to store purslane.  Purslane contains high amounts of oxalates (according to my own research), so always do your own research when foraging. I'm wondering if purslane can be frozen, and then maybe added to a recipe with a food processer to add to egg dishes, soups and stews?  Just a thought. Purslane   ©  August 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

  We have been getting a lot of rain, thunderstorms, and even a very close to us tornado warning.  The last storm took down several of our tomato plants. You know that saying "if life gives you lemons...?" Well, life gave us mislabeled red bell peppers, and we ended up with Anaheim peppers.  Literally. In July of last year, I made homemade chili peppers from our home grown Anaheim peppers, and they were delicious.  They are very easy to make too. I made them again, but this time we are freezing them.  I just used my muffin pan to freeze 2 oz. portions, and then popped them out of the muffin paper (used parchment for this batch), and then placed them all in a freezer bag until I use them for meals. Did you know that when you drain a purchased  4 oz. can of diced chili beans, you end up with about 2.5 ounces of actual diced chili peppers? I just open my freezer bag of pre-frozen, 2 oz. chili peppers, thaw them, and add them to any meal I am wanting to use th...

  The pickings are slim right now, but we'll take anything we are blessed with.  I made a salad and cleaned the beans.  The rain will give us more for a meal in a day or so.  The green beans are every so slowly coming on this season. I made a batch of homemade granola, and instead of my homemade vanilla extract, I used my homemade Christmas Spice Extract.  It smelled so good in the oven, and while cooling.   I picked some purslane, and am doing an experiment with it this time.  Update soon.   Chit Chat ©  August 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

                          I had a request for the pattern instructions for the Christmas project I previously posted about (in the last blog post).  It is free online, and it's from Yarnspirations.  It's actually listed as a dishcloth pattern, but I'm gifting them as hot pads.  They are 100% cotton yarn.  The original pattern for the project, is called "Sailor's Knot Dishcloth Pattern."  It's found on Yarnspirations  online. (image source is from Yarnspirations) The original pattern is all white, but then they posted doing it with Christmas colors. Mod Green is no longer available for the green yarn for this, but they sell other green color options.  The pattern is a free printable pattern. Enjoy! Pattern Source ~ Christmas Crochet (in the previous post) ©  August 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I'm cramming a lot into one post for the end of July.   Gardening work has been in full motion, for veggies, herbs and flowers.  Despite cutting the planting down by almost half this year, we have had a lot to up-keep.  On top of all my regular chores and happenings, sweet corn is in season.  Oh boy, the work load has doubled, but happy to get it done this year.  Corn frozen.  Job done. If you did not read about it, we did not plant any squash at all this year, to kill off the squash bug.  However, we have not been able to locate many produce stands with yellow squash.  Zucchini is everywhere, but a lack of yellow squash.  Our adventures continue.  We did our very first local 4 mile bicycle ride.   After many years of having this on my "bucket" list, I grew our very first lemon.  It was delicious too. We have taken more camping trips to off set the work days, relax, and enjoy life.  I have brought home two...

  I tried a new granola recipe and boy it's good.  First, it's a recipe from Mennonite Girls and Cook, and called "Backpack Snacks" online.  It calls for granola, so I used my homemade granola that we love.  Picture is the dry ingredients. Second, I pressed the final mixture into a 9 x 9, parchment lined baking dish instead of rolling it into balls.  The color of these photos are all different, because of the time of day, and how dark the house was from the thick Canadian smoke that was still outside at the time. These cut very nicely, and were very good, straight from the refrigerator.  It was hard to eat just one of them.  I will be making this again, and switching out the peanuts with walnuts, and switching out the raisins with dates.  Oh my!  The binder is honey and peanut butter. These are perfect for your hiking days, camping, your grandkids, or just for snacks when you want one. The rain arrived thank goodness, and washed the smoke in...