Cooking from Home Storage ~ Homestead Tidbits

Remember all of this from last year?  Well, it's slowly dwindling.  However, the pepper mustard sauce (the yellow quart jars in the photo) will be a "keeper" recipe.  I canned the 4 jars using 36 hot banana peppers, and it's been wonderful.   How do I use it?  


I should have taken photos of our dinner last night.  I simply place 2 packages (I think 4-5 breasts) of organic chicken breasts into my crock pot, salt and pepper them, then I pour a quart jar of mustard sauce on top.  I cook it on low all day and the chicken simply falls apart.  I then make organic brown rice and the two make a wonder dish.  The sauce is great with meatballs too.  It's very versatile, healthy, and easy to stock up.

I also pulled a bag of frozen sugar snap peas from the garden.  I thawed the bag, and sauteed them with freshly sliced asparagus, with a bit of olive oil and crushed red pepper flakes.  Even my pickiest eaters here ate these.  

We topped dinner off, with a large romaine lettuce salad, with shredded organic carrots, slices of organic green pepper, and diced celery.  I boiled eggs and sliced them to add to the salad.


My soon-to-be 20 year-old daughter dropped her car off (last Friday) for Hubby to take a look at, and enjoyed a night of pizza.

However, yesterday Hubby and extended family (a barter service) tore apart the entire dash, they discovered the problem.  The switch to the heater is bad.  I can't remember the exact term Hubby used, but if bought brand new, the cost is over $300.00.  It's a dealer only made part.  When he took the car apart, he discovered the switch had overheated and completely melted.  And, they discovered the blower had fallen down into a track, and was not even where it should be.  On a good note, the blower works fine.  While daughter is distraught, Hubby is back over at the garage, putting the car back together (with a bit of "McGivering" to provide heat in the car).  

To barter for extended family services, a garage to work in, and a propane heater to heat it for them, we provided our Candy Apple Jelly (or Cinnamon Cider Jelly, just the same but made with Apple Cider), and Hubby took over eggs.  In fact, another family member offered to make them all breakfast to start their morning.  How cool is that?  

But that's not the end of Hubby's work.  He still needs to work on the starter in his own truck.  And.....well, you know how it goes.


Our corn/pellet burner broke down last Friday night.  We can only be thankful that it broke down after the freeze we just had, and not during it.  I just threw an extra blanket on the bed, and we are praying for nice weather until Hubby can get the time to get parts.

I am badly in need of raw honey, so I may venture to town next week.  I use it for almost everything, including my homemade granola. 

I gifted my mother a year's worth of granola (as needed), and now I want to gift my older brother a batch, in gratitude for the writing books he picked up for me.  I must get some honey.  

Speaking of honey, there was a class offered yesterday, on bee keeping.  It taught a person everything they needed to know before starting.  Every year I plan to go, and every year it slips past me.  So, it remains on my "possibilities" list.  And that's where it will remain, along with investing in a milk cow, a few alpacas (learning to spin wool), and adding a few guinea hens to the homestead.