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~

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Craft Bazaar Prep ~ Sweet Potatoes ~ Pears

I had 5 mugs to start with, and finished them all.  The top left has a black mug, and the Christmas cozy has a red mug.  I love the blue and purple one.  They all have two buttons on the straps.


In hopes to find another mug, I started a fall colored cozy/coaster set to add to the inventory.  I had enough of the yarn to make the same one I made myself.


I spent an entire afternoon, about a week ago, emptying my boxes and totes and taking count of my inventory.  I now have a list and inventory sheet produced from my hard work, and found a few items that need ends sewn in.  There are many more items I could make, so I hope to get some done in the next few weeks.  I have one daughter eye-spying another slouchy hat in my pile, so I'm off to see if I have more yarn of that color. 

Oh, and now my youngest daughter wants a double wrap infinity scarf for Christmas.  Of course I won't wait until then, so she can use it now.  I just won't start on it until the craft show has started.   She wants Harry Potter colors.


I chopped up some of our garden sweet potatoes and made a crock pot of sweet potato/cauliflower and garden kale soup.  I used a recipe I found online and added my greens to it.  Gotta have those greens!





Tried a new recipe, Gingersnap Pear Pie , and we topped it with homemade whiskey butterscotch sauce.  Hubby said it's now is favorite of all pies.  It bubbled over like crazy, but oh my it was good.  Hubby said it was so good, he wants me to make two for him to take to work.  I told him he was crazy.  He'd be lucky to get another from me this week, ha ha!  Recipe is from a Country Woman magazine, but also online with Taste of Home:  here  (hence wanting a homemade crunchy gingersnap recipe).




A jar of homemade vanilla extract was strained.  I use this in many recipes.

The weather is turning on us again.  More rain.  Can you believe it?  It's in the 30's at night and 40's days, but yesterday we had a full day of sunshine.  Hubby suggested a motorcycle ride, but stayed in, ha ha!  Just a bit too cold for me.  I made a crock pot of salsa chicken (boneless organic chicken, garden tomatoes, garlic, cayenne, broth etc) and we topped mashed pinto beans with it - delicious!  We can use it on breakfast/lunch/dinner burritos too.  I had some cream leftover from making the whiskey sauce, so I thawed some corn and made pan of creamed corn (Mmmmm!). 

My free loader hens gave me one dinky egg yesterday.  They were out and about, but geeze.  The kids are the only reason I haven't put three of them in the stew pot.  I'll have that talk with them again (to the hens) and see if I start getting those eggs again.  They have gotten some treats too, but to no avail, they free load the organic feed.  They love the pear peelings.

Rain is to start at 1pm and continue the entire day until 11pm tonight.  I will be in my kitchen for more of the time, and hope to gravitate to some crochet work.  I had a sore throat yesterday, so I don't want to over do anything this week.  I'll be posting the tea I made soon.  I took a long soak in the tub with Epson salts, and tea tree/eucalyptus oils.  I'm feeling pretty good today.

Oh, and it's a bit disconcerting when one of your children has to go to work where it was recently robbed.  No gun, but this past few weeks there have been several gun point robberies.  

Good news (maybe).  Our "Vet Tech" daughter bought a new car.  Our "Grad" Daughter is getting her old one.  The only problem is finding affordable insurance for her now.  Crossing my fingers (and saying a prayer) it all works out for all of us.

10 comments:

Susan said...

Those cozy/coaster sets are just beautiful! I bet they sell like hotcakes! You are going to have to hide your work so that your girls aren't tempted to create more for you. When is your craft show? I haven't been to one in ages - I used to love the craft bazaars at churches. They were the best.

Rain said...

I hope your daughter stays safe at work...that's a scary thing. I'm happy to say I've never experienced being in a robbery, never mind guns as a threat. Congrats to her on the car! I know how expensive insurance can be for young people...for that I'm glad I only started driving in my 30's!

I just about slipped on my puddle of drool when I read Gingersnap Pear Pie with homemade whiskey butterscotch sauce...lol...looks and sounds AMAZING.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Susan, I tried to get a table at one earlier this month, at a church but it was full up. This one is Dec 2nd.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Rain, I'm sure the Whiskey butterscotch sauce recipe is somewhere on my blog, but not the pie. I'll see if it's online, as it came from a magazine. I'll link it in the blog if I do find it.

Unknown said...

I, too, just decanted my homemade vanilla. I had a gallon jug of vodka so I topped it up with more vodka. I think i’ve Had this for three years, now.
Good luck with the show! I like the work you do. I can quilt but have never had the desire to knit or crochet.
Debbie

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Thank you Debbie. Some day I hope to do a small quilt piece, and also knit socks. I've been wanting to do both, but time is always a factor.

Mama Pea said...

Your handwork, as always, is lovely, Kristina. Hope you can manage to get many, many things made for sale on Dec. 2nd. If your product starts getting out there, more and more people will be looking for your things!

I was just talking last night about learning how to make my own vanilla extract. It's gone sky-high in price lately and I sure should be able to make it cheaper at home, right?

That new pie of yours is very low in calories, isn't it? Please tell me I wouldn't gain 5 lbs. eating just one piece! I love gingersnaps. I love pears. Wonder how many calories in the whole pie. Not saying I'd eat the whole thing myself, of course . . .

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, the vanilla recipe is somewhere on my blog, but there are many online as well. I'm surprised that Hubby didn't eat the whole pie, ha ha! He keeps raving about it. I am halfway in the making of an infinity scarf, so I hope to finish it and start another soon. Thanks.

Rain said...

Thanks for the link to the recipe! I'm a big fan of Taste of Home! :)

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

You are welcome Rain. I found it in a Country Woman magazine that I had stashed in a pile hidden away. I'm slowly working my way through that pile.