Pioneer Woman at Heart

I took this photo Sunday morning.  The clouds looked like mountains.  I'm up super early to try and get more cleaning done, as the tomatoes are starting to turn red even more, so that means canning resumes very soon. Today I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. I'll link up when she posts.  I have a lot to clean this morning. The weather outside is . . . 84°F/62° sunny How I am feeling this morning . . .  Mad. Mad as a hornet. I'm about to charge my 21 year old rent.  I told her to get all of her stuff out of my living room, for the last 5 days now.  She did not.  Hubby and I moved it all to one of the barns after doing yard work all day long.  Guess what I woke up to at 4am in my living room???  Yep.   I am the maddest most angriest mother on earth right now.  Guess who is going to get her up ASAP and move it to her room herself before she leaves for work?  Oh, this Bear is not letting her take ...

The kale in the garden was a complete fail.  No harvest.  What didn't get eaten up by bugs was fried in this years drought. Collards don't look good, but there is hope for the chard.  Have no idea on the root veggies yet.  The turnips I did pull were small. Tried a new recipe - frozen peanut butter pie!  Delicious.  Hubby was happy to have a cold dessert after a long hot day. By the way, we got rain last night.  Not a lot, but more than the last time. Almost stepped on this guy yesterday.  They day before that I almost stepped on a snake. Made a batch of homemade Kahlua.  I gifted this one year for Christmas.  Recipe is online and easy to find. I won't be gifting this batch.  Once it's done, strained and re-bottled, I'll be trying a new recipe with it. Made myself my first mint julep.  Very refreshing. Made my Mom's Dried Beef casserole for dinner last night. I needed something easy. R...

The rain went right off the radar on Tuesday.  Not a drop.  Rain on the radar on Wed. went right off the radar as well.  Sigh.  I had to pick and choose what would be watered, considering the well isn't getting filled up. I finally got some feverfew put into the dehydrator for winter tea if needed.  I'm hoping if we get rain, I can dehydrate more (it's in a pot vs. the ground). Once that was dried I loaded it up with catnip.  I make catnip tincture as an ingredient for my bug off spray.  I will also make some catnip pillows for our cats and Mom's cats if I have enough for both.  I want to make my tincture with fresh catnip. We love hot pepper jelly (now that I know how to really make it hot).  We love it as a go-to snack for gatherings or snacking.  It's great with cream cheese on a cracker.  I couldn't find hot cherry peppers, and did not grow them this year.  I used habanero, serrano, hot banana, hungar...

Got another batch of Cowboy canned. Canned a batch of taco sauce.  Makes my heart sing.  Haven't been able to do this for the last two years.  I you can with anything (tomato) sauce related, you know they are long days.  The end result is so delicious.  I can it in 4 oz. jars because that is enough for one meal for all of us and nothing is wasted or needs used up.  I can only fit 11 of them in the canner, so I put the remaining 1/2 pint in the fridge.  We'll be eating tacos or taco salad this week. Taco sauce from the store has corn syrup, corn starch (all gmo), and other preservatives.  So worth the time to can.  I'm hoping the other tomatoes ripen together so I can do tomato sauce next. I didn't have time to bake a breakfast for a grab-n-go for all of us either.  I was so exhausted I overslept this morning.  I wasn't even up to kiss my husband before he left for work this morning.  I'm taking the day off to...

Daughter got the job!  She starts today! Friday I needed to do some watering.  I also brought in more green bell peppers, and couldn't believe the size of this one.  Too bad I don't have a lot ready at once, because I would have stuffed and froze this one too.   I spent the day freezing bell peppers, hot banana peppers, zucchini, and figuring out if I will be canning pickles yet or not.  I brought in more cucumbers. I filled my small dehydrator with comfrey and baked Lemon Zucchini bars too. Guess who snagged some Einkorn flour?  Yep.  Limit of 2, but I'm on the list when it's restocked. Saturday we rode the motorcycle all day and relaxed in the evening.  We took our youngest daughter, and she said it was just what she needed.   My spring chicks are starting to lay. Sunday, we planned another bike ride, but our radio stopped working, so it's torn apart and awaiting a new par...

Photos of the sky before the sunrise this morning. Well, we are not camping tonight.  Not at all this weekend.  I had to cancel.  We decided that the return of the awful heat would make us miserable.  We cook all meals over a campfire, and it would awful to do in 89-90 degree weather. Yeah, I am bummed.  I was looking forward to unplugging and it won't happen.  Not anyone's fault but the weatherman.  The weather up until now was absolute perfect camping weather. I got my dentist visit done.  So, first I went and got my crown glued back on, second, I went back the next day for a cleaning, so that's done before winter.  All the hoop-la they say about going to the dentist on social media is false.  I just had to wear a mask until they worked on me and wear it out.  That's it.  Other than they don't rinse as much due to the splatter of water, but they have face shields on etc.  Such a different world right n...

It's official.  The last breakfast casserole is our new Christmas morning breakfast now.  I will make it a few more times and add greens, ground mustard and possible half spicy sausage to try it that way.  It's going in my "Christmas" Binder.   The honey roasted caramel corn is definitely in the recipe box and will be in the treat list for the holidays.   I found a free printable online at the Homestead Hustle, it's called Product Pricing Worksheet.  It's great to keep track of cost and sale price for homemade or homegrown items you sell. I bought myself a few new stitch markers.  So adorable! My fall center piece made from a free metal strainer, and decor from the dollar store (bought by one of my girls). Made a cucumber/tomato salad. Picked another 1 1/2 cups blackberries to freeze. Froze a quart bag of diced green bell peppers.

New hen Older Auracana Clearly, the one on the right (new) is not a bluebell egger.  I have a feeling they mixed up the batch when putting them in or out, and gave me a breed of Araucana.  It's definitely different from my older hen.  The head is different on her. I named the newer hen Dolly Carton. These two naughty ones are the ones that flew the coop and took us for a run.  I named them (left to right) Thelma and Louise. I'm thinking Cookies and Cream for the 2 barred rocks, Bluebell for the blue/gray.  Now to finally come up with names for my older two hens. Dixie Chick for my Araucana.  I'm still working on the Buff Orpington.

Although, it's super convenient to use potatoes of some sort in a breakfast casserole, this one was delicious.  I have been trying to limit the carbs, sugar/starch etc. lately.  It makes a 9 x 13, but you can cut the recipe in half for a smaller family.  I cooked sausage vs. buying pre-cooked, and of course organic.  The recipe is online at Pretty Providence, and the recipe is called "Best Breakfast Casserole."  Although I can't say it's the best of any casserole I've made, it is very good. To relax yesterday, I made more of the jar openers.  They are becoming popular.  I have two more pending orders.  One wants 4 of them and another wants at least 2.  I think I will make one for the camper for us too. I am waiting to see if I can get 16-20 bell peppers ripe all at the same time to stuff.  I may have to do it in half batches this year.  I had to dig and dig for Mama Pea's recipe for stuffed peppers.  We haven...

Sunday I had some hot banana peppers a jalapenos to deal with, so I canned a batch of .... Hot Banana Pepper Relish (Called Pepper Relish at Food.com online). While the canner boiled away, I started on my mound of dishes I created.  I also baked a breakfast casserole as our grab-n-go breakfast this week. A new recipe.  If it's good, I'll let you all know. We got a good load of rain Sunday morning.  So very thankful for that too. Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.   The weather outside is. . . 83°F/53°F  92% Humidity. How I am feeling this morning . . . Stressed. I lost two hens last night.  Apparently the newbies can fly very high.  With help we found them and put them back in the coop, but now we have to rethink the fence, put up tall posts, cover the top, and add a larger door.  I'm so done to be honest. On my mind . . . I have to call the dentist this morning.  A crown fel...