This and That

 Any writers here?  Are there any free downloadable programs that are similar to what Word offers?  Other than Google docs and notepad?  Looking for one like Word, in which to use for writing, with options to save to a removeable drive as well as save to the computer.  Font options, italics, underscore, paragraph widths and all the options that Word has. Or an inexpensive program to purchase similar to Word?

Our Word program expired a few years ago, and I do not like notepad at all.  It comes in handy for a recipe, but that's about it.

Thanks to anyone who can give me recommendations.  I think I follow a few that write books, and possibly a few that keep journals (not blogs, but actual personal journals) using their computer/laptap or tablet.  

This tip may be a repeat tip.  Sorry if that is the case.  I started buying 2# bottles of Dawn on sale, and use them to refill our smaller bottle.  Saves us a lot of money, as we can, preserve, cook from scratch, and there are always dishes to wash.

I also save a few of the lids from the bottles.  They come in handy for other containers and they come in handy to replace the existing lids on the bottle we use daily.

Short post today.

Cleavers.  I'm considering making a tincture this year.  Anyone have any experience with Cleavers as a tincture?

This and That  ©  May 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Garden Season Officially Begins

(although foggy, rain has stayed away for a few days here)

The garden hoses have been pulled out of storage.  It's a task for sure.  We require about 200 feet or so of garden hose to water our garden.

Our very first garden was pretty small.  Our farmhouse had zero water spigots outside.  None.

We hauled water cans, and buckets in a wheeled cart to water it, and the garden flourished.

We have also unpacked the garden tool bags I take out to the garden, watering cans, solar chargeable motion sensor do-hickies that send out a high pitched noise to deter the squirrels etc.  The first year we put them out, we never saw one squirrel until we took them out for the season.  Some stopped working, but most are still solar charging. 

 

The gardens are tilled now, and one garden area fence is back in place.  Fencing has been acquired for the other garden (although it will not keep deer from jumping). 

We have successfully planted all of the tomato plants (about 4 varieties, but mostly San Marzano).  A few are not staked yet, and about 6 may or may not make it.  You never know, as the good ol' mother nature can revive just about any sad looking plant.

(note: it takes about 50 pounds of paste tomatoes to make one full batch of canned tomato sauce).

Paste tomatoes are the type of tomato needed for canning anything "sauce" related.  I'm talking about Tomato soup, tomato sauce, pizza sauce, taco sauce, ketchup, etc.  They are a meatier tomato.  They are the best for also canning stewed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and for canning tomato paste.  The are the better choice to freeze as well, for chili, stews, or other recipes.

The beef type tomatoes are planted for enjoying fresh mostly.  We enjoy them on salads, sandwiches, just eating alone, topping toasted bread, BLT's, etc.

Cherry type tomatoes are planted for simply enjoying fresh, adding to summer salads, and even dips.  They can be used for focaccia bread and a lot more. If we get an abundance, I can also dehydrate some.

Rain is possible, but the remainder of the garden is being planted, and fenced.  

If you are new to planting a vegetable/fruit garden, hardening the plants is a bit of work.  The plants are moved from indoors to outdoors daily, to adjust to the mother nature (wind, rain, sun, etc.)

The plants go out an hour the first day, then back in.  They go back and forth each day, increasing the time they spend outdoors, and by the time the plants are in the ground, they have acclimated to growing outdoors.

I have planted one new cilantro plant in the herb garden.  My feverfew seeds I planted early, may have been planted too early.  I plan to drop more seeds before the next rainfall.

The sage blooms are looking beautiful right now.

Just when I thought the asparagus harvest was done, the Good Lord gives us more.  

My resident herb garden snake does not look like it's moving on.  It seems to be very interested in staking it's claim to where it's currently located.  Until I have to weed that area, or harvest, we are letting it be (there must be some tasty bugs or rodents it's consuming).

We are praying that the tomato plants were not planted too early. We now see that our evening temperatures could dip to about 44-47°F all weekend.  However, the forecast looks like it will be the end of the cooler evenings, and summer is starting to move in.

Garden Season Officially Begins  ©  May 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Dehydrated Daikon Radish

Organic Daikon Radishes (a superfood, powerhouse of goodness) are sold in bundles of either 2-3 in our grocery stores, and each one can be up to 15 inches long. 

I only need about a 1/2 cup of the radish, when I make kimchi for ourselves.

It got me thinking.

I could freeze the rest for meals, or I could dehydrate the extra.

I used my handheld spiralizer and spiralized the extra daikon radishes.  I then placed those into they dehydrator (you get a lot, but it will dry up to almost nothing).

I will store the dehydrated daikon radishes until the next time I want to make kimchi, and simply break up the dehydrated radishes, and re-hydrate them.  

Easy, makes the most of our purchase with buying daikon radishes, and we don't have to eat it for days fresh.  However, I did find a recipe that uses daikon radish, that I do want to eventually try.   By the way, diced daikon radish goes well in soups and stews (and can be swapped for potatoes in soups).

I also want to upgrade my spiralizer to something that works a bit more efficient than my itty bitty hand twist one.

Yes, I wanted to plant these radishes in the garden the last few years, but we did not have the space, and you can see they grow very deep roots.

Dehydrated Daikon Radish  ©  May 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Summer Bean Salads

We tried a new white bean salad, using fresh herb garden parsley and rosemary from my herb garden.  The recipe is a winner for several reasons.  One, it is a small salad, so it's perfect for two people, and perfect for summer fresh herbs.  Two, for the small amount of ingredients, it packs a good flavor.  A few reviews stated to add some diced celery.  I may do that next time.  A keeper recipe.

Recipe is White Bean Salad (online). You can read the recipe, but to print it, the site requires you to sign up to "unlock" the print option. It's easy enough to simply write it on a recipe card.

Second bean salad to try using different beans. . .

Bean Salad

I got this recipe from my Dad years ago (he was into super foods and bought many recipe books pertaining to that focus).  I found it while cleaning out old recipe books and such in my kitchen.  I forgot all about it.  I doubt my Dad ever made this salad, but anyway.....

The salad requires a fresh tomato.  The other option is a can of tomatoes, drained. I found some TN tomatoes at our local produce stand.

We love this salad!  I do like the addition of celery, so I may be adding it to the other bean salad recipe too.  I'm wondering if adding some feta too would add more flavor?  

Here is the recipe on how I prepared this bean salad:

Here is the recipe:

1 can organic black beans, rinsed/drained

1 can organic navy beans, rinsed/drained

1 small red onion, finely diced

1 fresh tomato diced (or if you don't have one, one can of organic diced tomatoes, drained)

2 organic celery stalks, diced

2 Tablespoons, organic red wine vinegar

3 Tablespoons organic extra virgin olive oil

salt/pepper

Mix, and chill for about 2 hours before serving.

I think this would be great with some added diced green onions, chives, parsley or even cilantro from the herb garden.

It's delicious as a light lunch or a side dish and very similar to the other bean salad we tried.

Summer Bean Salads  ©  May 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart
 

This and That

 

I finished the granny square to go with this finished book, for my book blanket.  Gold color is the most difficult to match up with yarn, but so far, the granny squares are looking pretty colorful.

                       

I'm still using the homemade nail oil, but after planting flowers, dropping mulch, and weeding flower beds (and other outdoor work before the rain poured for days), my nails are peeling, cut down to the quick, and look terrible.  I'll keep using it and update later.  Homesteading work at it's best ha ha!

Local area produce haul.  The rhubarb and strawberries are local, and the tomatoes are from TN (too early for them here).

We dug up your rhubarb plants last fall, so they are in grow bags and pretty small harvest this spring.  They'll get a new home in the ground hopefully soon.

This and That  ©  May 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Soup Weather ~ Dehydrator Weather

 

There is nothing better than to enjoy some crock pot Italian Soup during a cold spritz in May.  It was a new recipe  (Food.com), but I utilized some tomato sauce I canned last year, and dried herbs from the herb garden.  Not sure what they meant by "brown" onion, but I used a yellow onion, and used fresh minced garlic (not from a jar).  I also used sweet Italian vs. mild sausage (what was in the freezer), and it turned out delicious!

I'm taking advantage of these cooler weather days, and getting dehydrated items re-stocked.

I'm dehydrating ginger for tea making and other uses.  I can also grind it as needed.  I do freeze some as well, which has come in handy several times for homemade ginger-ale and other meals and recipes.

Has anyone, who uses a dehydrator, dehydrated turmeric root?  I just froze us a bunch, but would like to dry some.  How do you dehydrate it without staining your trays?  Will it stain stainless steel if I layer it with parchment?  I know it stains my hands when I go to peel it.  I do use gloves.  Anyone?

Today's reading from the book "A Year of Positive Thinking" by  Cyndie Spiegel.  It's a neat idea, and a great blog prompt if you are in a rut with what to post, or in a "rut" in finding joy in your life perhaps.  I just thought it was worth sharing today.  Perhaps a journal entry if you enjoy journaling?

We had zero rain yesterday and a load of wind.  We are once again setting a date to till the garden.

Soup Weather ~ Dehydrator Weather  ©  May 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

More Rain ~ Garden is Flooded ~ Turnips

We can't seem to get a break from the rain right now.  I checked on the garden.  It's flooded.  Like parts of it have 4 inches of standing water. 

Woke up to a chilly 36°F outside.  So cold, I had to turn a heater on, and today I need to order propane (gulp!).  Way too cold for a garden to grow, so I am praying my already planted herbs and flowers survive this dip in temperature.  Wet and cold do not mix well for an abundant garden.  My feverfew seeds did not sprout at all, so I may need to re-buy them if we want a harvest this year.

I have been bringing in about 2-3 asparagus a day lately.  We are at the end of harvest, but we keep getting a few a day.

I'm already utilizing fresh herbs from the garden.  The cilantro seed sprouts are holding up in this colder weather too.  Same with the dill seeds I planted.

About turnips . . .

Turnips are the most under-rated cruciferous vegetable in my opinion.  Probably along the same path with rutabagas.  I don't know anyone personally who even eats either of them, and you won't find them served in any area restaurants (in our area anyway).  You can find turnip greens at some restaurants.

(photo credit my husband)

Although it would be the best world to be able to grow everything we eat (or raise it), some of us cannot.  I have not grown turnips in several years, due to lack of tilled garden space, and lack of raised beds.  

I do buy our turnip greens, and for now, organic peas.  We have been him-hawing on when and how to add more raised beds, so we can grow more of both.

Turnip Greens are not just a healthy side, but high in fiber.  I have been doubling up on our vegetables lately, and mixing up the rotation, so we don't eat the same thing all week long.

I boiled my greens in a mix of organic chicken broth, water, a bit of bacon fat (you could use olive oil), salt and pepper.  At the end of cooking I added 1 minced clove of garlic for added health and flavor.

Greens are a healthy addition to a breakfast, and I add them to ours weekly.

Turnip Au Gratin (a newly tried recipe, and no breadcrumbs).  We love potatoes, but we do eat them in moderation.

I tried this recipe, in hopes to get some turnips in our rotation more often, and to also find a reason to plant them next year.

Funny story, we bought a flat of what we thought (and was told) was cauliflower, and when it all grew it ended up all kohlrabi,  We loved it, but we got so tired of eating so much of it ha ha!

Recipe stated to layer and season, but I tossed the sliced turnips in the seasoning, with 3 cloves of minced fresh garlic.  The thyme is from the herb garden.  I layered these with the cheese mixture, then poured the organic heavy cream over the top as the recipe stated (and covered it).  Oh, and I buttered the baking dish.

Results on the turnip recipe:  

Very good, but there were blips with this recipe.  First, the recipe stated bake covered for 25 minutes (375°F) then broil.  It was not done at that time. By the way, I used my thinnest slicing on the mandolin, so these turnips were very thin too.   I covered it and had to bake it for 1 1/2 hours.  I then researched roasted turnip recipes, and they use 400°F for one hour.  

The recipe is a keeper, but cook time will be higher. We loved this!  Turnip au Gratin (Low Carb Spark).

It was very good in the end, but the time in the oven is off with the temperature on the recipe.  I think more heavy cream was needed, and maybe one more minute of broil time.  Also, the recipe did not say to broil on high or low. 

It re-heats nicely, but it does not have a liquid-y base after that long of cooking.  However, my husband's first bite was "Wow! That's good!"

I'll keep looking for more new turnip recipes.  It was good, but a few flaws in the instructions on this one.  It would be a good side for grilling meats on the outdoor grill, but with a higher temperature to speed that baking process up.

By the way, I have put turnips in the crock pot, but with a mix of root vegetables and a sweet/butter glaze.

More Rain ~ Garden is Flooded ~ Turnips  ©  May 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

More Rain

 We have not had a day without rain.  It rained all day yesterday, and all night and it's raining this morning.  In fact, I went out to pick asparagus yesterday when I saw we got a slight break, but the rain poured down as I walked to the asparagus patch.  Three stalks of asparagus got picked anyway.

The garden tilling was not done as we were planning yesterday.  May is finicky, so I'm not going to guess.  I'll just keep making back up plans and get other "stuff" done around here.  

I have enjoyed the little bit of porch time (most days have been on the chilly side), sitting and listening to the rain.  The flowers are enjoying the rain too, as well as the herb garden.  I'm just glad we have not planted the vegetable garden yet, although seeds would have been a blessing to have gotten in before this rain.  The evenings are still in the low 40's, and too cold for tomato plants or other vegetable plants.

Right now, it's just a saturated muddy mess, so we can't even get into the garden at all.

More Rain ©  May 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Chive Blossoms ~ Infused Vinegar ~ Dehydrated ~ Chive Blossom Powder

Just when I thought I would have zero blog content to post, my brain zero's in on something new to me.  Dehydrating chive blossoms is not new to me.  However, using them in a new way is new to us.

Of course, you will need a somewhat larger patch of chives in your herb garden to be able to do this.  We allowed our chives to go to seed for several years.  Did you know that one chive blossom can contain up to 120 or so seeds?  

Each of the tiny flowers in the chive blossoms can contain about 1-3 seeds each.

 I have used fresh chive tops to infuse into oil in the past (leave chive tops to dry before infusing), but I have not made infused vinegar or used them for other dishes (have added them to baked egg breakfast dishes).

Most salad dressings we make here, use red wine vinegar, and most recipes to infuse the chive blossoms into vinegar, call for white wine vinegar.  

A new "first" time for us - I am making us an infused white wine vinegar.

I will use it for salad dressings, for cooking greens (like kale,, collards and turnip greens etc.), and for other uses.  I will also try it on marinated boneless chicken, when I do a sheet pan dinner.

Not the best photo, but you can see it's infusing to a beautiful pink color. I'll post a photo later when I have strained the blossoms out of the vinegar. 

Oh, I have also read online that you can infuse the chive blossoms in Apple Cider Vinegar.  I will definitely try that if we get enough blossoms (information on that is online with LearningHerbs).

Next up, for another "first" for us?

(You can dehydrate the chive blossoms whole or pulled apart, depending on your dehydrating vessel {dehydrator, air fryer, oven etc.})

I am dehydrating the chive blossoms for the first year ever, to keep on  hand to top dishes with, mix into butters, cream cheese spreads, grind into powder for sauces/soups/dressings/dips, and the like.

You can eat these fresh.  I have pulled them apart to toss into an egg breakfast casserole, but they are delicious tossed into potato salad or your salads.  They have a delicious garlic/onion flavor.

I ground some of the dehydrated chive blossoms into a powder for the first time.  The color is almost a gray color oddly.   It will be interesting if these are a nice addition to meals.  They contain a lot of goodness and healthy needs for our bodies. 

Lastly, I found out you can make a tincture with the chive blossoms.  I had to look up what it would be administered for - decongestant.  I'm not making a tincture this year, as we have other tinctures, and teas on hand right now, but it is good to learn this "new" information.

By the way, the ground, dehydrated chive blossoms smell amazing!  I bet the ground version would make a delicious salt too.

Chive Blossoms ~ Infused Vinegar ~ Dehydrated ~ Chive Blossom Powder ©  May 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Long Weekend

 I had another long weekend, but productive.  My husband worked again (2 long 12 hour shifts), so I decided to tackle another big job while I could.  In reality, it was because we got more rain, and it's been raining every single day lately, so garden work was not happening anyway.

I emptied the entire standing cupboard that holds my canning pot, freezer containers (as they empty), extra canning jars, and all things homesteading that don't have place anywhere else.

A shelf had collapsed (it's the cheap wood type put-together-yourself type cabinet, but it works for now).  

I purged the entire thing, cleaned it, then moved it from the wall and cleaned behind it and under it, moved it back, re-organized it and prayed it will hold together a few more years.

I filled a box with items to take to the thrift store.

We have had some cooler weather lately.  Woke up to 42°F this morning. Brrr!  Some evenings are below 50 degrees.  There is rain in the forecast for the next 4 days.  It can all change, but we could use a slight break with the rain.  

Many of my herb plants are starting to flower.  Sage is about to bloom.

A few of our flower bed perennials are starting to bloom as well.

I picked yet some more asparagus.  One good thing about all of this rain.

                                     

I have not made time to open more than one library book.  The recipe above made me laugh.  Do you see it?  It was from a recipe book for foraging.  

Speaking of library books, I do need to get those looked at and returned.  They are all resource type books for foraging, fermenting, and wild cooking.  Not sure what I was thinking ordering so many books at once.

Speaking of books, I have carved out a few minutes to do some fiction reading.  I had to switch up books this time, as I needed a "palate cleanser" (reading refresher) to change things up a bit.  It's a short book, and so far I'm enjoying it.

Update on the Jalapeno Salt I made:

I have used it to season potatoes being prepared for a breakfast scramble.  I will try it on sweet potatoes next. Yum.

I also have been using it to season ground beef for tacos, and I recently used it to season the ground beef for a new recipe we tried - crock pot taco pasta.  So good!  By the way, we liked the recipe for the pasta, but it made more than I expected.  

There are several versions of the recipe online, but I had some leftover beef broth, so I used that up instead of chicken, and I added a rinsed and drained can of black beans.  Oh, I used frozen bell peppers and jalapenos from last years garden, and homemade taco seasoning.

Long Weekend  ©  May 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

31 Weeks Until Christmas ~ Christmas Countdown 2025

 New Sweet Tasty Treat!  New Recipe Tried.

Pomegranate-Vanilla Cashews.

These would be great for simply gifting at Christmas, to take and add to your charcuterie board, a side to go with a cheese appetizer, etc.  They are addicting, so be careful, ha ha!  They would be tasty as an ice cream topper too, if you do a sundae bar for a gathering or for own ice cream treat.

3 cups of raw (unroasted, unsalted) cashews came out to about 1 pound (16 ounces) of cashews.  

One note:  I think I would use a slotted spoon to spoon it all out onto the parchment paper, vs. dump the entire mix onto it.

Here is why.

Where the extra coating puddled, the cashews stuck a lot more to the parchment, and although they are also still on the crunchy side, I felt the pieces that sat and baked in the extra coating came out more soft and sticky.  To get all the pieces nicely crunchy, and come off the parchment much easier, I think eliminating the extra liquid would help.  The recipe stated to just mix, dump and bake.  Anyway, those are my thoughts, but yes, it's a keeper recipe.  

I used a non-gmo pomegranate 100% juice, my homemade vanilla and regular sugar (I did not have cane sugar, but will get some now).

The recipe is online at:  Veggingonthemountain

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Just some more Christmas gift giving thoughts to share.

One year I gifted homemade taco seasoning to my family. I saved baby food jars (from someone) and filled them.  I painted the lids, and made a handmade refrigerator magnet to top the lid too.  

                     

Old photo from years ago, but you can see the lids painted gold, and the fridge magnet on the top.  I used bottle caps and crocheted granny rounds with cotton #10 crochet thread, and clued it on the inside of the bottle cap, and glued on a magnet.  I have no idea if anyone ever used the seasoning or used the magnet, but there was apparently a lot of thought (or over thought) to this gift (ha ha!).

I was making a new batch of homemade seasoned salt (linked post for recipe), and remembered, that I gifted some to my Mom one Christmas.  She loved it.  In fact, she loved it more than the seasoning from the store.  I have no idea where I got the recipe from either, as I have had it that long now.  Sharing just another idea to gift, if you need some more ideas.  

               

One year I gifted dried rosemary from the herb garden, and attached recipes.  I even gave one to the kids bus driver at the time.  We had a lot of rosemary that year.  One year I gifted sage, as well as recipes, and a note about medicinal sage tea.  I can't recall if I gifted other herbs, but they make nice gifts too, if you have an abundance of a homegrown herb.

I am hoping I have enough sage growing this year to dry a good amount.  We'll find out come summer and fall.

31 Weeks Until Christmas ~ Christmas Countdown 2025 ©  May 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart