New Breakfast Tried ~ Butternut Apple and Kale Hash with Sausage

 

The photo is my husband's breakfast packed up the day prior.  I have to say, it would be absolutely fantastic with eggs over easy made fresh, but I do have to send breakfast on-the-go for him during the work week days.

Oh my goodness, it was delicious!  Time consuming to make, but healthy and very good.  It's a keeper recipe, with some tips to make it easier.

First, remember I ground up some of our dehydrated sage a while back?  I put it in a spice jar for easy use for making homemade chicken or turkey sausage?  Well, I'm not doing that anymore.

I discovered that the delicious sage flavor goes stale after weeks of sitting in a spice jar.  It's just not the same as crushing the full leaves dehydrated.  I'll just have to take the time to crush them for really good flavor.  

Tips:  Most butternut squash is about 3 pounds or so.  Unless I grow it myself, and have a dry year, I have never seen a "small" or 1 1/2 pound butternut squash. 

I bought a 3# one, diced it up, and saved half to freeze.  Next time I will make sure that the dicing part is done on a day with less work, and have that prep work already done.  Butternut is too hard of a squash to dice up small in my box cutter.

Tip:  I cooked 1# of organic ground turkey and 1# of ground chicken, with sausage spices on a earlier day, froze half and kept half for this breakfast. 

You could also wash and dice up the greens the day before too.  I used kale in our breakfast.

I cooked my husband's eggs the day before, and sent it with him to work to re-heat.  It re-heated well for him and he loved it.  Freshly cooked is wonderful, but this was fantastic.   

You could use any breakfast sausage, but we love to rotate ours with chicken/turkey for a lower fat breakfast.  Also, I can chose to leave out the brown sugar when I make it myself too.  Who knows what kind of sugar they use in the breakfast sausage bought in stores.  

Anyway, sharing a I-tried-it-so-you-don't-have-to breakfast recipe. 

Recipe is online with Real Food Dietitians - Butternut Squash and Apple Hash with Sausage.

Have fun, and don't make too many dirty dishes, ha ha!

New Breakfast Tried ~ Butternut Apple and Kale Hash with Sausage  ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart 

Borage ~ More Asparagus and Rain

 

Last year, we planted borage and rosemary in with the zucchini, yellow squash and other squash plants.  It was an attempt to deter the nasty squash bugs.  It for one, did not work to deter those bugs (did not even grow well enough to harvest anything from the plants either).   Two, it re-seeds itself very well, so don't plant it in your big vegetable garden like I did.  It's not spreading too badly this year, but I'm yanking it as I see it, and you know I hate to waste anything....

By the way, I'm actually seeing borage plants for sale this year.

Borage tea?  

Has anyone dehydrated or dried the borage flowers and leaves for a medicinal tea?  I'm not finding a lot of information in the resource books I have.  So far anyway.  I'm reading online that the tea from the plant, is good for reducing a fever and for reducing a bad cough.  Does anyone have any information, or experience, with borage used in this way?

Borage for dinner?

I'm doing more research on cooking borage.  Just in case I have to yank some plants ha ha!   I don't think it would be eaten very often.

I'm thinking a chimichurri over salmon, a pesto for meals, and possibly other recipes.  

I read that the borage seeds themselves contain omega-6?  Need to do more research on that.

Just when I thought our asparagus season was about over, the rain brought up more, and more is coming up.  I doubt it will amount to a large amount, but we are thankful for the continued harvest.  

Speaking of rain.....

Well, prior to the the rain, and the beginning of our high 80 degree weather, I got 3 full hours of garden work done on the flower beds.  I am not done yet, so I have much to do, but the rain returned yesterday, making the opportunity to work outside zero.  Guess what's returned again this morning?  Yep, the rain.  It's saturated.  Again.  Just one of those wet years for a start.  

It rained so hard yesterday, I had to shut windows in the house and in the chicken coop.  We do not have our AC on, despite the 80 to almost 90 degree weather.  We need help with the lifting and installing of the AC units.  Willing help is hard to find.

I can proudly say, I have earned my first blister on my hand from weeding, and for the first time, bruises on my knees from kneeling over the flower beds.  Ha!  It's all good!

Borage ~  More Asparagus and Rain  ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart 

Infused Honey and Other Tidbits

 

I've been brewing us a morning iced tea in a quart canning jar, and adding 1 Tbsp. of infused honey to it.  It was just enough to sweeten the tea and we loved it.  I bought the infused honey at a honey festival last year, and it is now all gone.  I am sure it was not inexpensive either.  It was organic.  

Speaking of organic honey, both of us are wondering how they can assure it's "organic" when bees travel.  We are wondering if they have qualifications or specifics to classify honey as organic?  Anyway, we bought it.  We loved it.

I do have the phone number for the seller, but decided to infuse my own honey.

The above jar is started with an elderberry and hibiscus infused honey.  I'm sure it could be done faster on the stove top, but it's very hot here, and I have patience.  We are excited to see if it will taste the same.  It is a delicious one for teas.

On the home front, we had a very hot day yesterday.  My readings said 89°F and yes, I did 3 hours of garden work.  I'm glad I got that much done, as rain moved in for the evening, with some wind.

I  have drained the horsetail infused oil, but have not had a day to actually make my salve.  Soon I hope. 

The rosemary infused oil is still infusing.

I did not get enough dandelion flowers to infuse an oil for salve making this spring.  If the rain brings up more, I'll be small batch drying more.

I baked us an asparagus casserole to go with grilled burgers, and I should have weighed all the asparagus.  It was a lot, but the casserole could have used even more of it.  I did not use a recipe this time, and it does look like a lot of cheese, but I earned it with all that garden work.  Think Green Bean Casserole, but with asparagus.

I used one "can" of homemade cream of mushroom soup, added some milk and hand grated white cheddar cheese, 2 cloves of minced fresh garlic of ours, and onion powder (too lazy to dice an onion).  I topped it with other grated cheese.  Very good, but again, needs a lot more asparagus.  I am thinking are season is about over, but I will be checking it during these hot days with rain.

The heat continues, but we do need to eat, so it will be interesting the next few days.

I am thankful for the rain ~ It's watering everything planted so far.

I am thankful for coffee ~ It jump starts my day.

I am thankful for paper and pen ~ Writing is my passion.

I am thankful for the recent asparagus ~ Food on the table.  Healthy food.

I am thankful for flowers ~  They are the a "feel good" and stress lowering beauty, and the bees and hummingbirds love them.

Infused Honey and Other Tidbits  ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart 

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

It's a happy month for me.   Don't get me wrong, as things can go haywire on any given moment, but good things are happening.

Back in 2015, I posted about some writing adventures.   At that time, it was 11 years ago. You can read about them (it's a short post) HERE.  It feels like I put writing to the pasture long before that year, but....

I used to freelance many years prior to that, but put it all aside to raise the kids, and run the household (one was in about 4-5 school sports and activities  - softball, basketball, you name it!).  They were all active in something - school plays, band, sports, etc.  In other words, we were a very active family, so I put my writing on hold.  It wasn't on purpose.  It just happened.

Well, back when I had surgery last December, I decided to enter a poetry contest that was local.  I did not win the top prize, but my poem is printed in a book (have yet to pick it up).  Not long after that, another writing contest plopped into my lap, and guess what?  I won the adult short story.  It will also be printed into a book.  I have obtained that book yet either.  I was given a certificate and a gift card.

I'm very excited about this happening again, and hope to keep moving forward.  It'll be interesting, with squeezing in writing time, with putting in a garden and so forth.

Today I am joining Sandra with Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  I'll link up later when she posts.

The weather . . .

Our temperatures are rising to the upper 80's during the daytime.  Perfect to dry up the vegetable garden and start planting soon.

Flowers are getting planted, with more upkeep being done with the flower beds.

Possible thunderstorms in the next few days.  Sigh.  It may or may not delay planting.

Right now I am . . .

Drinking coffee and posting this. Actually listening to the news to check on the weather.

Thinking and pondering . . .

How many canning jars do I need for two people?

How I am feeling . . .

Sluggish.  It's hot here, and there is a lot of outdoor work to do this month.

On the breakfast plate . . .

Scramble.  Butternut squash is going in the next breakfast meal.

On the dinner plate . . .

Have not decided yet.  It may be "too hot" to grill burgers later.

On the menu . . .

Trying to making up a plan, but it may not happen until tomorrow.  Asparagus is on the list, as we are getting more from the garden.

On my reading pile . . .

On the TV this week . . .

-watched Gina Carano/Rhonda Rousey fight (MMA), was a very short fight, and can't believe I stayed up late to watch it.

-honestly, whatever looks good, but most evenings we have very little TV time (now that the weather is not bitter cold).  I do have some DVD's to borrow from the library.

To-do list . . .(for the week and in no particular order)

-daily exercise
-put dishes away (too tired last night)
-laundry
-weed flower beds/plant

-pay bills

-brew herbal iced tea

-breakfast prep for next meal

-vegetable prep for dinners

-library returns (whoops! Totally forgot)

-sweep/mop

-make calls

-write

What I am creating . . .

I just started a crochet project for someone (last order I'm taking).  It's with black yarn, so it's been a "porch" project with good light.

From the camera . . .

Chive blossom update.  I dehydrated some chive blossoms, and ground them into a "chive powder" for a seasoning.  I did this last year, and it was fantastic on many dishes.  

Smaller chive blossoms dry faster than larger ones.  You can remove the flowers first, but my smaller dehydrator has larger holes.

Once dry, I pull the flowers and put them into a coffee grinder I use solely for this type of kitchen work.

I grind the dried flowers into a powder. and then carefully put it into an empty spice jar.

I use it to season eggs, casseroles, roasted vegetables, etc. It has a taste that is sort of a combination of onion and garlic both.  I lighter taste.  The color will diminish over time, but it doesn't last long around here.

Devotional, Prayers, Bible Verses . . .

Lots of people needing prayers in our area.  Brad (old school friend) is grieving as his father passed away.  Shelly (another friend) is grieving as one of her brother's passed away.  An old classmate was found dead in his home.  

Happy Homemaker Monday ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Hot Mess Express turns Ship Shape Sally ~ 31 Weeks and 5 days Until Christmas

I'm finally getting so organized that it makes my mornings start much, much smoother, with evenings ending even more smoothly.  Clean kitchen counters.  Everything has a "place."  I actually know where things are now. It may take many more months, but it's been a fun and very productive.

We are not done purging, re-organizing, cleaning out things we do not use anymore, etc.  I have one major room to complete, but I am slowly chipping away at it when time allows.  

Mornings are now in the 60-70's, and we may even hit 80-90°.

Don't panic or anything, but yes, I finally got the recipe typed out for those who wanted it.  You can find my recipe trial post HERE (photos included). 

The recipe was written in cursive, so my kids did not want the recipe.  The younger two cannot read cursive hand writing (pretty sad).

Fruit Cake

Recipe comes from my Grandma's friend on my Mother's side of the family. See notes on my trial baking this recipe.  The recipe was passed down from one Aunt to my mother (sister to sister), and eventually landed with me.  My Aunt gave the recipe 5 stars at the top, and noted it was the one to bake if you were going to bake a fruit cake for Christmas.

Sift 3 cups of flour and 2 teaspoons baking powder into 2 lbs. of dates, 1 lb. candied cherries and 1 lb. of candied pineapple.

Mix all well with flour and baking powder.

Beat 8 eggs well and add:

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons vanilla 

Beat this well and add to fruit mixture.

Last add 2 lb. pecans and mix well.

Bake at 275°F or 300°F for 2 1/2 hours.

Put pan of water on bottom of oven while baking.  When cooled pour grape juice or rum over it and wrap.

Again, see my original post for any more details.  Enjoy!

Hot Mess Express turns Ship Shape Sally ~ 31 Weeks and 5 days Until Christmas  ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Double Book Buy (whoops!) ~ Dehydrating Chive Blossoms

 

Whoops.  I guess donating two books, instead of one, is a good thing too, ha ha!

 I have been able to harvest chive blossoms, and it is rather early for that to happen.  You can read about how I did it HERE from last year.  We are only early on doing this by a few weeks, and all due to the rain this year.

While the chives are dehydrating, I picked more asparagus.  I will have to now replace my asparagus patch fence, and I will need to dig out a few wild raspberry plants the birds planted.

What's new?  Well, I found a new houseplant to add to our home, and love it.  We have also planted a new apple tree, a new plum tree to replace the one that died, a new lilac bush, and one new hydrangea (also died over winter).  New landscaping edging was upgraded on one flower bed, and another is being worked on during dry days.  

One volunteer cilantro plant, in the herb garden, survived the last frost.  One died.  One sage plant is looking iffy, but the other is springing to life pretty well.

One of the spring beauties in one of the flower beds - Columbine.

Home repairs continue, and we have discovered more that needs done.  We are however, very pleased with our progress.  I have been slacking with getting outside for hiking/walking, so hopefully the break in rainfall will allow that.

Question:  Which do you prefer and why....freeze or can homemade broth?  It's been a while for me.

Double Book Buy (whoops!) ~ Dehydrating Chive Blossoms ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart  

Dehydrated (and ground) Asparagus Ends

 

I believe last year(how we did it) was the first year to do this with the woody ends from our spring asparagus.  I think I will try adding them to vegetable dips this year, or to meat and/or vegetable sauces.  It all depends on the amount of dehydrated ends we have this spring.

We are still getting asparagus thankfully.  We got more rain, and it looks like we may get a few days break from it now.

A lot is happening around here, and some work is still on hold, such as preparing the actual vegetable garden (much too wet).

Dehydrated (and ground) Asparagus Ends ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

What's Cooking?

 

Woke up to mornings in the upper 30's.  Brr.  Rain flooded our asparagus patch.  I am hoping I will have some more asparagus to harvest today.  The continuation of cold nights, has my green onions looking drab.

Food is the topic today, as I have very little to share.  

I've been thinking how much fun it was last year to try new Christmas holiday recipes.  We loved the sunflower seed brittle recipe we tried last year.  You may get a "Christmas" post out of me this year. 

New recipe we tried and absolutely love it.  I have made many, many breakfast casseroles/quiches and frittatas, and this one is a keeper.  I do believe it is a "first" mushroom type quiche to make as well.  I'm officially saying it's a "first time" event this year.  

I takes an entire box of frozen spinach, but once you squeeze all that water out, you don't have much left.

I used organic baby bella mushrooms, but otherwise did not change any of the recipe.  It is from The Stay at Home Chef (recipe is online), called Easy Crustless Spinach Quiche.

The quiche contains two types of cheese, and one is feta.  We added a side of chicken sausages to this breakfast, and boy it was good.  Next plan, when I make it again, is to bake two of them.  I plan on freezing one (freezing individual slices) and enjoying one.  We often times are running here or there, or have other commitments, and Monday morning we sometimes need a healthy breakfast, but have no time Sunday to prepare one.

One of our recent dinners:

Homemade meatballs - from the freezer (recipe is on my blog, and uses ground organic oats instead of bread crumbs.

Home canned hot pepper mustard sauce - from the pantry

Wild rice prepared with beef stock - pantry

Veggie side - from the store (recipe is from "Fix it and Forget it" crock pot cookbook) - carrots/turnips/parsnips.

All of it was prepared in two separate crockpots.

What's Cooking?  ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Popcorn Experiment ~ More Book Blanket Granny Squares

 

I keep reading how freshly popped popcorn, is better after it's been in the freezer, so we tried it.  Honestly, it was not for taste, but for us, it was about traveling with home popped popcorn.

We do not like microwave popcorn, and while it's portable, we prefer home popped popcorn, with real butter and real seasonings.

First, a metal bowl is not the way to mix in your butter and seasonings.  The popcorn just slides around.  A large Tupperware bowl worked a lot better.  I added butter and seasoning, and put the popcorn in a freezer bag.  It tasted great after taking it out at another time to enjoy and "test" the freshness. 

Next test will be to see if it travels well (camping, hiking, weekend getaway etc) after taking it out of the freezer. 

Sharing a few more crocheted book blanket granny squares. . . .not in any particular order, as I'm working on "catching up" with this project.

The Leslie Meier book was easy to match, but the other book was a bit of a challenge.  It all depends on the light too, as the green yarn matched the green on the book in daylight here.  The side binder is the burgundy as well as some of the text on the front of the book, but I was not about to buy yarn to do a "perfect" match either.  

The Leslie Meier books are one of my favorite authors to read, and I completely forgot I had them.  They were somehow (gulp) packed into our bedroom closet, so the clean out produced more clean out, ha ha!  There are many more to read in that series too.

The rain returns again later today.  It will be visiting us more often than not the rest of the week too.

Popcorn Experiment ~ More Book Blanket Granny Squares  ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

This and That

 I was given a packet of information, as a thank you for my crocheted baby blanket donation (first time to donate to this organization).  I, honestly, did not expect anything in return.  They asked. I had the yarn. I donated.  

Inside the packet of information, was a chocolate bar, which is from an area business that makes it.  

A future fall possibility - "allergy" tincture with a combination of mullein, goldenrod and stinging nettle (all in one vs. individual).  Tinctures are best with fresh herbs, so this will be interesting. It all depends on locating all three plants.  

I'm doing more research on this mixture, as I cannot drink stinging nettle tea daily, all summer long, for seasonal allergies.  Nettle is a "drying" tea, as it also works as a diuretic.

My allergies are bothering my sinus pressure and eyes (itchy, red) this year. It's been years since this has been a problem too.

I started an oil infused with rosemary (I used organic jojoba oil for this one).  It is a "first time" for us to make this.  It's not only good for hair/scalp, but for a brain boost(cognitive) and other uses (according to what I am researching).  We'll find out if a dab on my forehead will spark some alertness when needed.

I have not had a hot minute to look for the fruit cake recipe.  We have been working on outdoor work, while we had a big break from the rain - mowing, digging up trees that the birds planted in flower beds, cleaning up a flower bed, cleaning off patio/porch, etc.  

I did a quick look-see and our wild violet season is about over, with the sporadic weather this year.  I am dehydrating more wild violet leaves for tea and hopefully future salve making.

This and That  ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

On the hunt . . .

 Whelp.  The rain and cold is still with us.  Early morning temperature was 33°F.  My rosemary looks fine however.  We may actually see a day with zero rain today.  Crossing fingers.

Not sure if you can really see the below recipe, which came from the cookbook I shared in my last post (scroll back to see).

I guess, because I have never made garlic aioli, I did not realize it is basically fresh mayonnaise with a bit of spice to it.

I'm still looking through several cookbooks, but we remain on the hunt for a good burger sauce for grilling season.  I have obtained one from a restaurant, but I need to figure out how to downsize the recipe for two people. 

There is a funny story regarding looking for this recipe, and one of these days will share it.

I'm also looking for my copy of the fruit cake recipe that was asked for so many months ago.  

Update on finding San Marzano tomato plants this spring.  We found them, and the flats range from $40 up to $63.00.  I really need a greenhouse built here.  I really do.  It's still on my wish list.  I just do not have the space in my house, or outlets for that many plant grow lights. 

On the hunt . . .   ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Pesto Dip ~ Catching Up (or trying to)

 Happy first day of May!  May is a very fun-packed month for us. If you were wondering, yes another day of rain here.  There is more coming, and our day started at 37°F this morning.  Brr.

Our area grocery store gave me a coupon for a free 16 oz. container of cottage cheese, so I whipped a cup of it in my small food processor.  I had pesto on hand, so I mixed in some of that, and more garlic.  Instant dip for veggies.  Yum.

I'm, ever so slowly, getting some book blanket granny squares crocheted.  I'm still behind, and this one needs ends sewn in.

I figured out why I am getting behind, as I'm getting way more books finished than I thought I would.  One, I am only crocheting while watching TV, and that time is limited lately.  

I've oddly become a book critic with all these books too.  In one book, the author failed to do proper research for, like boiling freshly laid eggs from chickens.  Anyone with chickens knows, you have to let them sit a few weeks, or they will not peel.  I mean, you can technically boil them right out of the coop, but the shell won't peel off.  One book ended poorly, and another contained way too many pages of text messages going from one to another.  Who wants to read 12 full pages of that in a book?  Plus, emails, and use of social media aps etc.  Not me.

I'm slowly going through cookbooks I borrowed from the library.  I literally got a kitchen cupboard renovation idea from this book.  Love it when things come to me when I'm not looking for them.  I found a garlic aioli recipe in this one too.  Oh, I found LOTS of new recipes to try, but it's going back to the library before it causes me more trouble, ha ha ha!

I saw where one library posted cookbook recipe reviews online, to promote and share books they have in the library.  Thought it was a neat idea anyway.

Pesto Dip ~ Catching Up (or trying to)  ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart