Pioneer Woman at Heart

I hope you are enjoying the recipes lately.  I am sorry I am posting them after the holidays, but maybe it will spark motivation for next Christmas season.  Or for that matter, any time of the year. No, I am not turning my blog into a cooking blog ha ha!  It's winter, and there is not much going on that is "news" worthy, so you get to see some new or older recipe posts. (Before a weeding day, and they grew almost 6 feet tall!!) ...... and yes I do miss my garden shenanigans.  Oh man, this last season was a good one, and I will not forget how I would start my day with a good laugh.  Every time I went out to work in the garden, I would just laugh and laugh about the enormous squash plants we had.  Not to mention the enormous bounty we got from them. Something ate the tops off of a few of my bunching onions, that are in my herb garden.  Hm?  I will have to put a deer camera on it if it continues to come back.  The herb garden is very close to th...

Being stuck in the house day after day has gotten me lazy. I'm off track with homemade gifts this year.  Not to mention baking.  I am writing out a list to get back on track.  Oye.  I need out of this rut. Finished 4 of the Adli's quarter holder keychains.  I think they are adorable. I made cashew brittle for Christmas.  I hid this batch, but we'll see if they find it before Christmas. Made one batch of Paprika Dry Rub to gift.  It's for turkey or chicken.  Good for a year once made.  I recycled some glass jars that were the perfect size for gifting (organic tomato paste jars).  I just have to label them and pack the bags for delivery. Recipe is from Taste of Home (online). Recipe I want to try, but will cut recipe in half.  

Canning took up most of my morning yesterday. We've been out of Candy Apple Jelly for over a year, so some of this is going in the pantry. I had to whip up a batch of homemade ginger-ale syrup.  Youngest texted me that she was feeling pretty sickly.  Thankfully, I have club soda on hand, but now I'm out of honey. Made my first batch of organic cashew brittle .  I hope to make one or two batches more yet. Dinner was easy yesterday.  I used leftover mushroom gravy, combined with homemade condensed mushroom soup, and cooked pork chops it in the crock pot.

(these are older pictures, but you can see who is who) The cats have both been to the vet this week. Somehow, with the "car shuffle" we managed it.  Jasper had to be seen because of his teeth.  He has gum disease.  He's going back for a teeth cleaning to prevent it from getting any worse.  There is no cure for gum disease in a cat sadly.  He's on antibiotics until then, and he's not liking getting it.   Tiger is sick.  He started to vomit all over the house, so we switched his food, and he'll only eat one wet type (and it has to be cold).  He was keeping it down, but now his back bones are sticking out too much, even though he was eating.  Now his hair is falling out in large clumps.  The vet looked him over, and blood work is getting processed.  We'll get results soon.

Hubby and I had a long Monday.  Who puts events on a Monday evening anyway?!  Well, the public vocational high school, that our youngest daughter will attend next year, held their "career" night Monday night.   She is the one kiddo who will go to school to learn to be a full service cosmetologist.     More vehicle troubles - Hubby's brake line broke while driving home on the highway.  We went to fetch daughter's old car (still need to transfer title), but she let the tags expire.  So....back to square one. "Grad" Daughter got herself a second job.  She was hired during the first interview for Christmas help in a retail clothing store.  She is super happy.  She will need the money to pay for her car insurance. Not much to update in the sense of homesteading lately.  I miss our goats right now (for some odd reason, maybe due to lack of outdoor garden work?).  The hens are continuing to supply me, so I am stashing ...