Pioneer Woman at Heart

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 r...

  Tree was made from a cinnamon stick, fake evergreen cut, and buttons.  The candy apple ornament was a mini muffin wrapper, a small apple ornament dipped in glue and bird seed. Drum was made from half a toilet paper tube, craft foam for the top and bottom, felt and ribbon, and the drum sticks were painted tooth picks with tiny pom poms glued on.  Yes, they took forever to make, and back then, I didn't blink an eye on how much time they took to make. A small bit of all of my duplicate handmade Christmas ornaments.  I could not believe how many duplicates worked their way to the Christmas storage totes (Three more totes to go through yet).  Good grief.  Anyway, the story behind them all. . . When the kids were in elementary school, I would race to the school and sign up for room parent for their Christmas party first.  My second choice was always Valentine's Day when the lists were full.   Anyway, for some crazy reason, I fell in love with mak...

  Not new, but sharing a hand crocheted XL (for those 13 x 9 size pans/pizza pans etc.) pot holder I created and gifted one Christmas.  I made one for each of my sibling's family, Mom, and a few friends one year for Christmas.  I used to put together a box or container of handmade gifts for each family, and had so much fun creating the gifts too.   As one blogger stated recently, life requires us to make "adjustments" sometimes.  I have a few local people to gift this Christmas, and it's not happening this year.  I had plans to can a ton of "Christmas" jelly, but it will have to wait until Holiday season of 2026.  Note:  My husband is already trying to assist, and help can jelly sometime after late January.  He's so sneaky really. I have looked into adopting a person in a nursing home/assisted living facility.  I plan to keep that a year long commitment if I can locate a facility.  Many facilities are doing things like fill a ...

We are experiencing cooler weather, but the rain is back.  Although we need the rain, it puts a halt on garden clean up, and fall herb garden dehydrating.    I may need more spice jars in the mean time.   Two doctor appointments are off the calendar now.  We have found yet another new-to-us place to walk trails.  I pulled 10 summer tops from the closet, and about half are being donated.  Took 4 boxes of items to a thrift store, and passed one Christmas decoration on to a kiddo.   I donated one Christmas book to a free little library.  I got to about page 60 and just could not read the rest (did not like it at all).  I forgot to take a photo of it, but that is one less Christmas book on my shelf. Visited a flea market (indoor) and found a Christmas book display.  I ended up buying one book (gulp!). Bought this "blind date with a Christmas book" at the "Christmas in October" event (see below) we went to. Three new recipes for the...

  It's not hard to believe that we are traveling closer to the winter holidays.  I'm trying to focus on enjoying every single day until then, but I am fitting in a few snippets of holiday preparing.  Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year.  It's hard to believe it's the last day of August. I have not yet gotten rid of the links to all the advertisers using my blog posts, but again, still working on it. However, my profile has gone from my blog, and while I am in settings, it is not able to add as a "gadget" to the blog.  Weird things are happening.   Google had a data breach recently as well, so gmail users were advised to change passwords.  Not sure what else is going on, but just in case you are wondering why my "profile" is not on my blog any longer.   Okay, back to the Christmas countdown post . . .

It's 21 weeks, but that is also 4 months and 28 days until Christmas.   We attended one Christmas in July event, and it was themed with a German festival of sorts.  We enjoyed (even on a hot day) a bowl of German potato soup.  Most items sold, were antique sellers.  I did not not get any photos of the event, nor made any Christmas purchases (very limited selection to buy from at this event). Visited a store outlet of sorts, and picked one Christmas door mat out, and a Christmas mailbox cover.  It's going to be fun figuring out how, and where, to store the door mat until Christmas.  What was I thinking? I washed up our Christmas tablecloth.  It has a few yellow stains, so I have ordered some special cleaner, that is specifically for antique yellowed fabrics.  The stains actually came out better than I thought, by using "Grandma's Stain Stick" that is made from lard and lye.  I was just waiting for a day to hang it on the line to dry (vs. using...

  Visited a thrift store that was in an old house, and one room was a "Christmas" themed room.  I bought two $.50 ornaments (proceeds went to a local church).  Most items were over priced for a "thrift" store. A favorite crockpot side dish of ours - crockpot creamed corn.  It's different than some recipes you make on the stove top (we still love that kind too).  Crockpots are so handy during the holidays. The recipe is from Southern Ladies Cook online.  We have been making the recipe for a few years now, and it's been so handy, and quick to make for a side dish. I would double or triple this recipe for larger get togethers.  We love it the most, because we freeze corn off the cob every year, and when it's frozen, it's frozen with butter and a bit of sugar (I salt later when it's cooked).  The recipe for this crockpot side dish requires corn and butter both, and since the butter is already in the corn, I cut back on what's added.   The re...

  Restocked.  Our grocery stores used to carry this, but with vanilla in it.  All area stores stopped selling it.  I have now prepared for the Christmas season, by re-stocking the organic/non-gmo corn syrup for any holiday treats. If I don't make holiday treats, it will not be a wasted purchase.  I use it to make homemade Teriyaki sauce and also for a sweet treat (maybe once a year, and I typically share) of Whiskey Butterscotch Sauce (that is a true delicious sweet treat worth gifting, but will need refrigerated). Tried a new recipe for baked and flavored pretzels.  I had about a half of a bag that was leftover from another occasion, and I decided to bake garlic-ranch pretzels. First, the recipe stated to put it all in a ziploc bag and shake it.  I found that most of the seasoning stuck to the inside of the bag.  I will coat the pretzels in the bag with oil first next time, then sprinkling the season on the tray and mix right on the tray to retai...

  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....

I have tried a few new recipes, but not sweet treats.  I do have one of those sweet treat recipes to try, but I have just not had the mojo, nor the time to make it.  🎄🎅🤶 Here is what I did make to try. . . Crockpot  Scalloped Potatoes {Slow Cooker recipe from Mennonite Girls Can Cook } I am always looking for ways to make sides without the oven, due to space constraints on some holidays (or I used to).  I gave this recipe a whirl, and yes, you can use homemade condensed mushroom soup for a richer flavor (because it's made with shallots and fresh mushrooms with butter). It is a much easier way to take potatoes to a get together, but I also consider if there will be enough outlets to keep the crock pot warm too.   One year I took a sweet potato dish (in a baking dish), and it was left in the oven during the entire meal, so I went home with the entire dish. Anyway, back to the potatoes.... Slice those bad boys up with a mandolin, as well as the onions, and...