Tuesday Tidbits

 

Weather has been in the 20's here, with lots of snow, some rain, icy roads, and just your typical winter weather.

The latest crocheted granny square for my book blanket.  Book was about a 3/4 out of 10, if you ask me.  Just too much family drama for me.

In the midst of the Thanksgiving holiday, we made up a batch of homemade meatballs and got them into the freezer for winter meals.

Update on the crock pot macaroni and cheese... 

It reheated great!  Just do it slowly, and it reheats very creamy as it was when it's cooked.  My husband took some to work and heated his in the work room microwave, but heated it too long and the oil separated.  So, just heat it slowly, and not high microwave heat, and it's great the next day.

Here is how I made it.

In a crock pot pour in dry noodles.  I used a 14.5 oz. box, and that was non-gmo (can't remember the brand), but it was enough noodles.

My Mom never made stove top mac'n cheese with whole milk, but she did add it later if needed.  She always started with canned milk.

I had one can of evaporated milk, so I used that first, by measuring, then make up the difference, with whole milk, up to 3 cups, and poured that over the noodles. Add 1/2 cup heavy cream (I used organic).

Next time I will use more evaporated canned milk or all canned milk.

I think I will also butter the crockpot first next time.  The noodles cooked, but stuck when I stirred half way of cooking these two ingredients, mixed with 4 oz (half a block) of organic cream cheese and 4 Tbsp. of butter. Add 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. white pepper. I cooked this about 2 hours, then added the following cheeses:

-2-6oz. blocks of organic sharp white cheddar cheese, grated

-about a inch thick stack (to 1 1/2 inch) of local Amish made American white cheddar cheese slices, cut up (what we had on hand)

and about 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

Additional whole milk if needed, after the cheese is melted. 

The mac'n cheese was the first crock pot mixture, that did not come out "gritty" or reheat terrible, or even taste too cheesy.  It was just perfect in flavor, texture, and over all a winner for us.  I do believe the type of cheese, and brand will change this, but using the better cheeses will make a winner dinner.  One recipe we tried in the past called for mozzarella, and we have both decided the only local mozzarella is the worst cheese made (will look for some locally for our other dishes now).

Tuesday Tidbits  ©  December 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Stocking Up ~ Using Up ~ Prepping Homemade Sausage

 

I finally got around to make a full batch of meatballs.  I like to get this done before the freezer fills up. One year I barely had room to flash freeze, and made a mess with meatballs stuck to the wire shelf above, ha ha!  

While the meatballs were flash freezing, I shredded up the very last of the picked zucchini.  I made us a batch of the most delicious chocolate zucchini muffins I have ever had.  I found the recipe this year online, and it is a keeper.  Yum!  I uses Einkorn all-purpose flour.

I had two pounds of pork, so I prepped it for homemade sausage with home grown sage.  I let it sit in the fridge overnight before cooking it, so the ingredients can produce good flavor.  I apparently have two different recipes for this, and I added extra seasonings, so this will be interesting.

I saved a few boiled eggs for snacking, and topped some chicken salad with them.  I may add boiled eggs to my chicken salad next time.  I make our chicken salad pretty simple - organic avocado mayo and home canned sweet pickle relish.  I added some hot pepper relish this time as well.

We are in the 80's during the day here, and pretty warm. Are you stocking up or preserving anything right now?

Apron Day

There was so much I needed to get done before the weekend.  I did some calculations and made a small batch of tomato sauce.  I'm so happy about that.

Next?  A batch of meatballs.  I would rather buy fresh meat to do this than frozen, and didn't realize all I had to get done.  It's a lot easier to get these frozen before more goes into the freezer.  One year I smashed them, trying to get them in the freezer on baking sheets.

I froze more bell peppers, boiled eggs for egg salad.  I wanted to get egg salad made to take to Mom to increase her iron.

Has anyone cooked with black garlic?  I finally got mine, but now I'm wondering can I use it as is or do I need to put it through a process with oil to use?   I read where you place the bulbs in a crock pot on warm, but not sure.  It is soft already, so I'm wondering if I just refrigerate it and use.  Would love advice on this.

Recipes ~ Green pepper pesto ~ Link for Meatballs ~ Hot Banana Pepper Sauce

Green Pepper Pesto
2 green bell peppers, seeded, coarsely chopped

1. Steam blanch the peppers over boiling water for 3 minutes.  Place in food processor.

1 cup fresh basil
1/2 cup grated organic Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup organic olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced or chopped
2/3 cup salted/roasted pumpkin seeds, organic

Add the above ingredients to the food processor with the bell peppers, and process until smooth.

Freeze in portions or use some and freeze some.  Lasts up to 3 months in the freezer.

Homemade meatballs.  Here is the link for the recipe I use (uses oats vs. bread crumbs) - Homemade meatballs.

The other meatball recipe I make is with ground turkey and zucchini - Turkey Zucchini Meatballs.

The sauce in the above picture is a bit different.  It uses hot banana peppers, onion and garlic and other ingredients.  Here is the recipe for that sauce:

Hot Banana Pepper Tomato Sauce
In a skillet with a Tbsp. of olive oil, heat the following ingredients for 3-4 minutes:

1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup hot banana peppers, chopped

Add:
1 Tbsp. minced garlic

Heat for another 2 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients together either in the skillet to use right away, or in a crock pot.

6 oz. organic tomato paste
1 qt. home canned tomato sauce
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 to 2/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1-2 tsp. sugar (optional)

If using sauce right away, heat for 30 minutes.

If you don't like it "chunky" simply use an immersion blender or leave as is.   I left it as "chunky" and heated for a short while in my crock pot.  We loved this!  Spicy, but not too spicy.

Random Tidbits

I've had a few morning visitors lately.  We've been watching them every morning and evening.  Almost every other day we see a group of them on the move, looking for food and water.

Morning visitors another day.  There was about a dozen of them, just hanging out at one of the barns.