Pioneer Woman at Heart

I don't watch the news often, but we do try and listen to the weather report if we can.   We are dipping into another very cold, cold spell here.  The news is warning us that the temperatures could dip as low as -25°F with the windchill (the forecast changes hourly).  Not only that, but they are predicting snowfall in abundance.  The snow expected could be 10 inches and up in areas here.  The weather predicted, is said to last another week.  They are calling the weather "Mother Nature's Fury." The snow does not concern us, as much as the sub-zero temperatures do.   We have been to town to re-stock a few items, but typically we avoid town when people are panic shopping (thank you news people).  We were low on chicken feed and a few other necessary items. Now...about  books.  First, I have had very little reading time if you can believe it.  When your house is 6 weeks behind in cleaning and what not, there is no problem with...

  I picked up some local orchard apples, so I baked us an apple pie.  Not the healthiest way to start the new year, but I did. I freeze my pie crust crumbles, so all I have to do is add the ice water and roll the dough (recipe is online with King Flour's website). The recipe is from a very old book of mine - Farm Journal's Complete Pie Book, printed in 1965.  I haven't bake an apple pie in a long, long time.  I used to can apple pie filling when all the kids still lived here.  The pie was not a pretty thing, but tasted okay.  I have only baked Dutch apple pies if I remember correctly.  I will bake it again, but not too soon, and tweak the recipe.  I also realized, I only have one pie cookbook on my homesteading bookshelf.  Do you have a favorite pie recipe book that you use?  Do you have a good old fashioned apple pie recipe? I have gotten tired of breakfast sausage and bacon lately, so I switched things up, dug into the freezer, and ba...

Although we love Beef Stroganoff, we love beef burgundy with homemade noodles and mashed potatoes as well.  Here is my recipe (all organic ingredients or home grown and homemade ingredients): First:  Thaw a quart of homemade onion soup from the freezer.  To make the soup, see the blue ball book for the recipe.  I make this when onions are harvested, and I use a mandolin to slice all of my onions.  This soup comes in handy to use for a soup start as well, for corn chowder and other dishes. Add the quart of soup to the crock pot, and add the following: 2 lbs. of stewing beef, cubed and tossed with 1 Tbsp or so of flour 1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced* 1 tsp. salt* 1/2 tsp. marjoram, dried 1/2 tsp. thyme, dried black pepper to taste 1 1/2 cups burgundy wine *(Salt if your soup hasn't been salted) Cover.  Cook 8-10 hours on low. I like to thicken this a bit with arrowroot powder, but it's up to you really. I boil my homemade noodles, drain ...