Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I lost count on how many days it's been with zero rain.  Watering everything continues for us.  We've been waking up in the 50's, so it makes my daily chores more difficult.  I have to wait for it to be warmer to do the watering.  The forecast is saying possible rain this coming Sunday, with warmer temperatures. I also have to rotate watering with laundry/dishwasher, so the water pump is not working in over drive. It's hard to be outside too long with the Canadian wildfire haze contaminating the air outside.  We sat out on the porch the other night, and totally forgot about the air issue, and a nasty sore throat woke me up in the night. I am finishing up with strawberries.  The chickens love their cool, sweet treats (they get the tops). Froze several quarts, and will make a cold strawberry pie as well.  Canned 8 - half pints of reduced sugar jam. There is a cottage cheese craze going on in recipes lately, but for years, we've enjoyed cottage che...

Hubby tried the strawberry margarita jam and gave me the green light.  He loves it.  Said it was "amazing."  I will be making more if the strawberries are available again.  I do have to say though, it has a lot of foam that needs skimmed off, more so than any other jam I've canned. Canned another batch of reduced sugar strawberry jam. Froze one quart.  Saving the last qt. for a surprise dessert for the family. Washed two mountains of dirty dishes.  Only to start to dirty some to prep dinner. We had a good dry and surprisingly sunny day.  I got the potatoes hand hoed, all but two rows too wet yet.  Green beans are starting to come up - so happy about that.  Two zucchini plants sprouted, along with the greens, and all the grow bags.  Radishes look great, so I hope the sunshine will speed up the process.  I'm hankering for garlic scape - radish spread , radish hashbrowns , and simply eating them. Filled the clotheslin...

I was asked about how I get my layers in my homemade biscuits.  Click " Here " for the recipe on my blog.  I hand cut the butter into the flour.  I also don't work the dough to much, and when I cut them, I roll them out with a rolling pin, but the least amount of rolling I have to do.  Hope that helps. I got another small batch of strawberry jam canned.  I am tall, so I can a batch daily until the strawberries are gone.  That's a lot of standing to do. First I have to wash them all, and hull them. Then I have to cut them up and crush them.  Then can the jam.  It's a process for sure. Our favorite produce stand has them now, but want $5/qt.  I paid $30 for a flat at the other source, and that comes down to $3.75/qt.  I did not have one bad strawberry in the last 4 qts I canned either.  When I buy the other kind, I get about 3-5 bad strawberries in each qt.  I may stick with this new source this year. Supe...

Today I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. My kitchen has been pretty busy lately.   Hubby had to work 10 hours on Saturday and 12 hours on Father's Day, so his "dinner" was made Saturday night for him.  The kids seriously need to learn to cook.   I made homemade biscuits and sausage gravy, scrambled eggs and fried potatoes.  English muffins on the side with home canned strawberry margarita jam .  Already sold 2 jars of the jam too, although selling any more is halted.  The rain is halting u-pick farms from operating.  Unless I can get another flat of strawberries, the remaining will be for just us. I also made whiskey butterscotch sauce and a half batch of flourless brownies - Family Circle, recipe is also online (we still have strawberry pie to eat).  I was in my pj's by 5pm.  I was just whipped from canning, baking and cooking. The weather outside is . . . (view off the porch on Sunda...