Pioneer Woman at Heart

  Last week's egg salad sandwich on the homemade avocado bread was fantastic.  I can't wait to try chicken salad, southwest chicken salad or even tuna salad on this "bread" it is that good.  I may play around with other seasonings, other than homemade everything but the bagel seasoning. Update on the Chicken Breakfast "Sausage" Patties - I used the same seasonings, but made them with  ground turkey. They were delicious!  I used turkey patties and made breakfast sandwiches with egg, cheese, turkey "sausage" and a slice of the homemade avocado bread.  So good!       Next, I will experiment using the two different meats, with the same seasoning, and cooking it as I would for breakfast burritos, casseroles, frittata's, and quiches.                                                           ...

  Instead of the traditional frenzy and hustle of baking, cooking and washing a ton of dirty dishes (and house cleaning), we took off this past holiday, and enjoyed it on a larger scale of relaxation. Our adult kids do not cook.  They rely (and expect me) to do all of the cleaning, hosting, cooking and baking.  One year one kiddo brought the ham, and one brought a fruit dip.  My fruits of my labor walk out the door at the end of the traditional big meal as well (pratically zero leftovers for us).  I get tired of the lack of help, and needed a break.  Cooking/baking from scratch is work, and does have it's limits. Thankfully, my husband was on board with me, and we instead, relaxed in the midst of a cabin in the high wooded hills.  The best part?  A hot tub.  The snow arrived, and it was  a cozy retreat. We have discovered new places to hike, and new adventures with nature in the future.  We did not miss the traditional holiday feast...

  We have discovered bulk, smoked bacon.  It is a drive for us, but the packages are packed with 150 slices of smoked bacon.  We do not own a smoker, so this was a nice discovery.  Did you know that smoked bacon loses it's fat when smoked?  It greatly reduces the amount of time to cook it as well.  On a side note, it is even more cost saving to cure, smoke and slice your own bacon with pork, if you have a smoker (so many instructions online for this). It costs a lot less to buy the bacon this way (bulk), and saves us so much money.  We will be stocking up on this, from now on.  We don't use bacon in every meal, but the savings are wonderful.   We are finding more and more ways to locate supplies at lower prices, organic herbs and other items when we do take the drive for supplies.  We are now incorporating the shopping trips with an outdoor hike/walk.  It's something new for us, but we are loving this new idea.  We are exp...

  The rain has brought on the garden.  More rain is coming, and the bell peppers look great. My husband and I took a short weekend getaway to a nearby Amish country.  We checked out their new flea market, but wasn't impressed.  We did however, bring home some items for the newly repaired/remodeling bathroom.  It's now all put together and looking nice. We stayed one night in a historic hotel we stayed at years ago.  I was so disappointed with the new owners.  They completely took the "nostalgic" away from the hotel.  The parlor was completely remodeled into a quilt room.  It was one of the reasons I loved that hotel.  No more.  Our room we stayed at years ago, now has no refrigerator nor microwave. We brought food with us, and could not keep it cold, nor heat it up, and the other rooms also had no refrigerator.  I was blown away at this.... Literally in front of the toilet. See the toilet paper?  We checked out and got cof...

  We got away for another adventure over the weekend.  A fall foliage trip.   The colors were absolutely gorgeous.  The weather not so good, but we still had a good time. Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. The weather . . . 51°/34°F How I am feeling this morning . . . Tired.  I didn't sleep well, with a lot on my mind, despite our weekend away.  I came home to a dirty kitchen, and it's time to do a family meeting with Daughter K about her housekeeping (lack of is a better word). On my mind . . . See above.  I've been up since 3am.   On the breakfast plate . . . Have no clue.  Egg production is down, so there is that. Right now I am . . . Doing dishes, getting dinner in the crock pot and getting my head together to make a to-do list. On my reading pile . . . Nothing. On today's to-do list . . . -make a plan for the rest of the week, as I have to get it together today first. On my TV . . . How to get away w...

I went to book a camping trip, and wow!  They are booked solid for the next two months (one of our favorite ones).  Already.  I will have to book late summer now, but still going camping.  We did not get to go camping at all last year. Needless to say our first camping trip is now booked.  I'm tempted to book a fall one right now too, as everyone is getting out this year. On another note.  A very disturbing note.  The Gov. of MI is demanding a pipeline shut down that runs from Canada thru MI.  If this happens my husband will be out of a job.  I'm so frustrated with how this country is operating right now.  It will put thousands more out of jobs. Not to mention threaten the economy once again.  We've had enough. On a good note, the weather is finally warming up and the frost warnings are coming to an end.  Tilling the garden begins, and I will finally (finally) get planting started.  It feels like it's been a long wait this...

My husband and I took off yet for another adventure and did a one night road trip.   We visited some falls and dined on local food.  We actually found a tavern that has been open for 50 years, known for their large burgers.  We ate a slider, because the sliders were the size of a regular burger and their regular burgers were the size of a dinner plate.  We also found an old 57 diner that was still in business and had a delicious breakfast.  I was surprised to see so many drive-in's along the way and still in business.   Our hotel was attached to a mall.  The mall was pretty much out of business other than the movie theater and there was a walkway (hallway) from the hotel to the mall.   Our morning sunrise this morning. I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  I'll link up when my blog gets it's head together.  I can't read my blog lists right now. The weather outside is . . . 67°F/54°F, mix of sun and clouds, T...

While I should have been canning, my husband and I took off for a getaway, and took a boat tour.  Well worth it.   I am up early to wash dishes that were left on last Friday, and the one daughter who was home and on vacation, left more.  Everything I need to can was still dirty.  My mental health vacation needs another one.  All I can say at this point, is that I am pretty sure my husband is on board with the lack of help and respect around here.  He finally sees what I have been dealing with. It's been a long day already. Yesterday was the one year mark we lost our 4 month old grandson, so we made a quick trip over to see them before retiring for the night last night. Oh, while out on our getaway, I scored canning jars.  There were no lids to be had, but I got myself jars with lids (which I needed, as I am down to my last 9 jars or so of half-pints).  I also finished a crochet project during our drive.  I hope to ...

We had another weekend retreat at our favorite island.  It was the best weekend ever.  We went alone this time.  We met more islanders and laughed and laughed and laughed.  Tried a Storm Cloud shot for the first time.  Hubby didn't like it so much, but I did.  Sort of on the sweet side. It was pretty busy on the island and the place we rent is now booked until mid August already.  Our friends that own it, have a machine that they set inside and put a timer on and it kills anything.  Sort of like what the UV machines do, but different. We were home early, unpacked, laundry started, lawn mowed, garden checked, catnip went into the dehydrator and potted plants watered. Sage went into another dehydrator.  It was hotter here than at the island (beautiful weather and nice breeze at the island). We have six acres, but not all is mowed.  Our old goat pasture looks like this now.  Hm.  Time to locate people to bring the goats ...