Jalapenos and other tidbits (new recipe tried)

The morning sunrise keeps reminding me winter is coming. It's moving direction way too fast.

The jalapenos are coming to an end.  I made a 4th batch of cowboy candy and I'm selling it.  We will not eat that much, but so thankful for having it for all my canning recipes, to put up in the freezer and use for meals.  I put more in the freezer for winter chili, baking, and other recipes (I use them a lot in my homemade breakfast meals).

Sage made it's way into the dehydrator and I started a tincture for winter.

Fresh Salsa.  Yum.

I took a look at the turnips.  Not large, but not small.  I thinned them out a bit and will leave them in as long as I can to hopefully have a good harvest.

Last night's dinner.  Chicken Tetrazzini (with a twist) using Jovial pasta, and baked bell pepper oven fries with homemade dip (the best ever, and I'm not a fan of panko).  The bell peppers were from the garden.  Recipe for the bell pepper fries can be found online with Delish. You dip in flour, then egg/water, then in panko/garlic/paprika etc.

I'll say it again.  I do NOT like the new blogger.  I'm too tired to figure new things out, and today I could not "revert" to the old blogger.  I am guessing that's why I don't see many posts from anyone anymore.  Maybe I'll post in the afternoons vs. my normal morning hour?  I dunno.  I'm up at 4:37am today.  Couldn't sleep, but have to make some tomatoes disappear.

Brussel Sprouts and Butternut Squash (roasted) ~ Bell Pepper Oven Fries ~ Wild Rice Soup (with chicken) ~ Turmeric Honey?

 I decided to try this combination, after seeing it on SkinnyTaste online.  They recipe simply states to add 6 sprigs of fresh thyme and black pepper.  Well, in my opinion, it needs more flavor, such as garlic perhaps.    Anyway, I had the butternut squash in my freezer, and it needed rotated out, so I thawed it and used that.  The squash cooked to a soft texture, but it was all good.  I will try fresh butternut next time, and add garlic powder or even sliced shallots or onions.  

I make this side about once a year, with homegrown bell peppers.  I used the healthier version of "panko" this time, and we loved it.  The dip is hand made as well.  I believe the recipe is online with Delish (Bell Pepper Oven Fries).

What are you cooking for your fall side vegetable dishes?

Thank you for the tip on freezing chicken rice soup.  I found a recipe that I will be trying during our next cold spell.  It is on another blog, and the recipe is here:  Wild Rice Blend Soup.

On another note regarding medicinals, has anyone used a blend of turmeric and honey for illness?  It's not a jar method, but mixing ground with honey and using on the spot.  I'm just trying to be prepared.  Two weeks of feeling ill was not fun, and we want to have many options on hand if people start spreading sickness again.

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

(Snow!)

Our weekend went way too fast.  We actually went out for breakfast with family, had a kiddo and her boyfriend over for a late lunch, and did not do a lick of work.  It rained Saturday, and snowed Sunday.  Sunday was more of one of those days you just wanted to curl up with a good book or movie and stay home.

I also shared some of our bell pepper breakfast ideas with the kids, and by golly, I need to make these again soon.  I miss the stuffed ones for breakfast too.  Here I was telling my husband, we should take a year off from the garden and let it (and us) rest, but I miss those fresh bell peppers.  We could always hunt down a produce stand, but even people we know who have a stand, spray their garden.

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

I'll link up when she posts.

The weather . . .

It's still cold today, but we are to warm up this week for a bit, then cool back down again.

Right now I am . . .

Sipping coffee and posting this.

Thinking and pondering . . . 

We've been discussing foods we only eat when the garden is producing fresh goodies.  I sure do miss roasted beets with onion, and rosemary and thyme from the herb garden.  I will be checking prices on organic beets in the store.  We are also missing my spiced pickled beets.  We are out of them.  

How I am feeling . . .

Tired.  We do not like the time change, and we had to "spring" forward Sunday.  It's an adjustment for sure.  On a good note, we are back to longer days and later sunsets, and in time for our spring gardening work soon.

Since I met two fitness goals earlier in the year, I have come up with two more.  

I am back to making weekly nettle tea infusions.  I have not been making them in the winter, but with the warmer days, my allergies act up, and it's great for allergies.  As a bonus, it's great for my hair and nails.

On the breakfast plate . . .

. . .to be decided on yet.

On the menu . . .

-cod, roasted asparagus and roasted rutabaga
-grill burgers with home canned condiments, sweet potato "fries"
-homemade pizza with chickpea crusts

-leftovers

On the reading pile . . .

I'm still reading this book.  I spent more time on the crocheted blanket over the weekend, as it was very cold here again.

On the TV this week . . .

Not much.  We mostly listened to music.

Looking around the house . . .

It's pretty tidy, other than a box of books to donate, and some of my leftover yarn to deal with.   I'm actually making up a plan to distribute my books in a few free little libraries.  The one free little library that I went to recently, is very full right now.  

I also started to purge the office.  It's a slower process, as I am still working on the hallway painting, and of course have regular chores, and cooking from scratch (that is time consuming). Not to mention, we all need to make sure we take time for ourselves in each day.

On the to-do list . . .

-prepare a new breakfast for the next few days

Organic hannah sweet potatoes roasted in garlic powder, roasted black beans and corn, onion, bell pepper and a bunch of spinach, topped with two eggs, and homemade cilantro sauce and green onions.  So good!

-dinner prep

-brew another nettle tea infusion

-brew a gallon of iced green tea with garden spearmint

-cut up a whole watermelon and a whole pineapple
-catch up on any laundry
-dishes
-sweep/mop any floors
-finish cleaning one bathroom

From the camera . . .

If you missed my post, READ HERE to see what I took pictures of, that is growing around here.  In the above photo, are my chives growing up in the herb garden.

What I am crocheting . . .

I'm still crocheting this large blanket (photo from last week).  My goal is to finish it before the end of March. 

Colors are, from bottom up: 

-Heather Grey

-Real Teal

-Soft White

-Claret Bordeaux (all Red Heart yarns)

I am still slowly working on an XL pot holder for us.  It is in my on-the-go bag for when we go to town or longer drives.  Once these are done, I have a few more unfinished projects.  I also have some crochet Christmas tree ornaments in a project bag.  I totally forgot about them.

Devotional, Prayers, Bible Verse . . .

No current prayer requests.

Happy Homemaker Monday  © Mar 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Last Day of October - New Recipes Tried and End of Garden Tidbits

Grab a cup of java.  I apologize, this post ended up too long.

 October was a busy month for us.  We had so many plans, our plans had plans.  Whew!   Three weddings - one in another state up on a hill (they drove us up with a tractor and wagon) over looking a river, the other on a hill at a castle, and the third we didn't make it to.

There were car shows, trunk or treats for the littles, a long distance trip to re-stock baking/cooking supplies (it's hard to find organic non-gmo in our area), garden work,  yard work and more.  

One thing that did not happen, was our last camping trip, and it's probably a good thing considering.  The state put a burn ban on the campground, and the nights were down to the 40's.  The whole point to go camping (for us anyway) is to go off grid, enjoy nature, campfire cook, and enjoy an evening campire.  No being allowed to have a campfire, was the ticker that crossed the last camping trip off the calendar.

Our days are finally approaching a slowdown (yippee!) for us here on homestead.  My kitchen table overflows with squash and pumpkin to roast and freeze, but if you check our weather pattern below, it's been too hot to heat up the kitchen this week.

Weather

October 14th - 55°F High, 40°F Low, Rain, Cloudy

October 16th - Woke up to 37°F (windchill 32°F, Freeze Warning) with a high of 55°F

October 17th - Woke up to 33°F (Freeze Warning), High of 61°F, Sunny 

October 21st - 81°F High, 49°F Low

October 24th - Woke up to 37°F, with a high of 62°F

October 25th - Woke up to 41°F and rain for the first time this month, high of 68°F.

October 28th - 32°F in the morning, High of 66°F, Sunny

October 29th - 81°F high, 63°F low, very windy

October 30th - 80°F High, 67°F Low, Cloudy, Warning day for unharvested crop fires due to drought

October 31st - woke up to 66°F (feels like 76°F due to 75% humidity), forecasted high of 77°F with possible rain (I will believe the rain when we see it - still in a drought here)

I tested our first round of frozen breakfast burritos, that I made late September.  I wanted to make sure we had a breakfast for Monday mornings, after busy weekends and such.  Oddly, I have never frozen breakfast burritos.  I thought it would be better than sandwiches.  Anyway, they tasted great and came in handy all month.  I'd like to try freezing an egg combo muffin of some sort next.

Something else I did during our crazy month. . .

I used a pill keeper to store my daily vitamins in, so when we were on the "run" going places I had them in this handy container to simply grab and go.

The next plan was to get some quick dinners in the freezer, other than stuffed bell peppers.  Typically, I freeze chili or other hearty soups that re-heat nicely.  We ended our bell pepper harvest (harvest was 203 this year) with stuffed bell pepper soup (using up an assortment of odd size peppers).  

Pie pumpkin harvest was pretty sad.  Two rotted, and only one grew to size.  It was a bad drought year for us.

We also planted a new pumpkin, and we got one from that harvest.  Crazy year for sure.  It is a Jarrahdale blue pumpkin.  It weighed in at 13 pounds 14.8 ounces.

The mashed potato squash harvest was a bit better than I thought.  Some of the squash were small, but overall, we are happy with our harvest.  

You can see one small spaghetti squash in that basket.  We actually had 3 out there, but 2 rotted.  Our drought year was a bit difficult this year.  Last year we harvested 9 and it lasted us all winter in the freezer (you can read about my post where I froze them all HERE).

Two types of sage.

It was a race against mother nature, but herbs were put up for winter.  Our freeze/frost came very early this year.  There are so many medicinal properties in so many herbs and wild growing "weeds" for our health.

The month of October brought us a bunch of pesky Minute Pirate Bugs.  They are tiny, but they are a pain in the rump.  They swarm and bite, and will leave you a nasty welt.  I tried to enjoy the porch on the warmer days, but the bugs were horrible.  I found that if I sprayed myself down with homemade bug spray, and then also burned a citronella candle, it helped keep them away.

New recipe tried!  We baked butternut squash fries for the first time, and oh my gosh they were delicious!  We didn't even want to make the dip for them.  The final coating is grated Parmasan Cheese.  I did learn from this, that I need to oil my parchment paper.  These will stick to the paper, and make it difficult to turn, but overall tasted wonderful.

The other new recipe we tried, is called Sweet Potato Chicken Patties, but I used ground turkey.  I'll be back to share the recipe if I can locate it again.  I love an "all real food" recipe.  These froze great too.  I accidently made the patties/burgers too thin, but I re-shaped them after they thawed.  Recipe said 3/4 of an inch thick, and I used our grill burger smasher tool. either way, these were delicious.

We also tried a new 3 bean salad.  The dressing is similar to other dressings, but overall we loved this one.  I used garden jalapenos for it.  The recipe is online from CleanFoodCrush.  It's called Marinated 3 Bean Salad.  There were two things I did not do as instructed by the recipe.  One, I used the juice of one entire lemon (it was maybe 1 Tbsp more juice), and two, I chopped up about 1/2 cup of olives vs. one entire cup.

Other days have been busy in the kitchen, or in the garden.  I have yet to replace my blender, so I made our basil pesto using my food processor instead.  I am just not happy with what I am seeing in stores.  I will keep looking.  

The garden was completely cleaned out and tomato stakes put away.  Our cheap fencing we put up for the green beans was finally taken down and rolled up for next year.  We have tilled it, and fall garlic was planted.

Flower beds are being weeded, as the leaves continued to drop. As of today, the geraniums in our hanging pots are still blooming.  It's crazy!  We've typically taken down dead plants by the end of Septemeber, and put up outside Christmas lights by now.  

Did we get any fun in our month of October?  Well, sort of.  In fact, I have a funny story about visiting an antique store.

We went into the store to look for a small table, and to simply look at kitchen chairs.  We walked by a shelf of used books and my husband randomly pulled a book about a donkey.  He said I should buy it and read it.  To humor him, I agreed.  As we walked to the cashier to pay for the $4 book,  I hear him say I could have a donkey too.  The excited me, turned around, only to see him laughing and holding a glass donkey!  Oh, he thinks he's is so funny some days.  We both got a laugh.  I still want a donkey, ha ha!

I have yet to read the book, as my husband (oddly) has already started reading it and said it is very good so far.  

 I am so happy that we can finally slow down, or rather get things done that need done.   Winter is approaching, where we spend more time inside, so I may be moving some furniture around, changing bed covers, washing curtains, and doing a deep cleaning here and there.

I finished the baby blanket with the new pattern (thanks to so much traveling this month).   The pattern is from the Crochet Crowd online, and the pattern is free.  I'll have to look up the actual name of it for you all.   I love it, but now I want to make one in blue, and I have zero baby yarn in blue ha ha!  Oh, boy.  I may have to sneak some yarn into the house.  

Lastly, I have questions for those who can and preserve. . 

I think someone here mentioned this to me before, but I cannot find it on my blog, but is there a stainless steel water bath canner that is better to buy?  Brand name or location to buy would be helpful in deciding on what to upgrade to.

Does anyone have a tried and true recipe, for making and freezing cold/flu bombs?  I have two recipes, but the comments for both say to change a lot of the recipe.  Anyone?  These are mixed up (lemon, garlic, honey etc.), strained, and frozen in ice cube trays, to drop into hot tea for relief during a cold or flu.

Best cookbooks for sourdough bread baking?  Believe or not, it's the one bread I have yet to even tackle, and I really want to do this.  Tips?  Suggestions?  What not to do?  Starter suggestions?

Last Day of October - New Recipes Tried and End of Garden Tidbits © October 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Kitchen-ness Day

 First off, I was going to pull up my Hummus recipe on my blog, but I had to dig it out of my recipe box instead.   I'm having issues with blogger.  I have always used the "search" either on the front of the blog or in dashboard for something.  When I search for something now, it brings up blogposts that don't even have the tag I'm searching on them.  I had trouble finding my Hummus recipe for chickpea Hummus on my blog.

So, I'm sharing again.  Not sure where I got the recipe, but it's our favorite.  After a lengthy search....here is the recipe for Hummus (click on the one below).

Hummus

New Recipes Tried:

Low Carb Bacon-Cheeseburger Casserole

Results?  Okay.  Nothing special, and for us, too much cheese (and sodium, as cheese is salty).  Not a keeper.

Epic Burger Sauce

Results?  Oh my gosh delicious!  Keeper!  I linked the recipe in the upper title of the recipe.  The only thing that will be different for us is, that we make our own garlic powder, can our own ketchup, and I canned dill pickles last year, so I used juice from that, and lastly, we make homemade cayenne as well.

I buy organic mayo for this, so it lasts 2 weeks in the fridge, but if you were having a cook out, you could make fresh mayo for this sauce.  We will definitely be taking this on camping trips and summer cookouts.  So good!  I think it would be great to put in a squeeze bottle for cookouts too.

It's great on burgers or for dip for fries/onion rings/baked green bell pepper fries

Putting up Tomatoes ~ Loofah

 

Tomato soup and ketchup canned so far.  I brought in more tomatoes.

I also brought in another pound of jalapenos, so I'm putting those up today.  I brought in a few more hot banana peppers, but all of the other types are slow to harvest this year.

My kitchen heated up to much, so the AC went back on.  I was literally sweating.  I didn't want to do that, but I do like to be comfortable.

Canning ketchup takes all day to reduce, but I managed to put chicken in the crockpot early, and right after the ketchup came out of the canner, I baked us some bell pepper fries with homemade dip.  So good!

My loofah plant is about 3 1/2 feet tall now.  I don't see any sponges yet.

Happy Homemaker Monday

We took advantage of a rainy day, and got work done inside Sunday.  I guess we'll be looking at new kitchen faucets soon.  We took it apart, blew air threw the lines, soaked parts in CLR, and we still have no water pressure in the kitchen faucet.  Sprayer works great, but not the faucet.

We finally installed the new kitchen island light.  It's been sitting in the garage for two months.  It was a lot of work, as we had to move the wires from one area to another, cut a new hole, etc.  I'll have to wait for him to patch the old hole before I can paint, but I love it.  The old light never matched the kitchen and never turned on.  It had those long florescent bulbs an looked like it was installed as a used light. Anyway, it's up and my kitchen is bright!

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  I'll link later after she posts.  My morning is a busy one today.

The weather . . .

....in the 80's all week, but once again a rainy weekend ahead.

As I look outside my window . . .

Morning doves are pretty noisy this morning, and our hummingbird is busy with our flowering bushes.  There is a layer of fog out there, and it's a bit warmer than the weekend was.

Right now I am . . .

Brewing coffee.

Thinking and pondering . . .

Possible camping trip.  I'll be working on that soon.

How I am feeling . . .

Tired, but ready to tackle the day.

On the breakfast plate . . .

Coffee and toast until I get a casserole baked.

What I am wearing . . .

T-shirt, sweatpants and slippers.

On the reading pile  . . .

My canning recipes.  Just checking to make sure I have all the ingredients.

On my TV this week . . .

Anything that looks good.

On the menu . . .

-Fajitas, baked bell pepper fries
-BBQ chicken, green beans

-leftovers

Looking around the house . . .

I'll be working in the living room, so we can get that project started next.

To do list for the week . . .

-clean kitchen
-check garden
-bake a breakfast
-order new keyfobs for the truck

-shampoo carpet upstairs

-put trash out

-run dishwasher

-laundry

From the camera . . .

Here are the cute wine glasses with lemons on them I found.  They match the lemonade wine cocktail bottles, and everything is citrus themed in the silent auction basket I put together.

Devotional/prayers . . .

Prayers for 6 puppies that were picked up by a rescue transit company in TX.  After one person dropped them off to another transit company, they were lost (last co. says they are all dead), but prayers they find them.  Also, there are 18 people in the county we live in, that have E. coli.  They have not found the source yet.