"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Meal Prep ~ Weather ~ More Cleaning and Crocheting (and crafting)

Sort of a boring post, but not much else to talk about in winter time.  Hope you enjoy.

Meal prepping from the freezer and pantry has been a complete success, not to mention sort of fun.  It's been a fun challenge for sure.


When I made the banana bread the other day, I swapped out the oil for home canned applesauce.  I also used walnuts from the freezer (grown locally).


Tonight's meal is soup beans, using a ham bone from the freezer.  I'm pulling some sour cream from the freezer too.  Adding some to homemade buttermilk (using homemade buttermilk) corn bread makes a very moist bread.

I also pulled organic ground pork to make homemade sausage.  I'll be back to let you know what I use it for as well.



(Tiger keeping warm under the bed quilt)

Well, the weather man wasn't wrong.  We went from freezing cold temps to a boat load of rainfall.  

Clean/purge/re-organize updates:

Garage:  5% done (looks like a losing game of Jumanji)
Utility Room:  1% (starting)
Bedroom/Closet:  85% done
Master bath:  99% done

New project:

I'm not in a hurry with it.  It's like the poem about giving a Mom a muffin - I found the clothespins in a box in my utility room while attempting to start purging/cleaning in there.





Thursday, January 9, 2020

Rain ~ Work ~ Bruschetta Chicken ~ Reading Challenge

The forecast is expecting 6 weeks of rain in two days here (starting today).  It seems like this happened the year we had a bountiful garden, so I'm praying the Weather Gods are good to us and we get through this upcoming flood.


Photo from 2016.  Just came across it and found it cute!

Hubby has been taking overtime lately.  He's been leaving the house at 6:30am and not returning until after midnight.

Image result for coffee meme
(not my photo)

I don't sleep well when he works so much either.  I know we could use the extra cash (new coop, new barn roof, and on and on), but it does mess with my sleep.



Making meals from the freezer and pantry has been a success.  I whipped up a zucchini and swiss chard frittata for a breakfast.

By the way, freezing organic ricotta, cottage cheese, cream cheese and sour cream has been very handy for baked meals.  The texture changes when thawed, but works great for baked recipes.  I will do that again, since I have no access to raw milk of any kind in our area.  By the way, does organic Parmesan cheese freeze well?



I baked some banana bread and we had Bruschetta chicken and Italian roasted cauliflower for dinner - YUM!  I made homemade balsamic drizzle for it too.  Aside from not finding fresh basil (my indoor plant didn't have enough), it was amazing.



Here is a photo of the book I borrowed from the library.  It contains the heart cross stitch pattern I used on my kitchen towel.


I think I will do this.  It will inspire me to read more.  Does "blueberry" count as a "color" in a book title?  I'm gonna say yes.  I have a book to finish.


Do not start a new project.

Do not start a new project.

Starts new project.😆