We Skipped Thanksgiving

 

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 feasting one iota.  All of the kids had their own meals with other family, so they did not lack a large meal.

Reality is back in full swing on the homestead.   Coffee is brewing.  The sun is rising, and we are looking at finishing another home project, with another one moving up on the list.

The Christmas tree has yet to be put up, but it's on the list in the next week or so. Although our retreat put us behind on the chicken run build, the weather here was way too cold anyway.

Two solar chargeable light bulbs have arrived, and I will be testing them to make sure they work.  If these work out (for the new coop), we may invest in a few for power outage use as well.

December is here already, and it brings new adventures.  

We Skipped Thanksgiving  © December 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

A day of making . . .face cream and yarrow salve

 

How each container looks before I mix the "water" solution into the oil mixture.  I use a hand held immersion blender (specifically for non-food mixing).

I use Rosemary Gladstar's recipe for this, using grapeseed oil/apricot oil and shea butter (vs. cocoa butter or coconut oil).  The recipe is now online (video with Mother Earth News, as whipped face cream) as well as in her book.

New to the medicine stash - yarrow salve.  I've already used it for a scraped up arm.  Works great to stop bleeding, but has other uses.  You can find free recipes online for different amounts, and you can add essential oils in the end if you'd like to.  It's a basic melt down and pour type making, and very easy to make (you'll need to infuse an oil with the yarrow first).

Both are very easy to make. I do have utensils that I only use for making homemade items such as these, and the face cream requires a blender or hand held immersion blender (which is what I use for an easier clean up).  I do need to visit a thrift store, for a spatula for the face cream however.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A day of making . . . face cream and yarrow salve  © November 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

What's Cooking?

 It's been fun to concentrate our meals based on the oldest of whatever we have in the freezer.  It also makes me pay attention to what we use more of, or less of, and what other ideas think of.

One idea, was to thaw a pound of ground chicken and try making breakfast "sausage" patties for breakfast sandwiches with egg, and cheese.  

The results?

Bagels were too big for the Sandwich.

Delicous!  We discovered (if I didn't already mention it), that the yogurt bagel recipe (making 4 bagels), makes bagels too big for breakfast sandwiches.  Next time I will make bagel "thins" for this purpose.  Homemade English muffin would be good for these too.

Back to the chicken pattie, that is mixed up with sausage flavorings....so good!  It's a nice change in breakfast meat, and much healthier than sausage and bacon.  It's added to our rotation now.  It does not taste as good as a sage sausage would, but it's pretty good.  It passed my picky husband's taste test too.

Here is what mixed in 1 pound of ground chicken:  Recipe is online free from Lauren from Scratch.  One pound of ground chicken makes 6 breakfast patties.

New vegetable side dish tried - Buttter Bean and wild Rice Salad with Steamed Greens and Roasted Cauliflower.  What's in it?  Green beans, butter beans, wild rice, spinach, cauliflower and red onion (and seasonings, with a homemade dressing in the end).

Recipe is in this book, that I borrowed for the library - The Better Bean Cookbook, by Jenny Chandler.  However, I did not steam the green beans, and I thawed blanched spinach.  I pre-cooked the frozen garden green beans for this, and added it all together in the end.  We loved it, but the curry you put on the cauliflower lingers in the air the rest of the night.  It was a strange set of ingredients to put together, but utilized the green beans and spinach we had in the freezer.  Also, it stated that it's good a salad, but we ate it warmed up as a side dish.

Nothing new here, but we enjoyed crock pot pork chops, simply seasoned, and with an entire freezer container (thawed) of homemade cream of mushroom soup on top.  So tender, so simple, and so good.  One freezer container is equal to a can of condensed soup you buy at the store (only better ingredients). 

What's Cooking?  © November 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Another Fall and Other Tidbits

 Hot Mess Express here to tell you another tale (or two).  I had opened the dishwasher, while standing at the sink to load it, and to set it to wash, when 2 seconds after opening it my mind took a quick turn.  I saw the drain the sink needing to be cleaned, so I had picked it up out of the sink, and turned to walk to the trash.

When the dishwasher door is open and the tray is not pulled out, it is all gray, which is the same color of our flooring.

You probably know where this is going, right?

I hit the open dishwasher door with both legs, flew over the door, landed on the other side on my right knee.  Yes, I have bruises, and no the dishwasher didn't break, but the door needs some TLC (my husband will look at it).  He laughed, and asked if I had it all on video.  It's funny now, but not when I look at my bruises.  Thank goodness for Arnica cream.

What did I learn from this?  Turn on more lights when it's dark and dreary outside, and maybe put a light on the countertop for extra winter lighting.

The other "bonk" was when I was leaning over to sweep behind the dryer (last weekend), and when I stood up, I forgot there was a cupboard on the wall.  Smack!  Yep.  Smacked my head into the bottom of the cupboard.  

Got my dental cleaning off the calendar, and there was not one person in the waiting room.  

I have drained the yarrow infused oil, and just need a day to make the salve.  I at least have the amber jars washed and drying.

I got the chicken coop mucked, and added extra straw.  The weather forecast is not that appealing this coming weekend.  The weather for us, is said to dip into the low 20's at night.

I forgot to share this tidbit about the rechargeable light bulbs.  They come with the charge cord and an attachment to screw onto the bulb, to hang the bulb too.  You can use them camping, or in an emergency (power outage).  We have a small generator that will charge them.

As for the search for the solar chargeable light bulbs, the link to the one shared by another blog poster, is out of stock (and has been out of stock (says "currently unavailable") since October).  I'm still looking for them.

A "ta-da" moment.  First book to borrow from the library since May, and finish reading it before it was due!  I have read many James Patterson books, and this one was definitely different.  I have the next book already lined up, but it's one of my own.  I love that our library gives out free bookmarks.

Another home "project is underway, so I have not had time to write a post regarding the bread baked in the cast iron skillet (featured blog post).  Hopefully soon.

Another Fall and Other Tidbits  © November 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Progress? Bad Delivery Service and Other Tales from the Homestead

 

I thought this was funny, because, with my husband's full-time job, and the very (way too early) winter darkness that sets in, we have felt like nothing is progressing.  Or should I say progressing fast enough for the both of us?

My new washer and dryer has been delivered.  We were not at all happy with the delivery service they use.  First, the salesman at the store told us a completely different story.  The delivery service called 30 minutes before arrival (they never showed up until after 6pm), and told me we had to "disconnect everything" before they arrived.  Not what we were told.

  Second, these were to go on our pedastal drawers.  One guy refused, saying it was against "their policy" and again the salesman said they would place them on them for us.  Third, their truck had no ramp, so we literally watched one guy lift the dryer out off the end of the truck and put it in the driveway hastily.

Oh, and they had their grade school kid with them, who was in the way, wandered around the house (had to keep an eye on him myself), and one guy literally asked me to hold the trolly cart while my husband and one guy unloaded the washer (the other guy was still in the back of the truck).

Oh, and get this.  One guy was bringing the dryer in, and it would not fit thru the doorway.  He insisted the door needed off the hinges (I will need to repaint thanks to him).  Anyway, my husband watched them load the washer on the cart, and yelled out the door to put the washer on the other way (with door up and not to the side), which turned it, so the thinner side of it would fit thru the door.  One way it's thicker, the other thinner.  The guy who took the door off the hinge said to us, "my bad" and both of us rolled our eyes.  We both wondered if it was their first time unloading applicances?  Good grief!

The next morning we had to hook everything up ourselves, and had to even the legs on the dryer.  By the way, our old ones were 16 years old (lucky for that considering it lasted with all the kids using them too), and they were to take them with them, according to our salesman.  They were literally trying to talk us into putting them by the side of the road, instead of hauling the old ones away.  In the end, they took them.

It was a good time to clean the dryer vent, as we had to install a brand new one to the dryer.  Another cleaning job done.  We actually bought our own kit, to do this job ourselves.  It comes with a 10 foot brush and a smaller one for the actual dryer lint trap too.

 Finally, we had one the kids and her boyfriend come to the house, and help remove the AC units, and put them in storage.  Yay for a bit of progress.

I found a home for our old Christmas tree and lights, and donated 3 full boxes of "stuff" to a thrift store.

At the last minute before heading out with the boxes of donations, I found all of these outside Christmas light clips to get rid of too.  I have now reduced the number of totes by two.

  Sometimes when you are sorting or cleaning/organizing and purging, your house looks more of a mess before it looks tidy and chaos free.

Progress?  Bad Delivery Service and Other Tales from the Hoomestead  © November 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Chargeable Light Bulbs

 

I had a friend tell me once, "if you give everything away, you'll have nothing."  Believe me, what we are getting rid of, is no longer used, or even needed.  However, we replaced our nightstand lights and had the two antique lamps to deal with. 

My husband wanted to keep them, and I was ready to sell them.  However, we made a compromise.  The cords were an electrical hazard, and he just didn't want to take the time to replace the cords.  I got tired of staring at them in a box on the floor.

I had an "aha!" moment.  I cut the cords off (he can replace them any day he wishes if that's the case), and bought two chargeable light bulbs.  We have end tables in our living room, where it needs light, but no way to plug a cord in.  

The bulbs work great!  Three settings, comes with remote with dimmer and timer.  I'm happy, we have extra light (especially in the dark days of winter), and he's happy we have the lamps.

I am however, still wanting to buy solar charging light bulbs.  If you have a link for a source (Amazon would be great), please comment.  I have two solar (actually 3) outdoor lights already for the new coop, but we would like to have some "emergency" lights for in the ho

Chargeable Light Bulbs  © November 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

New Recipes Tried ~ Yogurt Based Bagels ~ Einkorn Pumpkin Bread

 

I brushed the tops with milk and sprinkled homemade everything bagel seasoning on the tops.  The original recipe stated to boil them, just like you would yeast bagels, and I did not.

I went online and searched for the recipe and found several, but for this one, I had to convert grams to cups to make them.  I was shocked at the results.  First, I doubted the dough.  After kneading it, it turned into a nice dough, although started out crumbs.  Baked at 400°F for 25 they turned out nice, but they do need toasted.  The inside is slightly doughy if they are not toasted, but a nice bagel for a breakfast or whatever, if we need a few in a pinch.  I like the fact, it only makes 4 for the two of us as well.  Yes, it requires white all-purpose flour, but I do use organic/non-gmo.  I used organic greek yogurt, and non-gmo baking powder (original recipe uses self-rising flour).

Results?  Pretty good.  They don't stick to the parchment paper either.  However, the next time, I will make 8 bagel thins vs. 4 thick ones.  The 4 larger ones are too thick for a breakfast sandwich.

Next up?  Einkorn Pumpkin Bread.  It is not your typical moist, ooey, gooey pumpkin bread, but it is good.  I was also shocked that it baked up so tall, and looks exactly like the photo in the recipe.  It's fantastic with a slather of butter, but had I gotten around to it, it would be delicous with pumpkin butter, or pumpkin-apple butter too.  The flour in this bread is all-purpose einkorn wheat flour.  There is some sugar in this bread, but the bread itself is not sweet, hence a slather of something on top.

I made us a small batch of cinnamon-honey butter for this bread.  Yum!

Recipe is online:  Einkorn Pumpkin Bread

New Recipes Tried ~ Yogurt Based Bagels ~ Einkorn Pumpkin Bread  © November 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart