Kountry Life

The fridge is coming home!

Your heavenly Father knows your needs. He will always give you all you need from day to day. ~ Luke 12:30-31

Vanilla Ice Cream

I recently made vanilla ice cream and it was delicious!!  I wanted to share my recipe with you.   You can now find all my ice cream recipes (eggless recipes and non dairy too) and ice cream making directions here:  http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/makinghomemadeicecream.htm    If I have more recipes to post I will be adding them to that page.   

Vanilla Ice Cream

6 eggs
3 cups cane juice crystals
2 T vanilla (only the real stuff)
2 c. whole cream
Whole Goat Milk, as much as needed to fill ice cream maker container (whole cow milk will work too.. :)
1 T arrowroot powder (helps make the ice cream smooth.. but this is optional if you don’t have any) 

In a big mixer (like a Kitchen Aid or Bosch) mix together (with the wire whip) the eggs and cane juice crystals until light and lemony colored. Add vanilla and mix again. Add cream and arrowroot powder (if using). When all of this has mixed together completely pour it into your 1 gallon ice cream maker container. Add whole milk until you reach the "fill line" on your ice cream maker container.  Follow the instructions that came with your ice cream maker or click on the above link for general instructions.

Bulk Taco Seasoning Mix

We are having taco salad for dinner tonight.  I always cook up my hamburger and add taco seasonings to it before adding it to my salad.  I realized this morning I was out of taco seasoning and it was time to make more.  This is another product that I make myself now.  We are not real big fans of the taste of the taco seasonings I use to buy from my health food co-op and I wonder about MSG in it as well (the grocery store stuff definitely is full of yucky things typically).  I recently was reading an article (wish I could remember where now.. maybe Dr. Mercola? If I find it I will give the link).  It said that if a product lists “spices” in their ingredient list and they purchase bulk mixed spices from a supplier that adds MSG to their spice mix then the company that uses the spice mix does not have to claim that it contains MSG. So basically something can say it is MSG free but still may contain MSG if they have the word "spices" listed in the ingredients.  If you have MSG sensitivities like my hubby does or you just want to avoid it for health reasons …  read your labels carefully!   

Taco mix is so easy to make. It takes less than 15 minutes to make up a batch, the recipe doubles easily.  I usually make a double batch but today I did not have enough dried onion, so I settled for a single batch.   

Bulk Taco Seasoning Mix

¾ c dried onions
½ c chili powder
¼ c salt
3T garlic powder
3T cornstarch
3T ground cumin
1T to 3T cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like it) 

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Store in plastic or glass container with a lid. 

It takes approx. 3T of this mix to equal one packet that you would buy in the store.   

This recipe makes about 2 cups.  I store it in a canning jar in my cupboard.

This Weeks Menu

Our 25th wedding anniversary!! 

Tobin works so no holiday bbq for us.. already had it!

We made our own family fun- under $10

Bad Fridge, a loaner & no water in sink faucet

Bad News:
My fridge never cooled down low enough to put my food back in it after the repairman left yesterday. At 9:30 pm last nite it was still registering 60 degrees in my fridge.  Unbelievable. So another nite of buying ice and filling coolers in my kitchen.
Good News:
The appliance store came and picked up my fridge today. I refrained from kicking it. Just. Thankfully they brought me a loaner fridge until mine is fixed. The loaner fridge is a lot like a loaner car- just enough to get you by until yours is fixed. I am praying it gets fixed quickly we have 35 people coming over here for the 4^th of July . . . . .
It runs which is all that is necessary at this point.
I was able to cram everything into it, which is also good.
Mr. Steady’s brother is coming over tonite to begin the cement work on the foundation on the backside of the house.
It’s about 10 degrees cooler today also.
This all does much for my frame of mind and state of being.
Last night, when the water in the upstairs sink came out as barely a trickle, I just went to bed and cried and cried. I felt completely undone.
I was exhausted physically and mentally.
Mr. Steady held me and reminded me that everything is fixable; that we’ll be okay.
I am taking things one day at a time.
I can’t do any more than that.
This is yet another reminder that I cannot but God can and sometimes it means just sitting back and being still.
God be with me.

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Mini-disasters and where my help comes from

My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:2

Oh, Lord do I need your help.
It seems like so many things are going ba-zonkers and not much of anything is going right.
Including my perspective.
The new fridge won’t stay cold and the freezer above it is suppose to be frost-free but has 2 inches of snow. I am now using 2 coolers again after 2 gallons of milk were spoiled plus other foodie items of not near as much importance.
I painted an entire room earlier this week. Our soon-to-be schoolroom.
Then I found out that I used latex paint over oil-based paint.
It nicks and peels and it’s awful.
Just plain awful.
I look at the whole room and I know I don’t have it in me to scrape and strip all that paint off of every surface. I’m just going to have to live with it. Every little nick and mark and scrape.
The schoolroom also has an outside door that we have never used because its broken. Mr. Steady got a new free door and decided to start working on replacing the old one.
This required him to take off the bottom two pieces of siding on the house which led him to find carpenter ants and rotting wood. Not good.
He found this out on Saturday and since then 2 green tarps have been nailed up to the backside of the house while he figures out what to do.
After having consulted a few good remodeling guys who advocate “do it yourself”, he has decided to remove the rotted wood, spray for the ants and fill it all in with concrete. One of his brothers is coming over to help with this tomorrow nite.
Last night as he was knocking out some of the rotted board he found the telephone line that we now know wraps all the way around the house to the other side- except that he found it by accident when he pulled it out and split it with the hammer claw. So we had no phone.
I found this out after bringing the kiddos home from a cousin’s VBS, at 9 pm. He wanted me to place a call on my cell phone.
Bad news- I had let the minutes just about run out on my phone because we had been discussing buying a new one since the phone barely holds a charge anymore.
And so I went over to the neighbor’s to get online and order more minutes feeling like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.
Did I mention that its been in the mid-90s the past few days and with all the extra work Mr. Steady has been unable to take the time to put in the air conditioner and its too big a job for me to do myself?
Recap: no air, it’s hot, fridge not working right, coolers in my kitchen, it’s hot, rotting boards on the house with a partially ripped out door, a newly painted room where the new paint is peeling, it’s hot and did I mention we don’t have the air conditioner in?
My attitude about all of this has been “borderline” at best. When I’ve been asked how I’m doing, I really want to reply, “I’m hot and I’m cranky and there are coolers in my kitchen again.” So far I’ve only actually said it once to my mom and once to my husband.
It is all getting to Mr. Steady too. Last nite when I broached the subject of putting in the air conditioner he snapped at me. Something which he never hardly-if-ever does. He shook his head and simply said, “I’m sorry. I’m overwhelmed.”
Me too.
I know the Lord is near. I know He is aware of what we are facing and how we are feeling. He knows the bottom line to our finances, or sanity and so much more. I want to ask, “Why?” but quickly on the heels of that comes, “Why not?”
In all honesty, mine are just a bit of little nuisance-y problems stacked in a pile all at once. They aren’t “major”. They aren’t catastrophes or even mini-disasters (okay, the whole oil to latex paint thing could be considered a mini-disaster).
I do not doubt that His grace is sufficient for me and that His mercies never fail.
I’ve failed.
I’ve failed to worry and fret not.
I’ve failed to remain calm.
I’ve failed to trust Him completely no matter what.
But no more.
I may whine a bit, because I do and it’s still hot.
But I will press on. I will tackle what I can with God’s help and let the rest slide.
Priorities.
Scraping, sanding and painting are not priorities when it’s 88 degrees in the house and so humid. They are also not priorities when there are other things in your itty bitty budget and buying more paint isn’t one of them- instead you find you need a lot of cement.
Cement= fixed back wall of house. Much bigger priority.
Even bigger than getting the air conditioner put in.
I have failed to prioritize these last few days.
I am reminded of the importance of committing my day to the Lord when I wake up and ask Him to help me prioritize my day.
I am reminded of where my help comes from.

My help comes from the LORD.

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

 We made chocolate ice cream this week and it was delicious!! I promised to post the recipe so here it is!  This is a variation of my Strawberry Ice Cream recipe (recipe link at the bottom of this post).  As I try out new flavors I will post them here.. 

Chocolate Ice Cream
Makes 1 gallon  

6 eggs
3 cups cane juice crystals
¾ c cocoa powder
1 T vanilla  (only the real stuff)
2 c. whole cream
Whole Goat Milk, as much as needed to fill ice cream maker container (whole cow milk will work too..  :)
1 T arrowroot powder (helps make the ice cream smooth.. but this is optional if you don’t have any) 

In a big mixer (like a Kitchen Aid or Bosch) mix together (with the wire whip) the eggs and cane juice crystals until light and lemony colored.  Add cocoa powder and vanilla mix again.  Add cream and arrowroot powder (if using).  When all of this has mixed together completely pour it into your 1 gallon ice cream maker container.  Add whole milk until you reach the “fill line” on your ice cream maker container.  Follow the instructions that came with your ice cream maker or you can read here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/strawberryicecream.htm  for basic instructions (the directions are for strawberry ice cream, but the basic “how tos” will work for any flavor). 

Dropping in with bits of news

Life is very busy here at the Yellow Townie Farmhouse.
We started some big projects this weekend which got even bigger when Mr. Steady went to replace a door and found rotted boards . . . . .
Anyhoo- that's why I've been so scarce. Hope to get in a couple of posts this week inbetween projects.
Wait until I show you what we've been up to . . . . . .
In Other News:
Father's Day was wonderful. The kiddos gave Mr. Steady an ice cream maker plus the fixings and I made him a special book (courtesy of Shutterfly.com) full of pictures of him and the kiddos with notes about all the things we love about him.
I am glad I write my menu plans in pencil. The menu plan for last week and this week are "works in progress" as the projects have messed with the cooking and now the heat messes with the cooking too. Tonight we are having BLT's and then heading off to Mr. Steady's softball game (ice cream at Nana and PawPaw's later).
My sister-in-love and her kiddos have invited my kiddos to their VBS this week and we said yes. This is proving to be more trouble than I thought to follow thru with. It runs from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. It's about a 30 minute drive. This means my kids either eat dinner @ 4:30 pm or 9 pm. Yesterday they had early supper but then wanted a big snack when they got home later.
Tonight we won't be going as it is Mr. Steady's game nite but . . . . . there's Wed. and Thurs. still and what will we do about supper?
I'm thinking nachos or ham sandwiches and then perhaps a snack in the car after we pick them up- like trail mix or a quick bread.
So- life is busy and home repairs are in the works and it's hotter than hot and and on and on and on.
One thing remains the same:
God is good.
All
The
Time.