The ol' homestead

Pears, pears, pears and the bottle tree

01:42, Monday, October 6, 2008 .. Posted in Homestead life .. 0 comments .. Link

Good Morning all. I hope you have had a great week. Frontier Man and I had a nice productive week-end and it was one of the rare Saturdays where we chose to stay home instead of grocery/errand shop. So instead we were able to get some things done around the place.... such as this: 

Stripping this dead cedar tree for a bottle tree I have been wanting for a long time ( I've been doing my best on emptying the wine from the bottles for it!)

and we planted a catalpa tree too. And when we were all done for the day we headed down to the woods for a wiener roast with Little Miss. Nothin like a good blackened hot dog.... really.

I have been busy with all those pears and have finished the first bushel. I am taking a break and hopefully will be able to do a second batch but here is some of the jam and butter I made with the first.

 

I have had a few ask what has happened to the "Menu of the Week" and I can assure you that I am still making my menu each week but because of busyness have just failed to post it. Here is the menu for this week though. Lately I have been waiting to see what is on sale and then make my menu over the week-end to accomodate what I purchase. Remember we have to be frugal and wise in our menu making.... especially right now because of the higher costs of groceries.

Big Miss invited Little Miss and myself last week to her college for one of her club meetings of the deaf/hearing. So Little Miss and I took a day off school and had a "field trip" to college. We really soaked in the deaf culture and was was greeted by some of the funniest/friendliest folks there, we visited with hearing as well as deaf and were so grateful for their patience and understanding. We shared some fresh bread and jam and they were so grateful and appreciative. We can't wait to visit again.

Big Miss is excited this week as her car is in the paintshop getting some new paint and it will be out this week and she will be sporting a nice shiny car! (still black, just without leopard spots now)

Little Miss and I have been on the solar system and we were loaned this neat inflatable set that we are enjoying. It is hanging from our living room. The sun has a leak and stays wilted, saturn keeps falling and everyone keeps bumping into the earth! Our galaxy has got some problems, I tell ya.

 

If you haven't noticed, the holidays seem to be creeping up. Soon, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be upon us. I was thinking that we have a new baby in our family this year and that means we have to get him a stocking made up soon. Do you hear Grand-Doll folks? We have to pick some special fabric out soon.

I have also been working on a fun cute project for Grand-Doll for Christmas and can't wait to share with you all some pictures when I get a little further along.

I thought you might like to see how big the turkeys are now...

 

Til next time, I hope you all have a great week!



This Weeks Menu

01:32, Monday, October 6, 2008 .. Posted in This weeks menu .. 0 comments .. Link
 

MONDAY:

BBQ stew Meat

Beef Rice

Corn on the cob

 

TUESDAY:

Sausage

Hash Browns

Eggs

Biscuits/gravy

 

WEDNESDAY:

Pork chops

Mashed potatoes

Salad

Butterhorn rolls

 

THURSDAY:

Burritos

Spanish rice

Jills Salsa

 

FRIDAY:

Taco Soup

Razorback Cornbread

 

This weeks 2 desserts:

Pear Sweet Bread

Caramel-Apple Walnut Cake




Caramel-Apple Walnut Cake

01:30, Monday, October 6, 2008 .. Posted in recipes .. 1 comments .. Link
 

Caramel-Apple Walnut Cake

 

Chunks of toothsome fresh apple, embedded in a delicious vanilla-scented cake, are complemented by walnuts and caramel. Lightly salting the walnuts adds to the flavor of both nuts and caramel.

 

Topping

  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • salt
  • 1/3 cup caramel cut from a block, or about 12 to 15 unwrapped candies
  • 3 tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk

 

Cake

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
  • 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

 

Filling

  • 2 large apples, peeled, cored, cut into 8 wedges each
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Topping

  • 2 ounces walnuts
  • salt
  • 5 ounces caramel cut from a block, or about 12 to 15 unwrapped candies
  • 1 1/2 ounces heavy cream or whole milk

 

Cake

  • 7 ounces sugar
  • 4 ounces butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 ounces sour cream or yogurt
  • 8 1/2 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

 

Filling

  • 2 large apples, peeled, cored, cut into 8 wedges each
  • 7/8 ounce sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" round cake pan at least 2" deep; or a 9" springform pan.

2) Spread the walnuts in a single layer in an ungreased pan, and bake them for 8 to 10 minutes, until they're a light golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and sprinkle very lightly with salt. Set them aside.

3) Beat together the sugar, butter, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and vanilla till smooth.

4) Add the eggs. Beat till thoroughly combined.

5) Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour, using the low speed of your mixer. The batter will be stiff.

6) Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula as best you can.

7) Toss the apple wedges with the sugar and vanilla till apples are thoroughly coated.

8) Arrange the apples atop the cake, pushing them into the stiff batter gently so they're partially submerged.

9) Bake the cake for 65 minutes, till it's golden brown on top and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

10) Remove the cake from the oven, and turn it out onto a rack, apple-side up.

11) Place the caramel and cream in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat till the cream is showing bubbles, and the caramel is soft.

12) Stir the caramel and cream till smooth.

13) Spoon the caramel over the cake, dripping it down into the crevices around the apples.

14) Scatter the walnuts on top. Serve warm, or at room temperature.



Pear pickin'

10:39, Wednesday, September 24, 2008 .. Posted in Homestead life .. 0 comments .. Link

On Frontier Man's birthday, Little Miss and I made him personalized birthday cards. We decorated them (and enclosed a $100. gift card to Outback Steakhouse that I had won ) and surprised him along with homemade chocolate pie. Chocolate pie is dear to his heart and we wanted to make something special that he would enjoy so not only did we make one , but we made two!

 

 

 

On Sunday we went for a nice bike ride to Davis -which has Turner Falls and has some surrounding picturesque roads that we love to go on a Sunday ride on. We have done this a few times but this time, I seen something that caught my eye. Along the route, in a little town called Hennepin, there on the side of the road, in the middle of a well kept field was a pear tree that had fruit, but a lot of the fruit littered the ground underneath. Having so much fruit under it, I could only assume that maybe the owners had no plans on using it.

Today, after Little Miss was done with school, she and I drove over to that tree and decided to inquire about it at the closest house. A young man told me that I could have all that I wanted and so Little Miss and I picked a bushel...or maybe a peck (?) anyway, it was a big tub full with plans on going back in a couple weeks to pick again. The plans I have are to make strawberry-pear honey, pear butter, but today it is fresh pear cupcakes with chocolate glaze. Mmmm...

 

Little Misses prized "weird pear"

 

 

 

Full House Mom and I were out and about (which is a very rare thing these days) the other day when she happened to mention that Pauls Valley has put in a little fabric shop. So we had to go and have a little peek. This is what we found:

Is it not the cutest material ever???

It is called Fruit Ladies and the female fruit "bottoms" are so true. What shape are you? We have plans for it to be a tote purse. Full House Mom wanted something made with it, and I wanted to sew on such a cute fabric (we are weird like that) and so she purchased a yard and we are going to get some deep red to match and we can't wait to see it finished.

Little Miss and I are doing a new science curriculum this year and we are loving it. Little Miss mainly because it has a lot of hands on experiments. We are studying the solar system and so far we have melted chocolate and burned holes in leaves with a magnifying glass (Sun)

We have made lava out of flour and butter (here Little Miss said it smelled so good she was going to have a taste of our lava ) (Venus)

 

 

 

Here we are dropping "asteroids" into our flour to make craters (Mercury)

 

 

And now we are on Earth. Tonight we will make a compass for the magnetic pull. I have learned one thing this last month. If the word "flour"is used in the experiment, you best be preparing for a bigfluffycloudypowderywhite kitchen.

Little Miss why ya got crater powder on yer face?



Fresh pear cupcakes with chocolate glaze

10:35, Wednesday, September 24, 2008 .. Posted in recipes .. 1 comments .. Link

Fresh pear cupcakes with chocolate glaze

 

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh pears (cored and roughly chopped)

1 cup walnuts (chopped)

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 cups unbleached flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp  salt

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

 

chocolate glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tbsp melted butter

3-4 tbsp boiling water

1/8 tsp instant coffee crystals

combine pear, white and brown sugar and walnuts in a medium sized bowl. let stand about an hour. (do not skip this step..this adds to the incredible moistness of these cupcakes).

preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray cupcake pan with cooking spray..add paper cupcake liners and spray again.

meanwhile, in a separate bowl, sift together the remaining dry ingredients. add to the pear mixture and stir until just combined. add the eggs, oil, and vanilla and stir until combined. **note, i use a wooden spoon..not a mixer for the recipe..if you use a mixer, be careful not to over beat***

Fill cupcake sections until even with the top. bake 30-35 minutes until tester inserted in center of cupcakes comes out clean. remove from pan and cool on rack. whisk together all chocolate glaze ingredients in small bowl until glaze is smooth and shiny. place a dollop of chocolate glaze on the top of each cupcake.



Senior citizens and black leather

11:08, Wednesday, September 17, 2008 .. Posted in Just shtuff .. 1 comments .. Link

Yesterday was Frontier Mans's birthday. I would share with you the age he turned but he is struggling with it as he feels it is pushing senior citizen age. I can only re-assure him that he is only as old as he feels in which case he says he feels it these days. But I digress, I know he has to work this out himself. But I can do my part in my unselfish nature -and only for HIS benifit is his birthday present to lift HIS spirits, I share with you my dear readers... his

BLACK.

LEATHER.

CHAPS.

 

 

Frontier Man...

"Uh, ... you bought me what?"

 

 

Me...

" Come 'ere baby and let me help you strap those bad puppies on"

Frontier Man...

"Are they SUPPOSE to fit like a second skin? "

 

Me...

YES, now.... walk around... or something... so I can see if they fit the way.... "

Heavens to Betsy.....

uhhhh.... wha ... what was it I was sayin'?"

Frontier Man...

" Why these do feel pretty good, think I'll go for a ride"

Me...

"Frontier Man, wait, come back, I am not done looking drooling fantasizing helping yet, come back.... COME BACK, I SAY"

 

If this is what getting older is about, Honey all I have to say is I am all about this senior citizen stuff !



Green, Pink, Black & White???

10:54, Tuesday, September 9, 2008 .. Posted in Homestead life .. 0 comments .. Link

Hello there homesteaders! We have been having some mild weather here in Ok and it feels like Fall is not far off. Ya know, I love Fall and so I am good with that. This year we have no pumpkin patch and so we will just have to get creative with what we have to bring in Autumn.

I am still in the middle of jam making but am kinda on hold as I am hoping to find an apple tree someone is not going to pick. It will be a lot more frugal than trying to buy all that fruit to put up.

 

Yesterday our church, Cornerstone, celebrated its 7th anniversary. We always have a big church gathering and food food food afterwards. Lots of fellowship going on as everyone tries to catch up with everyones lives, especially those that have moved on but still come back to visit on anniversary. My family have been there since its second year.... my, the time has flown by and we have seen alot of blessings and lots of community outreach. That is what Cornerstone is about "helping people build meaningful relationships with God and each other."

 

Last night Frontier Man and I went for an evening ride and it sure was cool and temperate. I love those night rides with him, the breeze in your face.... it's like....like... rolling your window down in your car, going about 70 and letting the wind hit you full in the face. Theres something about it that feels sooo good. Like Rose, in Titanic when she is standing on the railing of the deck with her arms reaching wide with all that wind blowing on her. Bliss.Thats how good it is!   .... don't look down though cause then you see pavement. Rushing by. Then theres that nasty thought for one split second that if your head meets that ground down there that it is really gonna hurt. And...

 I know, I knowww, too much information.... sorry bout that.

Did you know that it is Frontier Man's birthday next week? Man oh man do I have a surprise for him! Stay tuned because he has a gift that is butter soft, black and LEATHER! Whooeee

 

 

Big Miss has been transforming her old dull and dreary bedroom into a lively dance hall apartment room. The colors can only be explained by saying.... well, like....

Oh never mind. Here just see for yerself!

 

See what I mean???

And then we spent all day Saturday laying this nice plush carpet in there.

Hey Miss, I'll trade ya rooms? Not!

Little Miss now has a piano teacher. Caleb is a very talented gentle soul who we were blessed to be able to have for an instructor. He has a couple cd's released that are doing well and he composes all his own stuff. Really beautiful music and already he has inspired Little Miss.

Little Miss, why ya got a cat toy round your foot?? 

 

 

Last week the girls were giving me a hand with the laundry. Don't they look sweet out there working away?

Even little Tiger -Little Misses new kitten, was trying to help!

 Tiger: "No, Little Miss, hang this one!"

 

Happy Birthday Police Son!

 

 



10,000 calories...

01:04, Tuesday, September 2, 2008 .. Posted in Homestead life .. 2 comments .. Link

 

Can you imagine it? Thats what Gold medalist Olympian Michael Phelps eats each day. Man, thats a lot. I'm thinking if you eat that much you better be swimming like him or your gonna be the size of a pool alright.(hee hee hee)

Things here on the homestead have remained pretty busy. I have been making some apple-maple jam as well and had some on toast this a.m. and it was soo good. Next week I will be making cherry-almond jam as well as I plan to give these out with some fresh bread during the holidays to some special friends and family.

It's been rather difficult to get the laundry dry in between all this rain, I hate to complain though because we needed it so badly. The nice cool days make me think that Fall is not far off and I am grateful for that.

Big Miss had a great first week of college and she thinks she will like all her classes well enough. Having instructors who do not speak and are deaf makes it so much better she thinks and all of them are very funny (haha funny -not strange funny) but expect alot from the students.

Today we are back from a short visit with Sunshine and dad for the Labor Day week-end. It was short but nice and we even squeezed in a short trip to War Eagle Mill.

Upon arriving home all the animals were happy to see us although Big Miss did a great job in taking care of them. My, the birds have grown.

Here are the turkeys now, no longer babies...

 

 

And here are the guinees, no longer babies too (although they still stick with mom -she is a real chicken)

 

 

I also want to wish Big Miss 

"HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY ! "

This was taken when her friend Jersey from London was staying with us a few days before leaving. Big Miss is planning a 10 day trip there in the Spring if she can get her finances in line.

"HI" to you Jersey!



Peaches 'n' Cream Dessert Pizza

10:03, Wednesday, August 27, 2008 .. Posted in recipes .. 3 comments .. Link

I made this yummy dessert last week and Frontier Man especially liked it. This is how you put it together...

First you seperate the crescent dough into eight triangles. Press onto a greased 12-in. pizza pan; seal seams. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden. (I have a stand alone pizza cooker and so I used that for 8 minutes)

 

 

Cool slightly on a wire rack. In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and extract until smooth. Spread over crust. Top with pie filling.

 

 

In a small bowl, combine flour and brown sugar; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over peaches. Top with almonds. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. (again I used the pizza cooker at 12 minutes) Cool.

 

 

Cut into wedges. ENJOY!

( Refrigerate leftovers -if you have any!)

Peaches 'n' Cream Dessert Pizza

Ingredients:

  • 1 tube (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent roll dough
  • 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 can (21 ounces) peach pie filling
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cold butter
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions:

Separate crescent dough into eight triangles. Press onto a greased 12-in. pizza pan; seal seams. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool slightly on a wire rack.
    In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and extract until smooth. Spread over crust. Top with pie filling. In a small bowl, combine flour and brown sugar; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over peaches. Top with almonds. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. Cut into wedges. Refrigerate leftovers.



Apple-Maple Jam recipe and pictures

03:24, Monday, August 25, 2008 .. Posted in recipes .. 0 comments .. Link

 

I was asked to share the recipe of the Apple-Maple jam and so here it is, along with a few pictures on jam day!

 

Notice the apples stay nice if you add Fruit Fresh to your bowl of water

 

 

A manual chopper works well and gets the pieces just the right size...

 

The mixture boiling up to jel point (I like mine pretty thick so I let it cook longer) and the dark in the apples is from the maple, cin., nutmeg, etc.

 

Ready to eat!

 

 

 

Recipe Ingredients

  • 7 cups Apples (Peeled & Cored)
  • 6 cups Sugar
  • 1 cup Maple Syrup
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Allspice
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp Cloves

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pot.
Bring slowly to a boil.
Cook rapidly to jellying point.
As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.
Pour hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.
Adjust caps.
Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.
Yield: about 8 half pints



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I am a blessed homesteading homeschooling mom of 4 that has the desire to serve my Lord and be a great helpmeet to the one God has so graciously given me on this earth. You are invited to read as I write about my life that is rich beyond measure!

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My latest ramblings

Pears, pears, pears and the bottle tree
This Weeks Menu
Caramel-Apple Walnut Cake
Pear pickin'
Fresh pear cupcakes with chocolate glaze
Senior citizens and black leather
Green, Pink, Black & White???
10,000 calories...
Peaches 'n' Cream Dessert Pizza
Apple-Maple Jam recipe and pictures

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Living off grid:

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*Making and shopping with a weekly menu
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