Within the Lines

Are we closer to a farm?

I think so. LOL But we are still living in the basement. It's been over a month since we sold our house, and what a tangled path God has led us safely through!

The first house we thought we were going to buy was a house and 35 acres. We dreamed about 80 acres, but agreed on a price we thought was "too high", so we went back to 35 acres. We then found out they were negotating a contract on a lot more land than we had considered - and the house!

Looking back,  I'm glad we lost that one, as one upstairs bedroom Jonathan couldn't even stand up in, and the cellar had foundation issues going on. But at the time we loved it and were very excited.

We looked at several other houses. Then we found a house and five acres, with the offer of more. We decided on 20 acres, and started negotations. This house was at the top of our budget - but about 3,000 square feet! When the sellers didn't budge the last little bit on closing costs, we walked away. The worst thing about this house was that it didn't have a full stove, just a wall oven and an electric range top, and IT WAS GOING TO NECESSITATE A 90-DAY CLOSING. That last  part scared me the most.

The last house was 16 acres. I did like this house! It was small, but do-able for another 3-5 years, which is why we would have bought it. We had agreed on a price and put down our earnest money, and my dad found a lot of recent water damage. The house sort of sat down in a hollow and all the water drained toward it. You couldn't even see foundation - the ground was flush with the house. Not a great idea. This one was well within our budget ... so it was hard to let go ...

So here we are. Three potentail homes later. Still praying, still searching.

~Ashley~

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!

New: "Managing a Home" eBook from The Family Homestead

New eBook From The Family Homestead!



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Tips, Organizational Advice and Practical
How-To’s from a Mother of 8   

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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). 

T-Yarn

I have a site bookmarked on my computer that uses recycled materials to make bags and purses.  While I've seen a lot of wal-mart bags used in crochet, I never knew about T-yarn.  This is taking t-shirts and cutting then to make a yarn to crochet or knit with.  What a good way to reycle old t-shirts.  We get a lot of them. The site is  http://www.myrecycledbags.com/2009/06/05/making-t-yarn-from-recycled-tee-shirts/  .

Here is a picture of the T-yarn taken from that site.A new project!