When I was a young wife, we didn’t have a lot of money for any extras. We were both still in college and any money earned went on food, rent, school, and basic necessities. I loved (and still do love) cookbooks but we didn’t have the money to purchase any. And, the internet was not…
Picking Cherries in Oregon
We had the opportunity to participate in our church’s Pacific Northwest mission trip a few weeks ago. Rather than flying to Washington, we decided to embark on a family trip and drive to Washington and back again. Talk about an adventure! Aside from two people trying to get into our hotel room on two separate…
Honey & Oatmeal Waffles
There are some mornings I have a lot of time and when I do, I take the opportunity to cook up a batch of Honey & Oatmeal Waffles. They are easy to freeze and re-heat for those other mornings you don’t have any time at all. I’ve adapted this recipe from one I found in…
I is for Ice Cream
Oh, how I L.O.V.E. ice cream. I mean…love. It could be from Blue Bell, Dairy Queen, Braum’s, 31 Flavors, or homemade. It doesn’t matter. I just love it. It’s creamy and delicious…sweet to the taste buds, and sinfully delightful on a hot summer day. I prefer something with chocolate in it – could be…
Canning Lemon Marmalade
I’ve had the privilege of helping my former employer this past week…not with anything work-related but with canning! The past two weeks have been spent canning lemon marmalade using lemons from her Meyer’s Lemon tree. I’ve been canning since 2007 and doing what we can from a homestead, self-sufficient perspective for many years. While working…
Decadent Hot Chocolate
I love hot cocoa. The problem is we seldom have cold enough weather here in Texas for me to enjoy it as much as I want! I’ve tweaked this recipe over the years and have it down to the PERFECT decadent hot chocolate. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. 1 cup…
Venison Stock
One of the ways we utilize our harvested venison is to make venison stock from the bones. Once I’ve de-boned the rear leg quarters, I’ll get the venison stock going. It’s a great way to use the bones, especially when we have roasts or other cuts that we’ll use for soup or stews…or even gravy. And, I…
Pomegranate Apple Jelly
Pomegranate Apple Jelly is a delicious jelly…plus it’s very easy to make. Don’t double the recipe because it won’t set correctly, so you’ll need to make multiple batches if you have a lot of juice. 2 cups pomegranate juice 1 ½ cups apple juice 5 cups sugar 1 box pectin Combine the pectin and juices…
Canning Mustang Grape Jelly
One of our summer “to do’s” each year is to pick mustang grapes and turn them into jelly. We ran out of Mustang Grape Jelly a year or two ago and we couldn’t find any wild grapes in our usual spot. So, this year we completely ran out of our homemade jelly/jam (all the strawberry,…
Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie
A strawberry lemonade smoothie is one of my daughter’s favorite smoothies. She has been drinking these nonstop over the past few weeks. It’s simple to make and extremely tasty. 4 cups frozen strawberries (although you could use fresh) 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 cup water Sugar to taste Add all of these ingredients…