Buttermilk Pancakes

I love a good pancake. You know the ones that puff up, and are fluffy without sucking up all the syrup and falling apart? Well this is an awesome buttermilk pancake recipe I got from my big sister. She has anywhere from 4 to 13 kids at a time. I know that is a bit confusing, but for the last oh I don't know 20 or 25 years she had done foster care. She has however committed to raising 12 children permanently. She had four biological children who have all grown up, and moved away to have families of their own. But while she was raising those four she adopted eight more. No she is not crazy, well not really, she just has a heart to love on and help children. Needless to say she is a busy mom who has to cook everything in huge amounts in VERY large pans. You should see her idea of a potato masher. Anyway, like I was saying this is a very good buttermilk pancake recipe and you won't be sorry at all if you try it. No really I am serious....go do it now.

Buttermilk Pancakes

2 eggs
2 1/2 cups of buttermilk (I use my own cultured buttermilk)
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon soda
2 teaspoons sugar (I use turbinado)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 cups of flour

Stir all liquid ingredient together until well incorporated. Add the rest of the ingredients, except flour, and stir well.








Then add the flour and mix. It should have a few lumps left.

















I then cook them on an electric griddle like this one:
I drop them on the griddle from a 1/2 cup measuring cup, and when they get golden brown on one side, I flip them over to the other side. When you flip them over is when they will puff up, and get all delicious looking...see!









Then the only thing to do is eat them. I ate mine this morning with homemade butter and some huckleberry syrup I made last year. So GOOD!

Now its your turn. Let me know if you try the recipe and what you thought of it. Have a great Thursday. I am off to do my weekly home blessing.

Umm....Menu Monday?

                          

Boy I really suck at this game! I totally forgot to post on Menu Monday. I mean good grief! How hard is it to set an event reminder in my phone? I guess remembering to post the reminder to remind me to do something is beyond my capabilities. Oh well, we will just pick it up from here, shall we?

This weeks menu has/will look like this:

Monday - Pizza

Tuesday - Ham dinner at church for Valentines Couples Dinner

Wednesday - Meatball Stew, with rolls

Thursday - Chicken Alfredo, with homemade pasta, broccoli, salad

Friday - Beef Pot roast, potaotes, carrots

Saturday - Bacon Cheeseburger Roll up, salad, fruit

Sunday - Scalloped Potatoes, dessert (Pot luck at church this week)

That pretty much sums up the week. I have a recipe post I am going to give you today also. Hope you check that out too! See ya again for Menu Monday, hopefully on Monday. 

Snapshot Sunday

Hello all! Another Sunday has come to my little homestead. And it has been a great and busy week. I have done many projects, spent time with family, and enjoyed a sunny bit of change in weather. Today my Dear had his week come up in the rotation for teaching the Sunday sermon, and he taught on having a pure heart. It was such a blessing to hear his words from the Lord. I am so thankful to have a husband who is so willing to follow the Lords leading. Another thing I was thankful for was the rest of my seeds came in the mail!! Whoooo hooo! I just love going to the mail box and seeing a big ol'package of seeds. It just made my day. Well that and these beautiful cupcakes I made today that Sis decorated beautifully with definite flair....
 

So on with my Snapshot!








Outside my window: It was cold earlier in the week, with temperatures in the 35 to 39 degree range. But a couple of days have had the most stunning show of sunshine. It is like your body goes into withdrawal after days of just nothing but overcast skies, and your mood seems to drag down with the clouds and mist. Then when the sun shines it just feels like a weight has been lifted. At least that is how it feels to me.

 Inside the house: Again it is quiet, I hear the dishwasher running, Sis laughing at a video she is watching, and the dog whining because no one will throw her baby (her toy) for her. Today Lil'bit went over the hill to an audition for a talent show. She has a true love for singing, and we are really hoping she got in, and will get to preform. We should know by Wednesday. My Dear is relaxing after teaching this morning and watching videos. 

In the mirror: This morning for church I wore my hair up in a big messy bun, and very light makeup. I wore dark blue jeans, a peach sweater, and a very light tan pair of knee high boots. Now I am sitting here in sweats, a dark green sweatshirt and these slippers, they are VERY pink, fuzzy, look totally ridiculous, and are very comfortable. 

On my needles, and hooks: On my needles, I am knitting This head warmer or headband for myself. I purchased the pattern from Heidi May at the Velvet Acorn from her shop on Etsy. I love all of her designs. She does almost all of her patterns in both knit and crochet so everyone can do them doing whatever their preferred method. This is a brown wool yarn I had left from a scarf I knit my son for Christmas one year.

I still have not started those socks but I am going to someday. Of course I have been saying that since I started knitting, and I have not gotten around to it. I also have a hat that I have finished but still need to stitch up the final seam. I will put some pictures of that later. 

On my hooks I have a dishcloth in this creamy white color. It is 100% cotton Peaches and Cream by Lily yarn which is the only thing I use for my dishcloths. It is a very simple pattern, and I like the pretty look of it. Who ever said dishcloths can't be pretty?

In the sewing basket: I finished this quilt for Sis, and put the borders on it. I love this material line, I believe it was by Moda, and was called "Kimmie Doll" or something like that. It has an Asian theme, and is red, white, black and taupe. Sis loves it, and is excited to put it in her living room when she moves into her own place.


What I am reading: I am continuing my journey through the bible and I am still in Genesis and Matthew. The schedule I am using, has you reading in the old and new Testaments at the same time. I actually like this. 

I am also reading this cookbook. I am hoping to get into more of the artisan type breads and this book has a great way to incorporate that without it taking a ton of time. I like the way it is laid out, and it is a good read. 

So that sums up my Sunday snapshot. I hope to post a recipe this week, and a link to a great video on a quick baby blanket project that makes a great gift. Until next time, have an extraordinary Lord's Day!

Slow Friday afternoon

Today was a bit of a slow day here around the homestead. I putted around, you know what I mean when I say "putting" right? Those times when you are really just not very motivated, but know you really should be doing something. So you just kind of slowly make your way through the day doing "stuff" but nothing really big. Like I did not clean the storage room and pack up all the empty canning jars, nor did I organize in the studio, or wash the mini blinds. All projects that need done. But I did make my bed, cleaned and straightened up all the rooms in the house, did a couple loads of laundry, and paid some bills. I also baked up some honey wheat bread. I made up this recipe today because I did not want to make my same old white bread recipe. My family and I thought it turned out really good. I am calling it honey wheat because I used a combination of white and whole wheat flour so I can't really call it honey whole wheat. It did make a beautiful loaf that had a good rise, and made excellent sandwich bread for our grilled cheese today. 

Our little kitty, Jericho, thought it was a lazy day too. He is making a permanent indent in my bed where he lays all of the time. But he is really cute, so I don't fuss about it too much. 




And I also worked on a couple of new signs for my Etsy store. If you are interested there is a link to my store in the side bar. I also love to do custom work so if you ever see a sign you like somewhere but its not for sale, or you have an idea you would like to have done, just give me a holler. 







Last night I made my momma her birthday dinner. She wanted real old fashioned fried chicken, pasta salad, and baked beans. I also made her a white cake, with huckleberry filling and cream cheese frosting. 

She came over early and just sat in the kitchen with my two girls and I and visited while I cooked. It was a great time and the food was pretty good too. Here are some pictures of the chicken, and what was left of the cake after we ate. There was not much left. It was just that good! Well that is all for today. See ya on Sunday for the Sunday Snapshot. Let me know in the comments if you ever fry chicken and what your method is.

That your joy may be full!!

I know, I already posted today but...Yay!!!!! I am so happy on this rainy snowy day I received some of the seeds for my spring garden! It just makes spring feel so close and just around the corner. I am still expecting another package with the rest of my seeds but this is enough for today. And I just could not wait until tomorrow to share. 

Have a blessed day!!

Menu Monday...on Wednesday

Well I know, I know it is actually Wednesday, but I am happy to say we got to town yesterday to pick up our beef. It was A LOT of beef! In the end it was 670# of beef, and it took this many coolers to get it home...

The brown boxes in the forefront of the picture are the 60 lbs of whole chickens I picked up from Zaycon Fresh. We have all of our beef and pork raised locally. The beef ended up costing us $2.79 a pound raised, cut & wrapped, and in the freezer. You can not buy good grass raised without a bunch of chemicals beef in the grocery store for that. And that price is for all cuts from stew meat to hamburger to T-Bone steak. So while it is a large out of pocket expense at the time, in the long run it is so much cheaper to do it this way. We hope to raise future beef on a friends property so we will have an even lower cost. Also we are looking into taking a pork butchering seminar to do that ourselves also. But back to the menu, here is what my cooking week looks like...

Monday - Tacos, with all the trimmings

Tuesday - I got burgers for the family, and I ate leftovers. We rarely  eat out.

Wednesday - Pepper Steak, rice and green beans

Thursday - Fried Chicken, pasta salad, baked beans. My momma's Birthday Dinner

Friday - Stuffed Pork Chops, fried potatoes, peas

Saturday - Homemade Pizza, salad

Sunday - Hobo packets  (I will post on this one, a real easy meal my family loves!)

That is it for my week of cooking. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions!

WELCOME Tuesday!

Whew! I am glad to see Tuesday! I realize that I did not post "Menu Monday", but that was because I had a CRAZY Monday. Like the kind that makes you wonder why you got out of bed Monday. Here let me just share a one minute realization with you from yesterday...

At one point was trying to home school my sweet little one, (or more like Napoleon Bonaparte), my other daughter was upset because her computer had died, (she does online college), the phone was ringing because my mother turned subtitles on on her TV and could not get them off, on my cell phone was my pastor's wife was calling because she needed me to pick up her chicken in town, the dog was barking because my shadow kept moving, we had water POURING out from under our shower so my Dear was under the house shouting things he needed to me, the cat was running all over the house throwing up, and I was trying to make muffins...seriously, you can't possibly make all this up..

But by the grace of our benevolent Lord, I survived...or at the very least I still woke up today. And I did get these beautiful pumpkin cream cheese muffins done..

And I made Banana Chocolate Chip also. Unfortunately our bathroom floor is trashed! We had just put in new flooring in the house when we moved in May of 2015, but the problem was going long before that and just finally showed its ugly self. So now my bathroom floor looks like this...
 UGH! And it smells and every thing. So upsetting, but we will get it dried out, then replace the sub flooring if needed, and reinstall the flooring. At least upon examination there is not structural damage which could have bee a problem so we are thankful for that. Today I am off to "town", it is an hour away and we have this going on outside..


But I have to go because I am picking up over 700 lbs of beef that we had butchered, and also some chickens from Zaycon. Zaycon is the only place I still buy meat that we do not have raised. I will post on that later. I really am going to get to that Menu Monday post....but it will have to be when I get home from town.

Snapshot Sunday

Hello all! It is Sunday here on my little homestead. And I am going to start doing what I am going to call Snapshot Sunday. I have done similar posts in the past, and so I decided to make it a regular post. I also saw a post like this from a fellow blogger over at Homemaking on the Homestead, and she invited her readers to copy her post and use it as a template, fill it out and link back to her page. You can find one of her snapshots posts here. I am going to make my categories a bit different so as to fit more of what I do. I am also going to do mine on Sunday, as that is my day of rest and relaxation, and I will be able to recap the week and what the happenings were. 

Outside my window: It has been overcast and wet today. We have had a LOT of snow around here this winter. Much more than is normal for our area, kind of like everywhere else in the country. Day before yesterday we had 2 feet of snow accumulation in our yard but the warmer temperature, 37 degrees, and wet weather has melted half of that away. 
 Inside the house: Sunday is the only day during the week that I tend to just sit and relax, it is very quiet in our house. Sis is working on homework, Lil'Bit has a migraine, and is laying down. I am at my desk writing, with my dog at my feet. Candles are burning making a sweet smell in the air, and I can hear the furnace running keeping us toasty warm. 

In the mirror: Since it is the Lord's day, and I attended church earlier, I was wearing gray leggings with knee high gray boots. I wore a long cowl neck mauve sweater with silver earrings. Today's makeup was powder, mascara, a little blush and chap stick. I wore my glasses instead of my contacts, and my hair curled just at the ends and all down to my waist. Now that I am home, I threw my hair up into a messy bun, put on my Oregon ducks pj pants and t-shirt, and slippers.

On my needles, and hooks: On my needles, I am knitting a hat for a friend of my son, Coco, that has been fighting breast cancer. It has been so cold here where we are from, and with her having had chemotherapy, she has no hair to keep her head warm. This hat should help to do the trick. Her favorite color is purple, and I found a cute basket weave brim pattern. 

I am also knitting a couple of dish clothes from a pattern book I have, and I am getting ready to knit some socks for the first time. I will let you all know how that goes. 

On my hooks I have been working on crocheting dish scrubbers using Red Hearts Scrubby Yarn. So far I have not had any problems with using it, and I have finished one in green and I am starting one in the rainbow color. The pattern was the one on the back of the yarn packaging. One thing I will say about it is that the solid colors are 3.5 oz packages and the variegated ones are 3 oz, but cost the same price. I purchased mine from Walmart. And it was about $4 per skein. 










In the sewing basket: I am making some gathering aprons for my sister, my niece, and myself. I am using a pattern I got off of the Reformation Acres website. The pattern and a detailed tutorial with pictures can be found here. I just LOVE her blog, and you can find such wonderful inspiration and information there.




What I am reading: I started reading through the bible in a year with Connie over at Cosmopolitan Cornbread, here is the post where she provides her link to a printable schedule if you would like to join us on the journey. 

I am also reading this cookbook. And while that might sound weird to say, this cookbook has stories all through it, and some of the most beautiful pictures I have seen. If you watch the show and are a fan at all, I highly recommend the cookbook. It is really great. 

So that sums up my Sunday snapshot. I will continue to post each week and keep you posted. Have an extraordinary Lord's Day!

Hello again! I once again have been absent from blogging for a good long while. And even though it has been more than a year since I have blogged and feel like I need to delete and start over, I am not going to do that. I am going to leave my old posts just in case someone can use any of the information I posted, and move on. I am going to start posting regularly though. I have had a lot happen since I last posted. So I will do a quick catch up on what is going on with us...

We moved to a new house, but in the same town. We are now the maintenance caretakers of the church we attend, and live in the parsonage in exchange for the work we do there. We are also the music ministers, and my Dear teaches the main message in a rotation on Sundays. The parsonage is a three bedroom, two bath house on a nice sized lot. I am still homesteading in town. For those who like me desire to homestead and live as simply as you can, but do not have the opportunity to have property with which to do it, I will continue to post and share my experience with you. Hopefully I can encourage others to start right where you are, and do what you can. I was able to have a successful planting and harvest here last year, and will post in the coming months on it as we get back into planning for the 2017 gardening year.

I started a home based business with my Dear, making and painting signs for home decor, and it has been doing well. Most of my signs have been sold to a brick and mortar store in another town who carries them and sells them for me. I have started an Etsy store to sell on also, but it has been slow getting started. I just have not put the time into growing the online site like I should have. My intent is to change that in the future and this blog will be linked to my store so you can take advantage of online giveaways and specials I will offer to you, my readers. In addition to the signs I also intend to sell my own soap line, dish clothes/scrubbies, aprons, table runners, and anything else I manufacture myself that suites my fancy. So those will all be coming too!

My family is fantastic! We are all healthy, happy, and doing well. I am homeschooling Lil'Bit and she is doing well. Sis has been living at home since April of last year, but plans on moving out sometime in the spring to attend the university in another town. She has been attending community college for the last 2 years but it is time to transfer to finish up her four year degree. She still wants to be a teacher of English to secondary students.

Our beloved dog, Peanut, passed away due to liver disease. We were very sad, and it took us a bit to decide on getting another dog. When dog of a friend of mine had a litter of puppies, we went out to see them. As soon as we saw this puppy we fell instantly in love!

Meet Summer Rain, she is our pride and joy. She is a smart, beautiful, funny, playful ball of energy that keeps us jumping all the time. As far as they can figure out she is Part McNab, part Border Collie mix. We love her like crazy. And also new to our family is our Seal Point Siamese cat, Jericho. He is just a baby still, and he is also very loved. We also found it was time after 4 years to cull out our laying flock, so at this time we have no chickens but plan on redoing our chicken coop to better utilize the area we were keeping them, and afford better protection to the future flock. We plan to restock in Spring of this year. More to come on that.

That is pretty much where we are now, but I will keep you all up to date on anything else I remember. Have a great day!