A quick update on making yogurt. I've discovered a way recently to make my yogurt thicker and taste more like store bought yogurt. I add 1 cup of sugar to a 1/2 gallon of milk when I am adding the yogurt starter and vanilla, before I put it in jars to put in the oven. See my earlier post on how to make yogurt. I know it adds cost and calories to the yogurt, but it does get my kiddos to eat it better - it's not as tangy and sour - so overall, I feel like it's the way to go for us and yogurt making. Thought I'd post this for anyone else looking to thicken up their yogurt. |
Sorry I haven't added any easy, fast, and nutritious meals lately. I've been busy homeschooling and sewing. I went to my first arts and craft show in Austin this weekend. I made a good amount of $ selling my slings, doll slings, cloth doll diapers, and burp cloths. You can see these items on my etsy shop www.LittleMonkeyPouches.etsy.com. Now that it's starting to cool off - here in Texas it's finally in the 70s and 80s, a little lower at night - I'm hungry for the cool weather comfort meals. My MIL sent us this recipe for stew that is the easiest and best tasting I've ever had. I put it together after lunch and it's ready by supper. I use the oven, but I'm sure you could put it in the crockpot too. It's enough for about 8 people, more if you add a little more of each ingredient. If you have a great soup recipe, I'd love to try it. We are all about soup in the winter! Five Hour Beef Stew 1.5 lbs Stew Meat 1 cup cut up Celery 4 Carrots, sliced 3-4 medium Potatoes, cut up 2 Onions, diced 1/2 cup fresh Bread Crumbs 2 Large cans Tomatoes, diced 1 TBS salt 2 TBS sugar 3-4 TBS Instant Tapioca 2-3 generous splashes Worcesterwhire sauce Sprinkle of Oregano Do not brown the meat. Mix all ingredients together in baking dish with a tigh fitting lide, or cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 250 F oven for 5-6 hrs. Do not hurry this stew - a slow oven is key to it's success. I serve it with biscuits and butter/jam/honey. Enjoy! |
I've been so busy this summer having fun with the children, sewing, cooking and storing up canned food, and lately, cleaning out old emails! Thus, I haven't added to my blog much over the past while. Tonight we are having a delicious, quick meal - Lasagna - made in the crockpot. We got the idea out of a Real Simple magazine. I use a jar of the Marinara Sauce (recipe posted earlier) that I made up in large patches and canned. Try it when you need a quick healthy meal. We're going to add peas and a salad and fresh homemade whole wheat bread for a complete meal. Another thing I do to make this a fast meal is to cook my Italian sausage up a head of time. I cook several pounds up at one time and then put enough for 1 recipe in freezer bags, however much meat your family likes. Enjoy. Our house smells wonderful right now! Crockpot Lasagna 1 jar Spaghetti or Marinara sauce 9 pieces dried lasagna noodles 2 cups mozarella cheese 1 cup cooked italian sausage Pour about 1/3 cup sauce on the bottom of the crocpot. Then layer 3 noodles, sauce, meat, cheese for a total of 3 layers, ending with cheese on top. I cook it on low for 3-4 hrs. I've seen recipes where you cook it on high, but I'm afraid my cheese would burn. We will be starting up our homeschooling again soon and we live on crockpot meals on busy homeschooling days. I'm going to try to post a few of those here as we make them. I would love to receive everyone's favorite crockpot meal recipes to try myself. Thanks in advance! |
I recently update my website www.LittleMonkeyPouches.com and have also created an Etsy store angelarbp.etsy.com . On each I have some of the items I have created, mainly sewing creations. They include - girls skirts, baby slings, baby blankets, burp cloths, aprons for adults and children, doll slings, cloth doll diapers, and more. Check it out an let me know what you think. Pass the website and etsy store onto friends and family whom you think would be interested. I'd really like to grow our sales. This is a project with my 8 yr old daughter, Hannah who loves to help me sew and dreams of the day she can have her own sewing machine! |
I made this awesome, fairly healthy cake Easter Sunday and everyone in our family loved it and have asked for me to make it again. Hope your family enjoys it too.Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Honey Apple CakeIngredients
Preparation1. Preheat oven to 350°.2. To prepare cake, combine oats and 1 cup hot water in a small bowl; set aside. 3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Combine 1 1/3 cups sugar, applesauce, 1/3 cup honey, and eggs in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed 1 minute. Add oat mixture; beat at low speed until well blended. Add half of flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat well. Add remaining flour mixture; beat well. Spoon batter into an 11 x 7–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 48 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Place dish on a wire rack. 4. To prepare frosting, melt butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup honey; cook 2 minutes or until bubbly, stirring constantly. Stir in almonds. Quickly pour frosting over cake; spread evenly using a rubber spatula. 5. Preheat broiler. 6. Broil cake 1 minute or until frosting is bubbly and golden. Cool completely on a wire rack. Serve with whipped topping; sprinkle with ground cinnamon, if desired. |
We eat a lot of yogurt at our house, so I was determined to learn how to make it. After trying several recipes I found, I've discovered a method of yogurt making that works best for us. I did discover that whole milk makes a much creamier, thicher yogurt than does reduced fat milk. Yogurt 8 cups whole milk, not ultra pasteurized 1 small container of whole milk, plain yogurt Heat milk in a crock pot on low for 2.5 hrs. Turn it off and let it set for 3 hrs. Wisk in the yogurt and pour into 2 glass quart jars with lids. Heat oven up to 100F, then turn it off and turn oven light on. Put the jars in the center of the oven and close door, leaving them in over night - with oven light on. In the morning, put jars in the refrigerator for a few hours before enjoying. I usually then add 2 TBLs brown sugar and 1 Tbls of Vanilla to my jar. Then next time you make yogurt, you can use 1/2 cup of your homemade yogurt for the starter instead of buying a small container of yogurt. I'd love to hear how others make their yougurt. |
Today I made a pretty tasty Granola. I combined 2 different recipes. We usually eat it over yogurt. Granola 6 Cups Oatmeal 1/4 c sliced Almonds 1/4 c chopped pecans 3 TBL Brown Sugar 1/4 tsp Kosher salt 1/3 c Maple Syrup 1/3 c Honey 1 tsp Vanilla 1/2 dried Cranberries Mix all together and spred out onto a jelly roll pan. Bake at 300F for 45 mons, stirring every 15 minutes. I would have added 1 tsp of Cinnamon if I had any, and a handful of raisins. |
We have decided to start keeping a better budget. Usually we practice the art of "as long as we can pay the credit card off each month, we're doing alright." Then we imported all the credit card info into a computer budget program and were floored at how much we spend each month on groceries! We've decided to stop buying as many of the convience items as we can. The biggie to go are most of the snack items that we can make at home. We've also cut the grocery store trips to once every 2 weeks and Costco just once a month. If we run out of an item, we just make do with what we have until it's time for another grocery trip. I've found cutting coupons isn't helpful because the coupons aren't usually for anything we "need." We eat homemade meals most of the time as it is, but we're trying to cut down on the times we go out to eat. It's really not a lot of fun most times anyways witha 2 yr old. I try to put dinners away in the freezer too, but we really need a deep freeze to have room for too many. We do have an extra refrig and freezer combo. We bought a grain mill and are making our own bread now, which saves a lot and keeps us healthier. I noticed I'd been buying a lot of chicken stock, so I learned how to make that this week too. The recipe is below. I'm also watching the meals I choose to make, that they aren't pricey even to make at home. We've also been using less meat - ssssh don't tell my hubby. Half as much chicken in a soup or casserole isn't all that noticeable if you increase the amount of veggies. I'm sure there are a few other cost saving ideas we've incorporated the past little while which I'm forgetting about. I'd appreciate anyone elses good ideas on the matter too. Below is a recipe for granola bars my son and I made last Sunday. Granola Bars These are great-tasting and good for you, and make an excellent breakfast, dessert, or quick snack on the go.
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9x13 pan with foil or parchment paper then coat with a little oil. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl: oats, flour, brown sugar, raisins, wheat germ, salt and cinnamon (and any of the optional ingredients). In another bowl mix wet ingredients: oil, honey, egg and vanilla. Pour the wet mixture into dry mixture and stir by hand until blended. Press evenly into the pan. Bake 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely then turn out onto a cutting board. Remove the foil/paper and cut into bars. Wrap individually in foil or plastic wrap. Chicken Stock Remove the "insides" of your chicken, wash it out and remove the wings and all the skin. Put it in a crock pot and cover with water. Add a handful of carrots and celery, and a tblsp of apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil on high, then cook on low for 8 hrs. Remove the chicken, take off the meat and return the bones to the crock pot. Continue to cook for 4 more hours. Let it cool off, then pour the stock through a colander into a large bowl. Cool in the frig over night. In the morning scrape off the layer of fat on the top. Put the stock into individual containers, marking how much is in each and the date. This process makes the house smell so good as well as giving you "free" chicken stock and chicken for a few meals. |
I've learned how to add more pictures to my blog so now I can finish showing the projects I've finished lately. 
Here's a robe I made for my son. I can't figure out how to turn the picture, sorry. I didn't think he'd wear it much, but he proves me wrong most mornings. One of our science projects - aka mom's idea - was to make soap. Here my girls pose with the lavander soap we made. They colored it with a dark purple crayon. We also made Peppermint soap. It's curing now and we can't wait to try it out. I got my recipes from the book Everything Soapmaking. 
I have a small business sewing different items and am trying to build the business up through my website (www.LittleMonkeyPouches.com) and through wholesale accounts in our area. I've been busy making aprons for a local kitchen shop I hope to sell through. Here is a recent apron that I like so much, I'm keeping it for myself! What's cool is that it's reversible - 2 aprons in one.  |
We've been busy trying out several new homesteading projects and trying to tie them into our homeschooling.
Here are a few of the loaves of bread we baked this Sat. We shared some with our church at a potluck on Sunday. I use the famous recipe from Marilyn Moll at her website www.urbanhomemaker.com I milled our flour with the grain mill I bought from Marilyn also. I should correct myself and say my 7 yo Hannah did the milling. She loves this project!
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Here is Emma modeling the pj bottoms we made for all the girls in our family, except for Bella, our baby (2yo). What's awesome is that I got the flannel for $1/yd at WalMart a few months earlier. The pants are a little big because I sewed them with my new serger, something I've not done before, but she's got plenty of growing room in them! 
We recently made 2 delicious crock pot meals that I want to share with you. The recipes came from the Jan 2008 Real Simple magazine my husband picked up at the store because he thought the meals sounded good. Orange Chicken with Potatoes 8 Skinless Chicken Breasts 2 Onions, quartered 1 lb small red potatoes 1 small butternut squash, cut up - we substituted a cut up sweet pot. and a few carrots 12 Garlic cloves 1 Orange, cut into 1/4 inch rings 2 cups Chicken broth 1 Tbls Honey 8 springs thyme
Season the chicken with 1tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper. In the crock pot, combine all the ingredients. Set on high and cook covered until the veggies are tender and the chicken is cooked through, about 2 1/2 hrs.
Slow Cooker Lasagna 2 28oz cans diced tomatoes 3 cloves garlic, minced Kosher salt and pepper 16 oz Ricotta 1/2 fresh parsley 1/2 c grated Parmesan 12 oz dry lasagna noddles 1 bunch Swiss chard - I used spinach 12 oz Mozzarella Combine the tomatoes, garlic Oregano, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper. In another bowl, combine the ricotta, parsley, Parmesan, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Spoon 1/3 cup tomato mixture in the bottom of the crock pot bowl. Top with a single layer lasagna noodles - I used 3, breaking them to fit. Add half of the swiss chard, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, 1/3 of the tomato mixture, and 1/3 of the mozarella. Add a layer of noodles and repeat. Finish with a layer of noodles and the remaining ricotta mixture, tomato mixture and mozzarella . Set the cooker on low and cook covered until noodles are tender, about 2 hrs. Enjoy My son did say it had too many tomatoes, so I may try a marinara mix I make the next time I make this lasagna.
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We recently read Thessalonians 4:11 "And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands,...." It is a great encouragement to us continue to pursue our dream of moving "out to the country." Our goal is for my husband to find a business/job where he can work from home so we can move to a small farm and become a hobby farmer, of sorts. We want to garden and can, and raise small animals, maybe chicks, goats. alpacas, dogs, etc. We want to get away from the world as much as possible to decrease the wordly influence in our lives and to instill a sense of responsibility into our children. We're busy learning all we can while we wait for God to open the right doors for us. I pray for patience and contentment. Today I ordered a subscription to the Hobby Farm magazine. I hope we can learn a lot from it. |
This week I started on one of my New Year resolutions - learn how to mill my own grain. I bought a grain mill from www.Urbanhomemaker.com , also bought soft and hard grain to mill. Expensive! But best in the long run, hopefully. Last year I bought a Zo bread maker and am trying to learn to use it. That's going pretty well. My family loves the bread. I use Marilyn's Famous Wheat bread Recipie. I'd love to get a Bosch, but don't really need 6 loaves of bread at one time. I'd rather make a loaf every day in my Zo - nothing like fresh hot bread! If anyone has great tips, recipies, etc on using a grain mill, I'm all ears! I've also been sewing some this week. I made my son a fleece robe - he loves it. My daughters are patiently waiting for theirs. I've been sewing on my baby slings too for my website www.LittleMonkeyPouches.com . I bought a new serger at the end of the year and need to learn how to use it too. Really I need to find time to take the classes that came with it. It's been warm here - 70s, so I've been working on my garden and composter this week too. I'd like to learn to grow potatoes in a container. How do I do it, how big of a container do I need, etc... I have several other sewing projects I'm working on and I'd like to figure out how to add photos to my blog. Any help is appreciated. More next week. Thanks for reading. |
My 2 oldest children are ina youth symphony Orchestra. It starts back up today. They both play the violin and love it, but hate to practice! Now life can get busy again after the holiday slow down, though not too busy I hope. I think I've talked my 2 daughters, Hannah, 7 and Emma 5 out of soccer this spring in exchange for gymnastics, much less time consuming. I'll never talk Cole 11, my son out of soccer. We started homeschooling back up today too. I'm trying to be a calm, gentle mother. I love that book Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit by Terri Maxwell and read it often. We're in Austin, so I'm think of my spring garden today too. Right now we have spinach, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower growing. When can I start potatoes? I'd like to try growing them in a large tub. I'd like to start my plants from seeds inside, but I have no place near a window where my 2 yo can't get to them. I read a little when I put my 2 yo down for a nap or bed at night. I need some book suggestions as I'm almost finished with The Christmas Blessing.
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This is the 1st time I've every "blogged" so I'm in the learning stage as to exactly what blogging is. We are a family of 6 in the Austin, Texas area. We have 4 children whom we homeschool. We have an acre around our house and garden, but dream of living in the country, preferbly somewhere where the temp isn't hot, and not so hot all year. (We visited Roanoke, VA over New Years and loved the area. I would love to chat with anyone who lives there about the area.) My interests are homeschooling, breadmaking, cooking, sewing, reading, gardening, piano, violin, exercise.... I have 2 little side businesses - Usborne books www.Lovestoread.com and sewing slings, doll slings, doll diapers and other baby realted items www.LittleMonkeyPouches.com . I am also a RN and IBCLC and work a few Sats a month at our local hospital. A few of my goals for 2008: I reacently bought a serger and I'm trying to learn how to use it. I'd love to sew most of my girls clothes. Buy a grain mill and learn how to use it. Find more time for my piano and violin. Continue to learn how to live more Green. Become a better gardener. Learn to stay home. Be the best that I can be. Have more patience with my children. We have one son, 11yo, and daughters 7, 5, and 2 yo. They keep us busy! But such fun! The oldest 3 play soccer and the violin or viola in a symphony orchestra so we are always running somewhere, unfortunately somedays. My husband works in Austin, so is gone most of the day, though he's trying to find days to work from home - like he did for 5 yrs - and save $ on gas and lunch! More later. I'd appreciate and directions on blogging! Thanks, Angela |