Easy Granola

Low fat and very tasty......

1/3 C oil

1/2 C honey

1/4 C water

1 tsp vanilla

7 1/2 C uncooked rolled cereal

(wheat, oats...above I used a 7 grain

cereal because that is what

I had on hand)

1/4 C shelled sunflower seeds

1/4 walnuts

1/2 C powdered nonfat milk

1 C raisins or other dried fruit

(I used coconut instead)

You can easily play around with the

ingredients, incorporating what you

like in granola and the flavor

you want.....like, how about maple??

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• In a saucepan, heat oil, honey, water and vanilla until well blended.
• In a large bowl, combine cereals, nutsand powdered milk.
• Pour liquid ingredients over dry and mix well.
• Sread mixture on two jelly-roll pans or cookie sheets or whatever you have.
• Bake for 10 min. stirring occasionally.
• Remove from oven; add raisins.
• Let cool until crisp before storing in airtight container.

(Makes about 10 cups)

We enjoy this with yogurt for breakfast

and snacks!!

(Homemade yogurt coming soon...:)

Winter Preserving

Well, I guess technically it is Spring!! But it is still very

cold here like winter!!

I enjoy canning in the winter when it is not so hot.

Here is my recipe for some easy Spaghetti Sauce to can

and have on hand. Very nice to open a jar for spaghetti or

pizza or chili or soup or.........whatever you like!!

Spaghetti Sauce
1 can Tomatoe Paste

(the large almost gallon size, I get this at

Costco for around $3)

2 cans of water

1/4 C Italian Seasoning (to taste)

(I buy this in bulk from my food co-op, so

it is not very expensive)

2+ T Salt (to taste)

(also in bulk from food co-op)

Mix all together and warm in pan on top of stove,

stirring occasionally to keep from scorching.

Warm your jars and lids.

Fill jars, wipe rims, put lids on.

Cook in boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

This makes 8 or 9 quarts.

I have not calculated the cost of my seasonings exactly,

but this comes out to be right around 30-40 cents

for a quart. I do not know about your area

but we do not ever see a sale like that!!

TIP: When you bake your bread, roll out a couple

pizza crusts for the freezer, nice to be able to just take

those out, use this sauce, do some toppings, have

grated cheese in the freezer and VOILA! Easy Pizza!

Other things that are fun to can in the winter are

soups, beans and meats and things that you do not

have to do something with right now because it

is ready in the garden.

Yummy Muffin Recipe

This is a Chocolate Chip Bread recipe that can be changed

to use whatever you have and you can make bread

or muffins. It calls for mashed banana, I keep "old" dark

bananas in the freezer. If I am thinking ahead, I peel them

and stick them in ziplocs or I just toss them in the freezer

peel and all, then zap them in the microwave about

20 seconds and can peel them and mash them for

the recipe. Never throw away an old banana!!

Recipe: Just About Anything Bread/Muffins

(Makes 1 Loaf or 1 dozen muffins)

1. Set aside 1/2 - 1 C Chocolate Chips or Raisins or Nuts or

Berries or "just about anything"

2. Blend and set aside:

1/2 C plain yogurt

1 tsp baking soda

3. Blend in order:

1/4 C oil

3/4 C honey

2 eggs

1 C mashed banana

1 tsp vanilla

4. Blend in another bowl:

2 C whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

5. Alternately blend dry and yogurt mix into liquid, fold

in chocolate chips or raisins, etc. last

6. Fill pan, bake, til knife comes out clean in center

7. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pan, if bread, lay on

side to cool.

These are with raisins, because that is
what I had on hand. :D
Yummy for a Sunday Morning!!

Also, just a side note: Slightly sweet muffins arevery good with some soups or macaroni andcheese for lunch or dinner.

Titus 2 Day

I am sad to have no pictures of our day together....

but we just started up our meetings again now that the

holidays are over. We are only going to

meet once a month, that way we can meet just

a little longer and do more.

This month we focused on:

"Peace in Perilous Times"

Everything we did was in an effort to help

bring peace to our own hearts as well as

our families and in our home.

As they arrived I had bread dough ready to go and

each rolled out Cinnamon Bread. The point was, when you

make a batch of bread, once in awhile do a cinnamon one for

a treat, nothing like Cinnamon Toast with a bowl of

hot cereal on a cold winters morning. Sounds

peaceful right?? Making our families happy and

contented brings PEACE.

Then I had our soup done to a point, meat browned, veggies

chopped, and it had to be boiled for just 5 minutes

before you could can it in the pressure canner.

Food ready to go in the pantry keeps us at PEACE.

So, we enjoyed lunch together and then had a short devotional

about peace in our lives. Peace comes when we draw

closer and closer to God. When we are close to

Him, we will be able to trust Him more

and that brings PEACE to our whole household.

Then we did a project that is fun to use with homeschool

curriculum or just for a fun scrapbook project idea. We made

a Lap Booklet with Minit Books inside.

Lap books are a file folder folded to the center so it

opens like shutters and you put different bits of

information or pictures or whatever on the little

booklets that you glue inside. Fun for all

ages. Once the older kids master the little

books, they can help the younger ones.

Busy children on a cold winters day

is very PEACEFUL indeed. :)

Then I showed them how to use a fabric pen

and write a verse on a piece of fabric to

embroider. Scripture on your walls is a

very good thing.....it reminds us of God and

who He is and keeps our minds focused

on Him throughout the day. Which brings

more PEACE to our homes.

The verse I chose is one that has ministered to

me ALOT lately.....

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect PEACE,

whose mind is stayed on thee."

Isaiah 26:3

So, some knew embroidery and some learned that day

as we moved on and learned how to do a granny

square. Some knew crochet and some had to

learn. So, at that point we just spent the next

bit of our time crocheting or embroidering

and encouraging one another. :)

All in all it was a very PEACEFUL day. :D

Next month, we will do two more embroidery stitches

and possibly work on crocheting a bit more. And

some other fun things I have up my sleeve. :) Our

theme next time is PREPAREDNESS.

(But not to an extreme, just some things we

can easily do).....which also brings PEACE!!

If you are ever interested in doing your own Titus 2 group,

Lisa at New Harvest Homestead

on my side bar will send you a free meeting

guide. It has some fun ideas and encouragement

for how to start a group.

Ohhhh Sweet Fallness........

I just cannot stop decorating.......

Miss Harvest Bunny with her

little quilted pumpkin....

Little pumpkins, sunflowers and leaves everywhere......

Happy to have chrysanthemums leftover from tea....
Favorite Apple plates.....

Mmmmm......the colors.......

Even a Fall Salad.......

I tried the Rice Salad in the October/November issue of Mary Jane's Farm....it is amazing!! I just added some spinach. Served with a Pumpkin

Roll and Dilly Beans.

For Pumpkin Rolls I replaced the mashed potatoes in my

Potatoe Roll recipe...it worked!

Plums!!!

Awhile back, one of the girls in our Titus 2 group

brought lots of plums from her tree!!

Have you ever used a steam juicer?? I LOVE mine!! All you do is rinse the fruit and put it into the top basket there, it steams and juice comes out the little hose, right into the jar. It is sooo hot, you can

just put a lid on and it will seal.
Beautiful Plum Juice!!
Beautiful Plum Jelly from the Plum Juice!!

However, I do have a confession to make....I could not find a recipe for Plum Jelly anywhere. After making plum jam that came out realllly thick, I decided plums have alot of natural pectin, so should not need pectin for jelly. So, I decided we would follow directions for Grape Jelly. Similar shape and color, riggghhhhtt??? This was for our Titus 2 meeting. I, the older woman, was showing them how to make jelly. Directions said to boil until it reached the stage where the juice is clinging to the spoon and drips off twice....2 drips. We stirred and boiled and stirred and boiled. Finally, we decided to take a break from that, have our lunch and come back to it. After lunch, it had hardened soooo hard, I almost broke the wooden spoon trying to remove it from the pan!! It was quite amazing and we laughed very much!!!

So, later I followed the pectin directions, using pectin, still for Grape Jelly. You only boil that for 2 minutes. :) It made the above jelly, which is very thick, but it is jelly!! So, we had a fun class that day....

learning how NOT to make Plum Jelly!!

Consider the Ants.......

"Take a lesson from the ants, you lazy fellow. Learn from their ways and be wise! For though they have no king to make them work, yet they labor hard all summer,

gathering food for the winter."

Busy, busy times. Putting up food for the winter, catching up on outdoor chores before it is too cold to be outside,

planning ahead......

Times are hard for alot of people right now. We are all having to stretch our dollars and pinch our pennies. I am so glad I can be home to work on those very things. It takes more "home time" on my part. Doing things like baking our bread, making good meals that may take just a little more time.....keeping our home bright and cheery and comfortable.

It is a great time of year to eat more soup...that is a good dollar stretcher. Buying basic things in bulk or through a food co-op saves money, things like flour, rice, sugar....Knowing ahead what we are eating also saves me time and money of last minute purchases.

Being content and happy is a big part of my family being comfortable, especially my husband. Keeping him well fed and making our home a place of retreat for him helps him to not worry about us and

wishing he could do more.

What message are you sending your family and husbands today?? Trust God and lean on Him and do your best with what you have........send a message of Love, Contenment and Gratefulness!

Thank God for His provision

and what we do have!!

Happy October!!

Once it turns October, I feel like Fall is really here.....I love October! Maybe because I was born in October, do you think?? And it begins

looking and smelling more like Fall.......

Cut back my huge

mint plant today.....

And baked a Deep Dish Pear Pie.......maybe warmed later with Vanilla Ice Cream melting over the top!!! And sour dough starter under the cloth.....ahhh....signs of Fall!

From Cake to Cookies......

Mmmmm.....Harvest Bars for the guys last night!!

I took a Carrot Cake recipe and poured it into two pans, so instead of cake we had bar cookies. Sometimes there is pineapple in a carrot cake, well this recipe called for mandarin oranges. I had neither. So, I used some apple/pear sauce that I had in the pantry and remember back a few posts?.......I had grated carrots in the freezer!! Made some very good bars.

Home-Making.......

Today was our Home-Making class. One girl has a wheat/gluten etc, allergy, so we made "Currant Buckwheat Muffins". They are sweetened with just molasses, they were ok, needed more raisans for sweetness, but may have been better with jam or something....... :)

Then we made spaghetti for lunch. Since we were already going to make spaghetti sauce, they made sauce from a whole gallon size can of tomatoe paste! We canned 6 quarts and used the rest for lunch........they each got to take home 8 mini muffins and a quart of sauce!!
It was a beautiful day, so they spent the afternoon
on the porch swing....
After lunch they finished putting their samples in their notebooks.

Then we began a project with the stitches they know so far.
This will become the edging on a pillowcase......

Then we must end the afternoon with tea of course!

Chilly Mornings.......

I love chilly mornings and warm, cozy breakfast for the family!!

Awhile back I got a recipe off a blog for Raised Waffles......

They were at Pleasant View Schoolhouse.
I also made syryp with just honey, water and maple flavoring!!

The really nice thing is you mix them the night before, let them sit on the counter overnight, in the morning you only add eggs and baking soda and cook!!

And boy are they yummy!!

Fall is in the Air!!!

A friend gave me this tea set years ago, it is fun to

decorate with this time of year!!

A few years ago, my daughter made this little quilt for me....I love using it to warm things up and feel cozy.......especially in the Fall......

To top it all off.....a perfectly cozy Fall lunch with my wonderful
husband and sweet daughter, who by the way just mowed all the
lawns today! Awesome she is!!
Split Pea with Ham, Muffin with homemade jam, Pears from a friends tree, a pot of Tea and freshly baked Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!! (I was trying to use up a dab of Almond Butter that I had :)

Hope you are enjoying your Fall Days!!!!

Fun Learning......

On Fridays I have started a little class at my home. The class is Home-Making and I have three girls right now between 10 and 11. Yesterday we spent the morning making Snickerdoodles, each girl made a "log" to take home for the freezer (if it lasts that long). We put the cinnamon in the cookies instead of rolling them in it as I wanted to

show them how to freeze cookie logs. :)

For lunch they made Cheese Sauce and poured it over Noodles. So, they learned how to make stove top macaroni and cheese not from a box!!

In the afternoon we did Embroidery. They began by making samples of just four stitches for their notebooks which we will use next week on a project. They also made the cover page for their notebooks.
They will come every Friday, more fun projects ahead......

Waste Not......

After Tea I always have alot of leftover crusts cut off the bread. Well, when it is simply buttered bread that makes very good bread pudding. However, when the bread has other things on it like a dab of chicken or basil and cream cheese, sometimes I have thrown that away.... :(

This time my friend suggested I make stuffing!! What a great idea!! I also had quite a few herbs left over from some of the sandwiches....so first step cutting the bread into cubes, and stirring up some onions, herbs and butter in a pan (I did not have celery or that would have been a must).
So, I stuffed a chicken! Well, it worked and boy was it yummy!

An Experiment......

Thought I would try the Barrel O' Muffin batter in a small loaf pan.......

Voila!! I do believe it worked!! You could ad some fun things like chocolate chips, or cranberries, how fun to make for gift giving or just for your family!!

The Wonderful Smell of Homemade Bread......

Mmmmmmm......can you smell it?? Braided Herb Bread!! Yum!

Monday nights we serve the guys at one of our homeless shelters, this week was Spaghetti, Salad, Herb Bread and Ice Cream. I made 8 loaves and it smelled so good, cannot wait to take some time to make some for us soon, as soon as I get my whole wheat flour from my food co-op and now that the weather is cooling down some. :)

Muffins Anyone??

Do you remember the "Barrel o'Muffins" recipe from way back in the 80's?? Well, I made that ahead and just scooped it out for our brunch that day.....easy, easy.

Barrel O'Muffins

2 C Boiling water

5 tsp soda

1 C shortening or 1 C oil

2 C sugar

4 beaten eggs

5 C flour

4 C All-Bran Buds (Kelloggs)

Optional: 2 C raisans or dates

1 C chopped nuts

1 Qt. buttermilk

1 tsp salt

Mix water with soda and let cool. Crem shortening or oil, sugar and eggs in large 10 qt. container. Add other ingredients and mix.

Put batter in lined muffin tins, bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

This mixture can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks (with shortening), about 4 weeks (with oil).....Scoop out and bake as needed!!

How easy is that!?!?!?

However, upon mixing this and buying the ingredients I did realize, I have seriously changed my families eating habits since that time and will have to experiement with some more natural ingredients and see how long it would last.....for example the Bran Buds have all kinds of junk in them I do not normally eat (high fructose corn syryp, hydrogenated fats, etc)....so would start with looking for a natural cereal alternative. I have already changed the shortening to oil which helps and I do not use white sugar, I would

love to try this with honey???

Now!!! I must get busy, very full day of tea prep......mmmm.....Peach Ice Cream, Raspberry Scone Dough, Boysenberry Tarts.....Rhubarb Jam to sell.....Oh My!! Better get busy!!!

Titus 2 Meeting.....

I and three other younger ladies have began meeting to encourage each other in the Spirit of Titus 2, share ideas and learn new skills.

We are reading through the book "Created to be His Helpmeet" by Debi Pearl, discussing the questions at the end of each chapter.

Then we "DO" something!!

Our September theme: "End of Summer....Back to School / Easy Meal

Ideas for those Busy School Days!!"

So, first we talked about easy/make ahead meal ideas, then we made some very quick muffins. Easy/busy school day meals may be freezer meals or just quick and easy or even making ahead some bulk mixes to have on hand.

We ended our time with Brunch out in our "Outdoor

Dining Room"........

On the menu were Watermelon, Quiche, Bran Muffins, Cucumber Sandwiches and to top it off Cookies and Tarts all with Tea of course. :)

Next time (I am really excited about this) we are making aprons!! We will also assemble an "Easy Oven Lasagna" for our lunch. This can also
go right to the freezer.

I LOVE to encourage women in their homes. This is my passion.

There are some good suggestions and helps at New Harvest Homestead. Lisa will send you a Titus 2 Meeting Guide if you would like to do something like this. We meet twice a month, some only meet once a month.... Her link is off to the side here in my links. Check it out.

School Begins!!

Are you ready for the school year?

Some easy things to make your day go smoother:

Breakfast

Plan some easy but nourishing breakfasts.

Buy bulk grains for yummy hot cereal, make your

own bulk mixes for pancakes, etc.

(more on making bulk mixes later)

Lunch

Warm soup on those cool fall and winter days is the best thing ever!

Prepare Soup ingredients for the freezer.

(I just bought a very big bag of carrots from Costco and sliced some for

soups and grated some for muffins, bread and cake.)

Also, I will get some celery and onions chopped and frozen. That way they are ready to throw into any soup and you can just have soup simmering through the morning and it will be ready by lunch and smell soooo good.

Also buy in bulk beans and grains such as barley and pasta to toss in your soup.

Dinner

On those days where there is time to make dinner it is nice to do that and involve the children.

For those very full school days or the ones where you have been out.....be sure to have some freezer meals done up!!

(More on freezer meals later......)

Knowing what is going on the table before you start the day illiminates alot of stress, disorganized evenings and those nights when you have to eat out and really should not be doing that. Makes your dear sweet husband happier too!

One more tip today: Make huge batches of cookie dough and roll it into logs for the freezer. When needed, take a log out and slice and bake. :D

Hope school is going well for you today. I kind of miss those days........

Excuse Me!?!?!?

Did I say Zucchini?!?!?!? Zuchinni? WOW.

In England it is called, get this....."Corjet" (soft j)!! Makes it sound quite lovely...what were they thinking..... :)

OK, I showed you the one I bought, then at my sisters she insisted I take some of hers....5 or 6 to be exact, then when we got back home and stopped to say Hi to one of my daughters friends, her mom said "Want a zucchini?", to which I replied, "NO...my sister just gave me 6!!", to which she replied, "Take it anyway....!" So, now, guess we will have lots of zucchini in our freezer!! I am actually pretty happy about that. :D