Putting Up the Harvest

I finally finished snapping all my green beans! I ended up with 18 quarts of green beans in my freezer. I also cut off all the corn and froze it, I now have 5 quarts of fresh frozen sweet corn in the freezer too. My green peppers are all diced and frozen...all 5 gallon bags of them!!!

Tomorrow I need to chop up all my onions and get them in the freezer. I also need to shred four zucchini. I'm also planning on trying to make some of the artisan bread dough and see if we like it...I'd love to have homemade bread everyday and it only takes a few minutes to make each day. I could start it every morning before breakfast. If I got that done, laundry washing, and breakfast cooking I'd say that's a great day!!

My freezers are getting very very full. I'm going to need to start canning some of my produce instead of freezing it, but I do love looking into the freezer and seeing all that food that did not come from Walmart or Kroger!!!

Busy Day

Today we spent the morning at our local fair, it was my childrens first time ever to go and we had a really great time. Total spent $15 for food, $16 for all day ride bands, $4 for games, and $5 admission. Cost of memories...priceless.

Tomorrow will be an even busier day...we'll be snapping beans, chopping onions, dicing green peppers, and cutting corn off the cob. I'm also hoping to bake some bread and a cake for snacks. We're having an easy dinner of homemade stromboli and watching Pink Panther 2 tomorrow night for family night.

Saturday will find my husband and son heading to football evaluations and then hopefully a lazy day at home to get caught up on housework.

My trip to the Produce Auction

Today my kids, parents, and I decided to take a trip to a produce auction. It was a very interesting trip. We arrived early to check out the produce. Everything looked really nice but you had to pay attention to how many items you needed to buy. For example, grocery stores also come here to buy produce so at one end of the auction you needed to buy like 40 dozen of sweet corn or 10 huge boxes of peppers.

Here are my tips if you have a produce auction trip planned...
1. Don't take your kids. It takes a long time and it's very busy. My youngest two and my oldest did just fine...my oldest actually made some money by helping people load produce into their cars.
2. Know your prices. It helps to know what the best price you've paid before for your produce. We compared the going price of our farmers market to the prices at the auction.
3. Be prepared to stay awhile...the small amounts of produce were the last things auctioned off.
4. Talk to other people. Find out what the best days are and if they have any tips for getting the best deals.
5. Have fun!

Here is what I bought today-
1 bushel green beans $12
5 dozen ears of Incredible sweet corn $15
1 bushel of green peppers $5
1/2 bushel of candy onions $5.50
1 peck of variety produce $1.25

It was a very fruitful day.

local food

In the past few months I have felt called to live a more simple lifestyle. I would love to grow all of our own food, meat, and milk. I would love to not set foot in Walmart or other grocery stores again, however at this point in our life I'm not able to do all of that.

I have expanded our gardens by adding various fruit and more vegetables but it's not enough to last us until next summer. I have been on a quest to find low cost local food that I can buy that I can put up for this winter. Our farmer's market does have decent deals but you can't depend on finding a huge quantity of low cost produce each week.

We do live surrounded by Amish farms with roadside stands that I also purchase vegetables from but today we are going to a large produce auction. I'm hoping that the prices will be low and quality will be great.

Finding local produce works for me...for more ideas check out We are that Family

Produce Auction

Tomorrow we are heading to a local produce auction. I've never been to an auction before in my life and I'm excited to see how it all works. I'm hoping to find some great deals on peppers, sweet corn, green beans, and carrots. I'll let you know how it goes when we get back.

Have you ever been to a produce auction?

Menu Plan Monday

We're going to be busy this week with fair, riding lessons, a produce auction, and preserving our goodies from the auction/garden. Here's what's cooking at our house...

Breakfast
toast/egg/yogurt
pancakes/bacon
muffins/yogurt
hash browns/fruit
cereal
bacon/pancakes

Dinner
BBQ shredded pork/corn on the cob
crock pot jambalaya/rice
homemade fast food
pasta/meatballs
Stromboli night
grill hamburgers
grill flank steak/baked potato/salad

For more menu ideas check out I'm an organizing junkie

Canning....

I can still remember as a little girl when my mom and grandma got together and canned. It was hot, sweaty, and lots of yelling at us kids to get out of the way. I swore that when I grew up I was never ever going to can anything. I kept my word on that until today... I decided I wanted no needed to make pickles just like the ones I remember my grandma making. Never mind that I have never canned anything by myself in my life or the fact that all five of my darling children were home. It looked easy enough. It sounded easy enough. Reality is though, making pickles is harder than it looks the first time. I spent most of today chopping cucumbers and putting them on ice after sending my husband on the hunt for mustard seed for two hours I broke down and had him buy a pickle in a bag ( all the seasonings you need in one handy bag) so much for making my pickles from scratch, and that put me behind my canning schedule.

Tonight I am waiting on the water bath to boil for 10 minutes and then I will see my hard work...what should've been 7 quarts of pickles only made 4 quarts due to me running out of liquid and not packing my cucumbers tight enough. Which means tomorrow...I'll be making more pickles.

I also got my grandma's recipe for "neon green" pickles aka lime pickles so I'll be making those tomorrow too, if I can find lime.

Canning does get easier right?

Farmer's Market Shopping

In our town we have a farmer's market every Saturday and it's become a tradition for my mom, my girls, and me to head there every Saturday morning. We decided to brave the rain today and see what bargains could be found.
Here's what I got...
17 ears of Incredible sweet corn $2
15 bell peppers $5
a huge bunch of carrots...all big and really good $1
a HUGE bucket full of cucumbers...free!!!!
Total spent at the market $8

Yesterday we stopped at a roadside produce stand after riding lessons and I bought the following...
dozen ears of corn $3
3 green peppers $1
2 candy onions $1
2lb of green beans $2
One pint of bread and butter pickles $2.50
* I also received 15 cucumbers from a friend for free and a zucchini from my husband's co worker for free.

We ate a dozen ears of corn and the rest will be cut off and frozen. I'll be cutting up all the peppers and onions to freeze. I'll be spending the day tomorrow making pickles and blanching the green beans. My parents, the kids, and I are planning on heading to a produce auction on Wednesday morning and I can't wait to see what kind of deals we'll find!!

Have you shopped your farmer's market lately?

Gearing Up for Homeschool!

One of my goals I wanted to accomplish before we head back to home school was to get at least two months worth of freezer meals done. Ideally, I'd like to have enough meals to last from August until the end of October and then do another freezer session in November. Currently I have 31 meals in my freezer which will probably last until the end of September because I usually use three meals per week from the freezer, the other days we grill, have homemade pizza, or soup. My husband likes at least two "fresh" meals a week like oven fried chicken or BBQ ribs. Now that I have 31 meals in the freezer I am working on a three month long menu plan based around our activities. The only thing I know for sure is that every Friday it's either homemade pizza or homemade Stromboli and Wednesday nights are homemade fast food because of church. I am hoping that having our meals planned will greatly reduce my stress during our school days.

Have you been working on any goals getting ready to head back to school? How do you handle meals during the year?

Wanna Hear a Secret?

Shhhhh, don't tell anyone in my house but guess what they had for dinner? TVP!! I have realized that as our family grows we need more and more hamburger at each meal. I use only one pound of hamburger for sloppy joe, tacos, lasagna, and other meals. I also like to have leftovers for lunch but don't want to raise our cost per meal. Solution?

TVP, I bought some and it has been waiting patiently on me to try it. Today was the day. Our meal plan went up in smoke due to some fresh veggies that we wanted to eat. I made sloppy joe with 1 lb of grass fed beef and some tvp. I didn't use much because I was testing the waters. I needed to be sure it didn't taste funny. Nobody noticed a thing. Yea me!!

Do you sneak food into other food?? If so I'd love to hear about it, my oldest hates his veggies and I need to start hiding them.

Hot Breakfast on the Run

My husband loves having a hot breakfast every morning. I would really like to be the wife who gets up at 6 in the morning and makes scrambled eggs, sausage or bacon, toast, fruit, etc. However in real life I'm usually still sleeping but my husband still needs to eat. I started feeling bad for him after I watched him search the kitchen for something quick to eat one morning and decided I needed to do something.

He doesn't like frozen bread or tortillas so making sandwiches ahead were out. However, I realized I could still make his food ahead of time. Every Monday morning I get up and make either sausage patties or bacon and bake a bunch of biscuits. Now, every morning all he needs to do is heat everything up and in 45 seconds he has a "fresh" hot breakfast!!

For more works for me ideas check out We are that Family

Kroger Close Out Deals

I found many close out deals in the Nature's Market at our local Krogers. Cereal, organic pasta, Kashi rice, Nature's Way Bugs mac and cheese, and many others.

Have you found any close out deals lately?

Getting my Groove Back

This past week our life has been a little different but today we're finally getting back to normal. I was able to do two loads of laundry and have them hanging on our clothes line. We also got the yard mowed and the raspberry patch and zucchini patch weeded. I've run two loads of dishes and am currently baking rolls for dinner.

The girls picked three grape tomatoes, we'll be picking at least two cucumbers tonight, and squash and zucchini later this week. My green bean plants have been eaten by some furry creature and so I only have a few of those on the plant ( well, what's left of my plants) I might be able to pick our broccoli later this week as well. My peppers aren't growing very fast, it's been too chilly here ( mid-July and the temp during the day is 75!!) I'm hoping they'll start growing soon. I planted a lot of plants because we like our peppers.

I put three more meals in the freezer today- Spicy herbed chicken, Dump Pepper Lime Chicken, and Monterrey Chicken kit. I plan on adding three more meals tomorrow and putting together our baking mixes.

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what is hopefully cooking at our house this week.

Breakfast
biscuits/bacon/eggs
yogurt/fruit/toast
biscuits/sausage patties/eggs
pancakes/hash browns
muffins/fruit
pancakes/bacon/fruit

Dinner
oven fried chicken/mashed potatoes/fried squash and zucchini/ rolls
Cuban pork/fried potato and onions/ cucumbers
fast food at home
orange chicken/rice/broccoli
Stromboli
grill- brats/sweet corn
grill- marinated flank steak/baked potato/salad

For more menu plans and ideas check out I'm an organizing junkie

Life's Ups and Downs

This past week as been unusual. I had a freezer session planned and got some of it done but then life threw a real wrench in the plan...our well for our water decided to get "sick" and we've not been able to use it other than to flush toilets and occasionally the dishwasher. We had to improvise a lot of meals and ended up staying in a hotel for a night. It's been crazy but hopefully the end is near. We also found out that a heating element went out in the hot water tank. Thankfully, we're renting so the landlord is taking care of everything.

I'm hoping this week will get back to normal!! Of course with five kids, a dog, and a cat what is normal anyway??

No Cooking Today

Instead of working on my freezer stash today the kids and I finished up their homeschool portfolios. Each year we are required to have an assessment and provide our portfolio for each student. I like to turn each one into a scrapbook for my kids. I know that at this point in my life I don't have time to complete huge scrapbooks so each year I take the time to really work on their portfolios.

Some of the items I include are-
* a page of their favorite things like color, food, book, song, Bible verse, hero, friend, etc.
* a Bible verse
* I also select a quote for each child. I found a great one from Winnie the Pooh for my struggling student this year!
* Pictures of friends, field trips, performances
* Samples of their school work
* book lists
* lists of computer games
* Lists of all their activities and achievements

The kids look at their old portfolios at least two or three times a year and I enjoy seeing how much they've grown and changed. I also like to see that we have really been getting work done and that they are learning!

For more works for me Wednesday ideas check out We are that Family

Filling the Freezer Pork edition

Today I threw a few more meals in the freezer...here's what I added today.

Roasted Lemon Turkey and peppers
Cuban Pork
Carolina Crock Pot Pork
Lemon Crockpot Pork Tenderloin

I got these recipes from the saving dinner website, so I'm not sure if I can post the recipes. If you're interested check out that site for awesome recipes.

Itch to Pitch...more trash!!

This week I have three bags going to Goodwill, one full bag of trash, and 2 tubs full of clothes to "sell" to once upon a child. I also need to stop at Half Price books and sell some of our homeschool curriculum.

My plan is to start back to homeschool on August 17 and I really really want to get rid of all our junk. I am overwhelmed at how much money is wasted buying junk. We have a new rule...no new toys unless it's a birthday, holiday, or the kids spend their own money.

We're also getting rid of clothes... how many shirts do I really need?!? My goal is five "go to town" shirts and a couple garden shirts. I find it's so easy to justify keeping all our clothes!

To see how others are getting rid of their clutter check out The Happy Housewife

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what's cooking this week at our house. You'll notice this is a pretty simple meal week, that's because I'm doing a huge freezer cooking session!! I am preparing two months worth of meals, planning our upcoming school year, and finishing our portfolio...cooking will have to wait!!

Breakfast...
yogurt/fruit/bacon
muffins/yogurt
pancakes
muffins/fruit or cereal
hashbrowns
bacon/pancakes

Dinner
Chicken sandwich/fries
meatball subs/salad/chips
3 packet roast/mashed potato/peas
hamburgers/fries
homemade pizza
grill-brats
grill-steaks/baked potato/salad/rolls

For more menu ideas check out I'm an organizing junkie

Filling the Freezer!

One of my goal's for the next week is to fill our freezer with meals as we are heading into a busy season in our family life. I want to have 20lbs of hamburger pre-cooked and ready to use in chili, tacos, sloppy joe, or pasta dishes, today I browned another 8lbs and my total in the freezer is 15lbs!! I have about 7lbs of raw hamburger in the freezer so I won't be buying anymore to brown.

I also cooked 2lb of chicken and I'll shred that and freeze to put in chicken noodle soup or jambalaya. Tomorrow I will be making three pork meals, two turkey meals, and several baking kits. My goal for baking kits is 10 muffin mixes, 10 double batch of pancake mix, 5 yellow cake mix, and 5 brownie mixes. I will post recipes for all meals I do tomorrow.

He's Home!

My oldest child has been gone for four long days. He went with our church on a mission trip and he was the first child to be gone that long without a parent or grandparent.
All his siblings cried themselves to sleep every night. Today we spent most of the day cleaning his room, making his favorite cookies ( whoopie pies) from scratch, and making welcome home signs.

He saw some powerful things. He has a new appreciation for what he has and how we live. Life isn't as simple as he thought it was. He met a child who was six who had been shot in the leg. He used to think his life "wasn't fair" now he knows just how unfair some kids lives really are.

He helped do a traveling VBS for children who can't go to church in the inner city of Cleveland. The first day they couldn't complete their route due to gang related killings. He helped bring Jesus to many different children this past week. I am so proud of him.

Cookin' Up a Storm

I am in the process of putting enough meals in our freezer to last two months. I planned on starting next week but due to not paying attention I had some fresh hamburger that needed used up.
The first thing I did was put 3lb of raw meat in a skillet and started browning it, while that was cooking I started chopping onions and peppers to put into a meatloaf mix. I don't cook our meatloaf first, I mix it all up and freeze in bags so all I need to do is thaw and cook. Here is a link to our favorite meat loaf recipe this is a great way to use up onions or green peppers from your garden.

Total meals completed today...
2 meals of meat loaf
3lb of hamburger cooked for use in sloppy joes, tacos, or chili

Frugal Friday

Here at our house things are about to get a little crazy. Summer is speeding by and we're heading into day camp for all four of my oldest, football season, our church VBS, soccer, and going back to homeschool. I know that if I'm not prepared this will also be a season of eating out- a lot, which means spending way too much money and costing us health also. What's a busy momma to do?

Next week is our last "lazy" week of summer, so I have planned a huge freezer cooking session. I went to "town" (Whole Foods/Trader Joe's) yesterday and bought two month's worth of food. I planned out what will happen each day of the week. My goal is two months worth of meals in my freezer.

Freezer cooking saves me money in two ways. First, I'm not tempted to eat out every day and that saves us at least $20 for every meal we eat at home versus fast food. Second, my grocery bill is usually cut in half. Here's an example, yesterday my girls and I went shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and I bought two months worth of many meats, "goodies", fruits, vegetables, and many other items. My total between the two stores was $300.00- now I know that sounds high but for our family of seven I could easily spend twice that amount in one month...this is for two months worth of dinners, lunches, and breakfasts!

I will still need to shop for fresh produce, milk, and eggs the next two months but having the garden will help with the vegetables and the rest I'll buy at local Mennonite stores, our local organic store, and our grocery store right beside our house. I am in need of a coupon break and need to break the chasing every deal disease I have caught.

Cooking once a month or for two months is a great way to save money and live a frugal life!! Stay tuned next week as I blog about having a huge cooking session with my little helpers. I'll be posting recipes, having my son take some pictures, and laying out our plan.

For more frugal Friday ideas check out Life as Mom

WFMW

We are a large family living in a small house, at times the clutter can be overwhelming. My husband enjoys coming home from work to a peaceful home, but with five kids 10 and under it can be difficult to keep our home peaceful. It can be hard to keep a content spirit when you look at other peoples clutter free homes and times I'm bitter about not having a much bigger home instead of counting the blessings that come with our current home.

One of the ways I'm trying to make our home appear bigger is by tossing all the clutter. It's no easy task, especially since we're homeschoolers and we have tons of books, games, and other educational supplies. I need to have the faith that God will provide things when we need them and not hold onto everything for "just in case". I'm looking through new eyes and noticing the piles of books and magazines on all the flat surfaces of our home. Our home is being taken over by the "unseen" clutter!!

I am really trying to simplify our life. I don't want to spend hours cleaning our home when it could be spent playing with the kids and when school starts not rushing through the day. We do not need all of our treasures. I want empty drawers, closet hangers that have no clothes on them, all toys and books to have a home. Getting rid of our clutter instead of organizing it works for me

Homestead Happenings

We had a stay at home day yesterday, we spent it de-cluttering even more...another two garbage bags full to throw away or give away.

I also got caught up on my weeding in our gardens. My broccoli is actually becoming broccoli....we have one very small head of broccoli growing. We were really excited about it...we've never grown it before and we eat a lot of it. Next year I'll definitely buy more than four plants since two of them were eaten by an unknown pest. The kids were excited to see that you can actually see beans on the plants now. Also today we'll pick our first cucumber of the year. We have six more on the way. I'll also pick our first pepper to have in salad tonight. Unfortunately my garden "helpers" pulled all the tops off of my onions so they're pretty much done. I can only find them if I accidentally hoe into them.

Today we have some errands to run, a couple library trips and we need to drop off my son's basketball camp money. The rest of the week will be pretty low key. Our oldest is going on a mission trip with our church for four days!! The girls and I will be finishing our purge of the house and a little from the basement.

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what's cooking at our house this week!

Breakfasts-
yogurt/fruit or frozen waffles
muffins
pancakes/bacon
yogurt/fruit...quick breakfast before riding lessons
hashbrowns
french toast in the crockpot

Dinner-
BBQ chicken/watermelon/salad
oven fried chicken/mashed potato/rolls/vegetable
hamburgers/fries
3 packet roast/potato/rolls
homemade pizza
dinner out...visiting the in-laws
grill...

For more menu plans check out I'm an Organizing Junkie

I've got the Itch to Pitch

I am in full de-clutter mode. We are gearing up to enter a very busy season in our life and I have this week and next to do two months worth of freezer cooking and completely de clutter and re-organize before we go back to school.

Today I worked on the master bedroom. I have four trashbags ready for Goodwill. One bag of trash and two tubs worth of clothes/baby items to take to a consignment store. Tomorrow will be the kids rooms and the kitchen.

Becoming a Homesteader

Our homestead challenge went well. I learned how to use cloth diapers which really has cut my need to play the drug store game. I have hung 99% of our laundry since the beginning of our challenge.

The kids and I have rediscovered a love for our local libraries and have saved $100 or more in borrowing books instead of buying them. We've also saved tons by borrowing dvd's from the library instead of the video store. I did subscribe to a magazine it's called Countryside and I totally love it. It has very helpful articles about homesteading and living frugally. I consider this a huge find and plan on keeping all the magazines to assist me in our journey.

The kids have been riding every week which is helping us to realize just how much work a horse is. It means no days off or vacation for the most part. Getting farm animals is a full time job that I'm not sure we're ready for. Our puppy is doing great. We love her!! I'm very glad we're taking small steps towards owning more animals.

The garden is doing great. We picked two red raspberries off the bush and we'll be picking some cucumbers and green peppers and yellow squash by the end of the week. We're also planning on heading to my Aunt's to pick black raspberries later this week. I hope this time we'll be able to have enough to snack on and to freeze.

I did find that we are on the go a lot more than I thought. I also see that I am grocery shopping way to often. My new goal is to avoid the store. I need to stick to cleaning out the freezer and stocking up on whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and baking supplies. I am planning a stock up trip to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's for baking supplies and meats. I also need to pick up some suckers for rewards since school will be starting before too long. I'm planning a large freezer session next week. My oldest is going on a work and witness trip for a few days this week. Next week will be the calm before the storm...basketball camp, fair, football starts, VBS at church, and then back to school! I would like to get two months worth of meals into the freezer. I'm also going to be organizing our homemade cook book and really kicking out the clutter to deep clean this week and next.

Did you learn anything new on your homestead journey?

Baking Day....

Today the weather is still chilly. Can you believe it? I baked a yellow cake from scratch and a huge batch of whoopie pies. My kids love these. I had been buying them from a Mennonite store by my mom's house for $4.99 for 8 cookies. Crazy I know but I didn't think I could make these. Today I did. I don't think I'll make them very often because they take forever to bake all the cookies. I won't be baking these much in the summer but the rest of the year I will add these into our baking schedule.

I am cleaning the house and then I'll make my chocolate icing for our yellow cake. The cake and the whoopie pies are going with us to our family cook out tomorrow night. I also have our steak, corn, and baked potatoes in the crock pot. I hope this turns out okay!!

Thursday Happenings

Who would have thought that we would need to break out the emergency coats in July for horseback riding lessons? It was only 59 degrees and rainy so lessons did get cut a little short but we had a good time. Since the weather was so chilly today I made some chicken noodle soup. I used up some frozen carrots and celery and an almost empty bag of egg noodles. I needed an onion and pulled a couple from the garden. It was a very satisfying dinner.

Our electric bill has been creeping up again. I'm not sure how because we aren't using the dryer, air conditioner, or t.v. much at all. I wash all clothes except diapers in cold water. We don't turn on the lights until 9 pm. I unplug everything through out the day that isn't being used. I am planning on cooking a lot from the two crock pots I have. I found some breakfast recipes and even bread recipes for the crock pot. I am excited to try them out.

Looking for Recipes!!

My husband leaves for work at seven in the morning. He works in a meat locker in temps under 35 degrees all day and I would like to send him off with a warm breakfast everyday. I have been looking at breakfast recipes that you can make in the crock pot that cook overnight.
I really don't want recipes that take 12 eggs in them, only two people here actually like cooked eggs so I'm asking you...

Do you have a tried and true crock pot breakfast recipe? If you do please share it! Imagine...waking up to breakfast being ready during the school year... no stress...no mess.

Homestead News

Our puppy is completely housebroken after only two weeks. She is a wonderful puppy. She fits our family just right. I am so glad we took her home!!

The garden is getting ready to produce!! You can actually see my little cucumbers growing! All pepper plants are in bloom and two are almost ready to pick. There are many green tomatoes on almost all the plants. The broccoli in our garden next door is huge but something ate it from our side garden. My raspberries and blue berry bushes are growing well.
We did clean out a little by our shed, enough to see that next year I will be able to plant back there as well. I am also going to be adding two extra garden beds surrounding our home.

Our used curriculum sale was yesterday. I didn't sell as much as I had hoped. There was a low turnout, not many people came at all. It was a little disappointing. However, I did get my son's math u see for next year for a really great price. He was excited!! I bought some fun books for the kids and myself. I also picked up a couple of toys that should keep my youngest two busy for a little while during school.

The weather is very chilly here. I think after riding lessons tomorrow we will do some baking. Brownies and maybe a yellow cake with chocolate icings. I will make up some freezer chocolate chip cookie dough as well. If things are going well I will also make up some pancake mixes, waffle mixes, brownie mix, and muffin mix. This summer is flying by and I like to have the house and kitchen in order before school starts again, so I will be doing more cooking for the freezer. I am pleased about the amount of crock pot recipes I have found lately and as we try them I will post them if they are great.