Photo Shoot

I really enjoy taking pictures, my dream is to have a really nice camera!  My friends wanted me to do a photo shoot of them this last weekend and here they are, they are sweet sweet friends of mine married 9 years with four children.

Healthy Oat Applesauce Muffins

I have lots of recipes to add this week, now to just find the time to do it.  Here is a new favorite whole wheat oat applesauce muffins, these are so versatile and Low Fat!

First mix together:

1 c. quick oats

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. applesauce

1 c. buttermilk

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

And as you wish a handful of dried cranberries, or raisins, or choc. chips and raisins, the ideas are endless!!!

Pour into greased muffin pan and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown or 20 min.

These are very tasty and the kiddos loved them!!!

Healthy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Scones

What to make on a cloudy morning, no butter, not much oil?  Healthy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Scones, these are so fun and easy.  Simple to make and fun for kids as you do not pat them out like regular scones, simply drop them out like biscuits.  These are absolutely scrumptious with a cup of Joe!!! Enjoy!

Mix together:

1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. white flour
1 tsp. cream of tarter
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. white sugar
3 T applesauce
2 T water
1/2 c. milk
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I love to use mini-chips)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together and drop by large rounded tablespoons onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 min. Makes a Perfect Dozen!!!

My Mother

Today's post is in response to Kelli's Blog and her Show & Tell Friday!

I am happy today to show and tell my mother, a picture of my mother that is.  This photograph was taken when she was 3 years old and I absolutely adore it. My Grandmother gave me this frame when I was a teenage (my Father's mother) and I thought it was perfect for this picture. Means a lot to me! My Mom is my best friend!

Homemade Egg Noodles (How to)

Growing up we did not have much money at all, well let's just be honest we didn't have money. ;-)  So on our birthday we got to pick what meal mother would fix for us, and one of my favorites was homemade chicken noodles and angel biscuits.  Here below I have a step by step process on the making of homemade egg noodles, such comfort food!

You will Need:

• 2 cups white flour
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/4-1/2 cup water

Measure flour into bowl, make a well in center and add egg yolks, whole egg and salt.  With hands thoroughly mix egg into flour. Add water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. (Add only enough water to form dough into a ball.)

Turn dough onto well-floured cloth-covered board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Cover, let rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 4 equal parts.

Roll dough, 1 part at a time, into paper thin-thin recntangle, keeping remaining dough covered. Roll rectangle around rolling pin; slip out rolling pin.

Cut dough crosswise into 1/8-inch strips for narrow noodles and 1/4-inch stripes for wide noodles. Shake out stripes and place on towel to dry. about 2 hours.

(NOTE:  I do not roll my dough out paper thin, I am sure it is a personal preference, I also do not have a noodle cutter so a pizza cutter works great or a large knife.  I was in a hurry when I made this batch and it only air dried about 45 min., and they still tasted wonderful! )

When dry break dry stripes into smaller pieces. Cook in 3 quarts boiling water 12-15 min. or until tender.  If you are making chicken noodles add the noodles to your pot of cooked chicken and broth.

Finished product, as you can see my noodles are very thick!  Nothing like it on a chilly fall day, it's great with Amish Bread too!

Natural Lighting

As my desire to live off the grid one of the funnest ways to do so for me is non-electrical lighting.

Candles, oil lamps, lanterns, and the list goes on.  The types and varieties are endless and as I inspect them all my wish list grows longer.  But I try to make the wisest and most economical decisions in way of lighting.

I stumbled upon Lehman's BEST candles and may I say I was impressed.  As I have been watching many BBC episodes as of late I find myself watching and looking at the different candelabra's, candlesticks, wall sconces, and lanterns they used.

So one day while at the thrift store I spotted a pair of brass weighted candlesticks for 49 cents each!  I couldn't believe it, I have one pictured below.  Then one day as a surprise my honey brought me home a mirrored wall sconce to help reflect the light.

Lehman's Best candles can be found by clicking Here

The picture above was taken in my bathroom and I was very pleased how just one candle lit the room.

And here is the lovely wall sconce DH picked up at Surplus City for $9.  I have also been looking on ebay under antique wall sconces.  I much admire the tin wall sconces that are round and reflect light.  A wall lantern would be lovely and a double wick lantern!  I am not sure why but they all just fascinate me!!!

Fall Decorating

Fall is one of my most favorite seasons, and I enjoy decorating for it a little, I don't spend hardly anything on my decor, and really less is more!

(Before I go further don't forget to enter the free drawing below, the winner will be announced Monday evening)

Entryway

The front door!

My mini herb garden

The Kitchen Table, this tablecloth is from Dollar General for $1.

This is my new canister, my honey suprised me one day with this wonderful Anchor Hocking canister from Surplus City, what a blessing!

A wonderful gift from our little Black Bantam Cochin Frizzle hen, we call her Feather Duster!

The Almighty thrown! ;-)

Free Period Clothing Patterns

Buy This at Allposters.com

I was thrilled tonite when I stumbled upon a site with free period clothing patterns and diagrams.

There I found free patterns for civil war era, victorian, edwardian, gentlemen and children.

Buy This at Allposters.com

Although I myself am not a very good seamstress I thought I would pass this along to my blogging friends, feel free to post other free sites that you know of along these lines!

The site may be visited by clicking here

Other Period Patterns:

Article Featuring Costumes, Patterns, and More

Amish Breakfast Casserole

I thought it would be a fun tradition to start cooking a yummy breakfast casserole on Sunday mornings before church. When I found the ingredients to this one I was for sure it would be yummy, and it WAS! I have made one other breakfast casserole that was very very tasty, the recipe for it is from an Irish Bed & Breakfast and I will post that recipe soon too!

First I fried 12 oz. of turkey bacon until crispy with 1 small onion.


Meanwhile stir together:

6 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups frozen shredded hash browns
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 1/4 cups shredded Swiss cheese

Then crumble your bacon, I cut mine with scissors, turkey bacon doesn't crumble like regular bacon. Add it to the ingredients above.


Then spread into a greased 9 x 13 cake pan.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35-40. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.


My kids loved it and it went wonderful with a cup of coffee! ;-)

Enjoy!

Blueberry Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes

Earlier in the summer we picked blueberries at a nearby patch, the kiddos really enjoyed it and we have been enjoying baked goods made with blueberries.

The other morning I made blueberry whole wheat pancakes, we really enjoyed them with raw honey drizzled on top and thought I'd share. It called for soy milk, but I used our fresh cow milk instead.

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups soy milk
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup frozen blueberries


DIRECTIONS
Preheat a lightly oiled griddle over medium heat.
In a large bowl, mix whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a small bowl, mix oats and soy milk. Whisk in eggs and olive oil. Pour into the flour mixture all at once. Continue mixing until smooth. Gently fold in blueberries.
Pour batter about 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared griddle. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, until bubbly. Flip, and continue cooking until lightly browned. Recipe can also be found here

Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

I did some fall decorating yesterday (I will post pics soon hopefully) and what a great way to bring in the fall season but with peanut butter no bake cookies.

I had forgot about this recipe, I had made it frequently a couple of years ago, but we just love them and all the ingredients are in your kitchen!


Peanut Butter No-Bakes

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup of butter or margarine
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 evaporated milk (I did not have this on hand so I used fresh milk with cream in it)
2 cups quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt

1. In a saucepan, combine the su gar, butter, flour and milk. Bring to a full rolling boil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients all at once. Blend well.
3. Drop tablespoonfuls onto wax paper or aluminum foil. Cool completely before serving or storing.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies, a great evening fall snack!

Amish Bread and Egg Salad Recipe

This morning I made Amish bread, it is my new favorite bread recipe. It calls for all white flour but I have been adding 3 cups of fresh ground prairie gold wheat and 3 cups of white. It is delightful made into egg salad sandwiches, I will post my egg salad recipe as well.

Amish White Bread Recipe

2 cups warm water (110F)

2/3 cups white sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

6 cups white flour (or 3 cups wheat, and 3 white)

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in the warm water, add yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam, about 10 minutes.

2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Work in 6 cups of flour. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in well oiled bowl, and turn once to coat the entire surface of the dough with oil. Cover with a clean damp cotton cloth. Allow dough to rise until double in size. (Mine took about an hour).

3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves and place into well oiled 9x5 loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.

4. Bake in a 350F oven for 30 minutes. When you thump the top of the bread it should sound hollow.For a buttery crust, brush hot loaves with butter. Cool on a rack and enjoy! Also find the recipe here

Marie's Egg Salad Recipe

8 hard boiled eggs

1/4 cup mayo

Squeeze of Spicy Brown Mustard

Squeeze of Yellow Mustard

Lemon Pepper

Seasoned Salt

After my eggs are done, I dice them up and then add my mayo, squeeze of mustards, and lemon pepper and seasoned salt to taste. I just sprinkle it across the eggs lightly, so I'm not sure how much I use.

This is a salty flavor and I love the contrast with the sweet Amish bread, it's a family hit!

Cooking on an Open Fire

Sunday after church we hurried home to make a skillet dinner on an open fire, for the first time. It was so much fun, before church that morn Steve had added a couple of logs to the fire so it would still be going when we got home.

I was nervous about burning it or it not being hot enough, etc. But we had purchased a metal grate that sits in your pit and I had it just to the side of the flame and it worked perfect. Here is the recipe we used below. I forgot to add my squash out of the garden but we also added a can of corn at the end, very tasty.





Here is the Recipe:


Cast Iron Skillet Dinner
1 Package Polish Sausage (any kind you like)
3 Sweet Potatoes
3 White Potatoes
1 Large Onion
2 Bell Peppers (1 green/1 red)
2 Medium Yellow Squash
Vegetable oil Directions:Using your favorite skillet, heat oil then add sliced sweet potatoes and begin cooking. Cut other ingredients as listed and add them as you cut. Add sausage last (if precooked) and cook until potatoes are soft. Best when cook on a campfire but works fine on stove.

It can also be found here

It was much fun, then that evening I took a piece of foil and cut up white potatoes, squash and onions in chunks, threw them in the foil added a glob of butter and seasonings. rolled it up tight and then I put it in the ashes, left it there for about 1-1/2 hours, the kids and hubby loved it!

Camping

John Bull, Holiday Tents Camping Beaches Seaside Magazine, UK, 1950

Since we are new to the beginnings of homestead life something we had never done was camping. Growing up we camped out every summer but me and my honey have not yet. This weekend we had a wonderful "date" in our backyard. We set up a tent and camped out. We had a fire going and the next morning I cooked homemade fried egg sandwiches with homemade Amish bread (I will post the recipe soon). Steve made coffee in our new coffee pot w/percolator and it tasted wonderful. Steve milks a cow with our neighbor so we had "real" cream to put it in, I must say it was the most splendid cup of Joe I have ever had.

We had a delightful time and it got us thinking that we would like to start cooking on an open fire in our back yard. We are hoping to find some great Dutch Oven recipes to cook on a open fire, feel free to post links and recipes of your fav and if you like doing this post ideas, etc.