Ingredients:

• 2 t dehydrated onion (or heaping 1/2 t of onion powder – 1:3 ratio of powder to flakes)
• 1 t chili powder
• 1/2 t red pepper (I didn’t have any so I used cayenne pepper)
• 1/4 oregano
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 t cornstarch
• 1 t garlic (that jarred minced stuff) (or 1/2 t of garlic powder)
• 1 t cumin

Directions:

• mix all the ingredients in a bowl
• add mixture and 1/2 c of water to cooked meat, simmer for 10 minutes (or so)

Source: The Homesteading Housewife’s recipe

Jacob loved it.  I found it a bit spicy but Jacob didn’t taste any bite at all.  I won’t change a thing about it. Plus, I really like finding uses for my dehydrated onions from the cannery as well as for the jarred minced garlic, both add more flavor, I think, than their powdered counterparts.  You should try making your own, and feel liberated from packets!

Things haven’t changed much, except that we really tired of boxed cereal.  So we tried other things like eggs, oatmeal, bagels, and muffins.  I think we really like the convenience aspect of the latter two.  Jacob can grab his lunch and breakfast and eat them on his way or when he gets to work.  Yes we loose a bit of together time in the mornings but we agree that we get more out of our evenings together and if he leaves early he can get home earlier.

Back in August, when we were road-tripping through Pennsylvania we picked up a giant muffin tin.  It makes 6 muffins.  This doesn’t quite get us through the week but we don’t want to eat the same thing everyday anyway.  Be warned these muffins are more than one meal.  They are huge and we both usually break up our breakfast muffin into a 6:30 am meal and a 9:30ish snack.

We are still experimenting with recipes, they don’t all translate well from regular muffin size to giant size.  I think more structure (i.e. dry ingredients like flour and oats) and additional leavening (baking powder etc) are necessary.

We have tried a variety of recipes but haven’t had much luck.  This week we made some chocolate chip muffins.  They were really good! So here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.  (Feel free to go wild with your 3 cups.  I keep oats, wheat bran, wheat flour, and flax around and I am never shy to substitute parts of the flour amount with any of these.  I think this time I used about 2/3 a cups of wheat bran with a few table spoons of flax.  This always gives body and flavor to the baked good)
• Toss the chocolate chips with a tablespoon of the dry ingredients.  I have no idea what this does but Jacob liked the results (not that we have anything to compare to, I forgot to run a control experiment).  Remember to cut the chocolate if this is not a treat but a meal, 1/3 cup of chocolate per muffin is quite a lot!
• Mix the sugar and butter, by hand or mixer.  Add the vanilla extract and add the eggs one at a time.  Whip or beat until well mixed.
• Alternately add the dry ingredients and milk.  3 additions of the former and 2 of the latter (i.e. dry, milk, dry, milk, dry).  This mixes everything consistently.  And remember to scrape those sides.
• Finally, toss in the chocolate.
• Evenly distribute batter into lined muffin tin.
• Bake the muffins at 375˚F for 30 minutes, or until risen, set and a toothpick inserted into the center of each muffin withdraws clean. It’ll be hard to tell with all the chocolate but look for gooey light colored stuff and ignore the dark.
• Enjoy muffins for days on end!!

Anyway, although I already had these foundations in place that lead me to only buy shirts with sleeves and shorts that went to the knee, it seems to have still fallen short of the modesty lines drawn by the church (if you get my drift).  So I have been searching for ways to extend my wardrobe’s life as well as new clothes to add that are full modest in and of themselves. I feel that both routes are necessary, especially because I do not want to get rid of my lovely dresses that I stitched myself in high school that still fit!

My first attempt at increasing the length/life of my wardrobe was undershirts.  Nice ones that have enough coverage on the arms and chest and mid-drift that they can cover any piece of clothing’s “short-comings”.  The shirts I get are from Down East Basics.  I love these shirts.  They are too tight, for me personally, to wear by themselves but I just adore their perfect cap-sleeve length and perfect neckline.  I buy both the wonder-tee and the crew-neck tee.  The wonder-tee is just a bit more dressier, but pinches more under the arm (on occasion).  I buy the maternity kind for the length, and this lets me wear absolutely ANY of my shirts with jeans.  Being a tall-torsoed woman means I loose a lot of coverage especially with nice blouses, but who cares as long as there is an undershirt there instead of your skin or underwear.  And the length also give the option of layering, instead of tucking in, for a nice modern look.

But the origin of this post idea was my awesome bargain find!  I’m always looking at their site, well every couple of weeks recently I’ve been looking for deals and beautiful items.  And not long ago they had a sale: the shirts I love were half-priced!  Jacob found me a coupon and got an additional 30% off!  So with shipping the normal shirt of $10 plus shipping were each $5.25 even.  Oh my gosh I wish they had had more than 5 colors in my size, I would have bought them all!  But it’s probably good that I was able to spend less that $30.

I still love this meat, however it is new and different to my new husband.  A sandwich of only this meat is too foreign for him just yet.  So our current favorite way of enjoying my favorite meat is in Jambalaya!  But, if you know me you know I need a class of water when I walk past cajun seasoning; I just do not like spicy food.  So this idea would seem counterproductive. However, I found a really nice, calm/mellow recipe that we just love.

We started with using a box-rice dinner that I just had to add the meat too.  But with a bit of extra chopping, I get some (real) vegetables and a spice combination that I control, which is crucial for this genre of food.

The original recipe was submitted to allrecipes by Grant Michael.

• 2 t olive oil
• 1-2 cup chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 lb kielbasa, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• 1/2 t onion powder
• dash of salt and ground black pepper

• 2 cups uncooked white rice
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 3 bay leaves

• 2 t Worcestershire sauce
• 1 t hot pepper sauce

Saute first set of ingredients until onion is translucent (a few minutes). Then toss in rice and broth/stock and bay leaves.  Bring to boil, reduce heat for simmer, continue simmer for 25 minutes (that’s how long I cook all of my rice, it is always perfect).  Stir in sauces before serving.

I ususally have cooked chicken in my freezer and kielbasa is already cooked, so I just saute the vegetables with their spices for a few minutes, maybe toss the meat at the end with it all to heat it up (but the meat warms up in boiling water just fine).  But bite-size is the best way to cook up a couple chicken breasts quickly.  We used this amazing kielbasa that we found at our local warehouse store which had plenty of kick all in itself.

I actually left out the hot sauce (mainly because we don’t own any and I couldn’t see using it on other things) and it was still amazing.  Well, for me.  I would not recommend leaving this part out for the majority of families.  But it helps for picky eaters and can be added on a plate by plate basis.

Some possible yummy additions include: red beans, shrimp, Cajun seasoning, or a can of diced tomatoes.

Last night, I learned the meaning of the saying: turnabout is fair play.  I have been needing a hair cut for a while, and have most recently been contemplating donating to locks of love. But after measuring, I decided I would prefer a trim.  So Jacob grabbed our hair scissors and I brushed my hair and now my hair is quite a bit shorter.  He had to cut off more than I asked because there was so many dead ends, eek.   But I’d say he cut of around 4 to 5 inches and I’m so much happier.  I have no idea what he did.   I told him to cut a curve, but he rebelled and say straight would be easier for him.  Well, whatever he did was loads better than my hair was.  And no one has even noticed, which I’m taking as a good sign.

Maybe this isn’t the economy to be trying to do everything from home, but I have never been one to allow (meaning: pay) someone else to do something I am able to do myself.  That is how I was raised and I am happy to have a home where I can have room to make my own curtains and dinners and to cut our own hair.  I love doing things myself.  At Sam’s on Saturday Jacob and I had a discussion (meaning: disagreement) about rotisserie chicken.  I am against it on principle: I don’t want to be charged extra for some man hours they must put into it.  But Jacob had a good point in that recently I haven’t really had time to cook a chicken, or bake bread, which means that buying it, even at elevated costs, could prove necessary (bread, not chicken, I’ll find something, anything else to eat).   And I, maybe wrongly, believe that there are plenty of people still getting highlights, layers, and swept bangs that my sense of “duty” to the community is quite diminished.

Now for what you have all been waiting for:

BEFORE

AFTER

It is still long enough for my knot I love to wear, but waking up with Jacob on it and not being able to move is, I hope, a thing of the past.

I wonder what things other families are taking on the responsibility of in their homes that they used to go out for, or delegate to others.  I know one prevalent change I’ve seen wide-spread is eating.  Food and families have been brought together, sit down dinners are not just for the 1950’s any more.  Families are growing closer and getting back to the basics, by learning cooking (if not gardening as well).  What a beautiful thing, conversation, work and creativity rather than a hurried drive-thru.

So we bought all this for ~$250:

The boxes constitute the minimum food necessary for 2 people for 3 months, the flour is just an add-on we needed.  I must admit, I’m happy we have them.  But I am also excited to start stocking up on some things that will make life pleasant for those three months, not just bearable.  I mean we do have things to make bread, necessity but also yummy, and cookies, 72+ oz of chocolate chips, I think some more tomatos and sauce to go with our pasta, and some variety in vegetables, past canned peas, corn and green beans, but it’s a good start, eh?

It was a cost that was hard to swallow but it was definitely cheaper that we spend on even 2 months of food, and it gives a feeling of preparation.  And although we did jump in with food storage, it was not our first time near the “water”, we’ve been buying extras of canned goods since before we were married and we did not go into debt just to gather these things we came to feel were necessities.

Although they were a bit too tall to fit under our bed, we found a home for them under my hugely tall craft table, yay!  We use the half gallon mason jars to store the flour we got from Sam’s.  It is perfect for our bread flour because the jar holds exactly what I use to make bread, amazing.

I’m really working hard to incorporate beans into our every day diet.  Yesterday we put a can of kidney beans, warmed, on our taco salads.  Oh they were so yummy!  I’m really struggling with trying to figure out what to do with beans!  I love chili and I have enjoyed making Cajun Red Beans Lite (I’m not the hugest fan of spicy).  But what else to do with them?  I still need to do some research.  Everyone talks about puting them on salads but beans cold, that does not sound appealing to Jacob and I.  I don’t mind cooking them with some meat and onions, maybe making a bit of soup.  But I’ll have to see if I can find some more ideas.  I loved the warm beans on the salad though!

Oh and btw, popped wheatberries do not equal popped corn kernals. >.<

Ingredients:

• 1/2 T yeast
• 3/4 C water
• 1 T sugar
• 1 1/2 T oil
• 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 C flour (it’s always an estimate, especially when adding in wheat flour).

Proof the yeast in warm water with some sugar for energy.  Add the oil, then mix in enough flour for the dough to not be sticky, like any bread.  Then knead the dough until it is smooth.  One might let it rest for a bit, but we just roll it right out on our counter then transfer it to a corn-mealed pizza stone.  Top with favorite toppings. Bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes.

One awesome thing about breads is that ingredients are always on hand (at least in my house).  The toppings are where a shopping trip might be in order…or not.  One day I made dough, just to realize that we were out of mozzarella cheese, oh no!  But we always have a 2 lbs block of cheddar sitting in the fridge, yeah we love that cheese.  I was so worried it would ruin our dinner, having that yellow mess on our pizza, but it turns out using what you have can lead to great discoveries.  Cheddar, Ham, and Pepperoni are our new favorite toppings.  Jacob never liked ham on a pizza without pineapple but he is now converted!  Be sure to experiment explore and toss some veggies on there too.

Last night the stars aligned.  My parents had just brought us fresh eggs, we had left over heavy cream from an meal earlier this week, and I wanted fresh strawberries.  Late in the evening we threw this cake together and ran out in search of fresh strawberries while it baked.

This is an amazingly simple recipe; it is brilliant.  The eggs give it such weight and the cake comes out with the perfect crusty outside and the deliciously yellow spongey inside.

So it is not exactly a “pound” cake, with a pound of everything.  But what I love about this recipe is that it is not too much cake.  Well and not being a traditional baker, I do not have many special pans.  This cake is made in a 9″x13″ casserole dish.  Ours was extracted from the glass dish without need for butter or flour lining, but it is suggested to do both.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter at room temperature (please for all things good, do not substitute margarine here)
• 3 C sugar
• 3 C all-purpose flour (sifted, then measured)
• 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
• 6 eggs

Cream the first two ingredients.  Then add the remaining ingredients in order.  I scrambled my eggs a bit before adding to the mixture so that I could mix them in faster.  Bake it 325 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Our did not take the entire time (only about 1 hour) so I would start toothpick checking it around 50 minutes.  We ate it with fresh strawberries and the remainder of our pint of heavy cream whipped with some sugar into a fluffy topping.

The cake would be great by itself or with some ice cream or any other fresh fruit, expecially peaches.  I wonder what else it could be good with?

Ingredients for meat sauce:

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1 1/2 t granulated garlic (or 6 cloves of garlic)
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 t each salt and pepper
• 1/4 C heavy cream
• 28 oz puree tomatoes
• 2 14.5 oz of diced tomatoes

Cook onion in oil.  Add the granulated garlic right before adding the meat.  Then brown the meat and season with salt and pepper.  Add the cream and allow to warm.  Add tomatoes, then allow to simmer for a few minutes.  (A lid is preferable so that now you can work on the cheese filling).

Ingredients for cheese filling:

• 15 oz Ricotta cheese
• 1/2 to 1 c of Parmesan cheese (I’m sure the fresher this is, more would be better)
• 1/4 C basil leaves (I don’t like too much salad crunchiness in my lasagna so I reduced this to 1/4 C)
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/2 t each salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients until smooth.  Pretty simple huh?

Remaining Ingredients:

• 16 oz Mozzarella, shredded.  (We just bought block and shredded it ourselves, probably the best way to go with most of these ingredients)
• 12 oven-ready lasagna pasta pieces (one box, in most cases)

Now lay out the pasta, and top each with the ricotta mixture.  This makes it easier to evenly distribute the cheese filling.

In the bottom of a 9″x13″ casserole dish place a bit of sauce, just to keep the pasta from sticking/burning. Lay three pasta/cheese pieces in, pasta on the bottom.  Top the layer with mozzarella and then sauce.  Repeat twice: pasta/cheese, mozzarella, sauce. But with the last three turn them upside down and place the pasta on top of the cheese.  Top this with the last of the sauce and then the end of the cheese.

There is an awesome diagram of the layers at the end of the CfE recipe.  One important factor is to try to keep things even.  I put my shredded cheese in a measuring cup and divided it into 4 portions.  The sauce can be more eye-balled but pay attention!

This meal was amazing.  Jacob really enjoyed it.  We ate it for like a week as leftovers.  And with a base like this the recipe can be modified to your tastes, like more mozzarella, more herbs in the sauce maybe, or different meats, or no meats at all and some more vegetables.

This may take a while to understand, find the ingredients, and put together, but let me tell you.  It is worth it!

I decided to take matters into my own hands.  The first time Jacob let me cut his hair he was scared to death.  Ok, I would have been too.  I had never used scissors on a head of hair, unless you count that time I was sent home from school, but that boy’s hair just walked into my scissors!

Since that scary first-try, we have bought a Flowbee.  I grew up on a flowbee.  My sister was the only one in the family with hair that did not fit in the flowbee, so we all got hair cuts from home.  It really is a miracle machine.  It gives such a consistent cut.  You can just write down the entire family’s length and give them the same hair cut every time.  And for Jacob we just leave on the length he likes; the only time we change it is when I put on the angle trimmer.

What I really love is that the flowbee takes the guesswork out of the hair cut.  This also means that it can be done in a reasonable amount of time with absolutely no training on my part.  I can handle neck trimming and treating around the ears, and I’m learning sideburns (but I like them way longer than he does…darn).  So the little snips are easy enough.

I start with the flowbee, and before I used a flowbee, the goal is to get the entire head of hair the same length.  Once this is accomplished I trim around the ears.  I never touch his bangs, that length seems to work, but Jacob hates hair in his ears, or touching his ears.  I connect the trimmed ears around the neck and follow his neckline to see where it lies well.  I can trim his neck pretty high with it still looking good.

The last thing that is just personal to him, I assume, is what he calls his “wings.”  This term incompasses several problems he finds with his hair, all residing around his temples and above his ear.  Sometimes it can be extra poofy here and I need to thin it out.  And it also refers to extra hair falling into his face, he likes a sharp line around his face.

Cutting hair at home can be an adventure.  It can build trust.  It saves us a lot of money.  Yes there is an initial investment of flowbee and electric trimmer kit, but we enjoy not throwing our money to some person who does a job we aren’t even satisfied with anyway.  I really love how patient my Jacob is with me and my learning process, it is key to our enjoying this activity.

Our next goal is to have Jacob try to cut my hair, just a little trim to keep the split ends to a minimum.  I have a lot of hair, so a lot of fudge-room, but that way we could both be removed from salon process.