Thrifty Thursday

Pin It Time again for Thrifty Thursday!

These are just perfect for my rooster and chicken collection!

Wire chicken basket to hold fresh eggs ....

and little vintage rooster egg cups!

Cost of these great finds .... basket $2.99 and the egg cups .... $4.00 for the set of six! 

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Pumpkin Pie

Pin It Time for pumpkin pie!!  No, it isn't Thanksgiving but I have had a craving for pumpkin pie and I have been trying to clean out the freezer of last year's harvest. 

I swear, cleaning out the freezer is going to add a few pounds around the middle but who can resist pumpkin pie?

We are gifted alot of fresh produce from our close neighbors Dave and Liz.  Their gardens are HUGE and since there is only the two of them (all their children are grown and out on their own) they are very generous in sharing their bountiful harvests.  Dave loves to grow the vines .... pumpkin, squash, cucumbers, zucchini ... you get the picture.  He considers it a big challenge to grow the biggest and most abundant vine vegetables in the State!  Well last year he must have gifted us over 200 pounds of zucchini, squash and pumpkins ... yes, you read that right ... 200 pounds.  Now you understand why I need to pump up the baking as to clean out the freezers!

Loving this recipe for pie crust, it is the only one I use and if you read their post ....the recipe is from the Farm Journal Pie Cookbook of 1965!!!!  That was the year I was born!

After I prepare the crust, I move onto the pie.  Since I use pumpkin from the garden and not from a can, I use this method to freeze our pumpkin in the fall when we either harvest it or are gifted some.

To prepare fresh mashed pumpkin...

Use 1 1/2 pounds of skin-on, raw pumpkin to yield 2 cups of mashed. Halve pumpkin and scoop out seeds and stringy portions. Cut pumpkin into chunks. In saucepan over medium heat, in 1 inch of boiling water heat the pumpkin to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. Drain, cool and remove the peel. Return pumpkin to the saucepan and mash with a potato masher.                        

       

After preparing the mashed pumpkin, I freeze it in containers or freezer bags in 2 cup portions.  When planning on baking a pie, remove from freezer, thaw well and strain through cheesecloth to remove excess water.

I use this recipe for pumpkin pie and have never been disappointed!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C)

Ingredients -

2 cups mashed, cooked pumpkin

1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl with mixer speed on medium, beat pumpkin with evaporated milk, eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Mix well. Pour into the prepared crust. Bake 40 minutes or until when a knife is inserted 1 inch from the edge comes out clean.  
             

Sorry for this picture ..... I had to take it quick before the last piece was snapped up!

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Tuesday's Tip

Pin It I have been doing alot of sewing which involves alot of cutting.  My self-healing cutting mat was beginning to look a tad bit over used and abused.

My first thought was to dig deep into the wallet and try to find a great deal on a new one.  Envisoning a bigger mat where I could cut even more fabric for even more projects made my heart skip a beat ..... BUT .....

then the frugal side of my brain clicked in and thought, "what I am thinking?!"  There is nothing wrong with the cutting mat I have and new mats can be pretty expensive so where did I turn?  The web, my friend.

My cutting mat is an Olfa mat so I thought I would start there.  Well exactly 2.6 seconds later after entering 'Olfa Cutting Mats' in the search bar, I was directed to the official Olfa Cutting Mat site which explains exactly how to care for and treat your mat!  Who would have thunk?

After some reading which didn't take long at all, I thought I would give their tips and suggestions a try.  There was no harm in it and it could save me some money.

First lay your mat in cool water with either a little vinegar or dishsoap.  Using cool water ensures that the mat will not warp.  I laid my mat in the bathtub as my kitchen sink is not big enough.

Then the site suggests using either a scrubbie type sponge or a mushroom brush to gently scrub the surface of the cutting mat which will help to remove the link that can be caught in the cutting 'grooves'. 

I used a sponge that had a scrubbie pad on one side.  It worked very well.

While letting the mat soak for approximately an hour in the vinegar water bath, I decided to also change the blade on my rotary cutter.

The mat was then carefully dried with a fluffy bath towel after removing it from the bathtub.

Extremely pleased with the results, I am now ready to tackle some sewing with a sharp blade and a clean, healed mat.  Ignore the white slotches on the mat .... that's what happens when you use it as a drop cloth while painting something!  So if your mat looks as bad as mine did, just give it a bath and it will be as good as new!

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Parsley Pots

Pin It We use alot of herbs and spices in our kitchen.  Occasionally my dear hubby loves to don an apron and cook up a storm and when he does, he throws everything into the pot but the kitchen sink.

He especially likes to use fresh herbs, as do I, so we try to keep them growing all through the year.

The kitchen window ledges we have are perfect for holding little herb pots and well, the parsley pot was beginning to look a little sad.  It had been growing most of the winter and I had trimmed it and used it constantly but the plant kept on producing! 

It was time to change the soil, add new seeds and start over.  We always have two pots of parsley on the go .... yes, we use that much parsley!  Taking out all my supplies I notice that I better pick up some more herb seeds next time I am at the feed store ... we are running a little low.

I had picked up these little pots at Goodwill last year and just love them.  They are the perfect size, I love how they have 'HERBS' printed on the front and they are green!  My favorite color.

Well, now that the second pot of parsley is planted, onto planting the basil and oregano!  Doing little things like this reinforces our desire to be as self-sufficient as we can on our old homestead and it is such an easy task!

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Surfing Leads to Success!

Pin It I love food ..... and I have the hips to prove it.  I especially love food since I stopped smoking on January 1st of this year.  Everything tastes better .... my taste buds have come back to life so I am enjoying lots of new-found flavors and savoring the old ones!

These last few days have been dreary and rainy which encourages surfing the web.  While surfing, I found this.  Well bread is my downfall, especially homemade bread.  I have tried making bread from scratch with my own two hands and have been somewhat successful .....  (now I just use my bread machine so I will be 100% successful) .... but I was drawn to this recipe ..... by gosh Country Momma called them Easy Yeast Rolls so they had to be easy right?

After digging out all the ingredients, as you notice there aren't many of them, my darling husband starting drooling with the thought of fresh, homemade rolls to have with dinner. 

Setting up the kitchen counter top for my millionth attempt at making homemade dinner rolls the old fashioned way, I was surprised to watch as the yeast actually did start to foam like Country Momma said it would!

This might be good .... excitement was beginning to build and I was anxious to keep at it, following the instructions exactly as to not make any mistakes.

After carefully adding all the ingredients and mixing well ..... unfortunately I do not have a Kitchen Aid mixer, I just use a wooden spoon and lots of muscle ..... I kneaded the dough until smooth, covered it in oil and let it sit to rise for the hour.

The dough rose so nicely!  Just perfect.  I was so excited but other attempts looked just as good at this stage so I tried not to get too hyped up.  I knew it was the taste that mattered when pulled hot out of the oven.

I shaped the dough into twelve small buns and divided them between my 'new to me' muffin tray and my snowman pie plate.  Now I know winter is over but my regular pie plate was being used for Shepard's Pie at the time.  LOL

The dough seemed to rise faster the second time.  I don't think it took any longer than 30 minutes to be double in size.  Pre-warming the oven, my taste buds started to jump anticipating yummy dinner rolls.

It was very difficult to let the rolls cool enough before we could sink our teeth into them .... yes, they were VERY easy to make but best of all ....

they were the BEST dinner rolls I have ever made!!!!  I HIGHLY recommend this recipe!  Just perfect with some homemade dandelion jelly.  Don't worry, this isn't an April Fools joke, they really are easy and delicious!  LOL

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!