…offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God… Romans 12:1-2
Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
1 egg
½ tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chopped onion
½ tsp dill weed
½ salt
¼ black pepper
Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Roll into balls, then flatten to form patties.
3. Preheat a lightly oiled, frying pan.
4. Cook on medium heat.
5. When browned on both sides transfer to a paper towel lined plate to allow the extra fat to drain off.
Ingredients:
1 cup of creamy peanut butter
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp vanilla
Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together. Using a small spoon, scoop up the cookie dough and roll into 1-2 inch sized balls.
2. Place onto a baking pan and press the tops down with a fork, making the classic peanut butter cookie design!
3. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.
*Recipe makes 2 dozen cookies
The Easiest Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
5oz can of chicken breast
½ cup mayo
1 tbsp sweet relish
1 chopped green onion
1 small garlic clove, minced
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp sugar
¼ tsp pepper
¼ onion powder
Directions:
1. Mix together all ingredients.
2. Serve plain, with bread, or crackers. Enjoy
With the upcoming Homestead Move and the recent goodbyes to our livestock, the homestead kids were definitely feeling the emotions pretty strong. Besides my oldest daughters’ working dog Cami, they’ve always had animals to care for, play with and love!
What could we do that would occupy their thoughts and time, would benefit the homestead and be small enough to travel with us?
A cat, of course!
…So meet Tiger- Our newest addition to the Homestead. He’s the perfect feline friend; loves attention, but wants his freedom.
Not only has he been great for the kids but we’ve come to learn that there’s actually many benefits in having a homestead cat:
Mice and rats. The most obvious job of a cat is to control the population of rodents. Every homesteader at some point while storing livestock food has had some trouble with mice and rats. But no sign of any now that Tiger is here.
Very low maintenance. Feed once a day and he gets his water from the creek. Tiger stays outside so there’s no need for a litter box. And unlike my oldest daughters daily dog chore of the ‘poop scoop’. My youngest daughter, caretaker of Tiger, doesn’t bother because he buries his.
They eat bugs! Yes, Bugs. I couldn’t believe it either until I seen Tiger chasing a bug. Not only beneficial if your overrun with pests but highly entertaining to watch!
Everybody has their favorite way to make mashed potatoes but this recipe is by far the tastiest and the creamiest I’ve tried.
Ingredients:
3lbs potatoes (cubed)
4 tbsp butter
½ cup sour cream (add more if needed)
1 clove garlic
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Directions:
1. Place cubed potatoes and garlic clove in a pot and cover with water.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Cook on low for 20 minutes.
4. Drain water.
5. Add butter, sour cream, salt and pepper.
6. Mix on high until creamy or your desired consistency.
7. Serve and Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 package yeast
2¼ cups warm water
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
5 – 5 ½ cups of flour (finely ground)
Directions:
1 .Dissolve yeast in warm water, add sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups of flour. Beat until smooth.
2. Stir in remaining flour ½ cup at a time, until a smooth dough ball forms.
3. Knead for 10 minutes.
4. Lightly oil bowl. Cover and set in a warm place, let rise 1 ½ – 2 hours until doubled in size.
5. Punch down and divide in half.
6. Shape each into a loaf and place in oiled loaf pans.
7. Cover and allow to rise an additional 1 hour or until doubled in size.
8. Preheat oven to 375.
9. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and hollow when tapped.
10. Transfer from loaf pans to a wire rack and allow to cool.
11. Slice and enjoy!
Ingredients:
¼ cup orange juice
3 ripe bananas
½ cup frozen mangos
½ cup frozen strawberries
½ cup (any flavor) kefir
1 scoop super blend
Instructions:
In a blender, combine all ingredients, blend until smooth. Add orange juice until desired consistency.
Serve, Drink and Enjoy!
We recently had to say goodbye to some very close friends, our goats…
And let me be the first to admit, it was hard. My heart still hurts just thinking about them being gone.
Years ago when we started homesteading we bought a pregnant nanny at the local flea market, brought her home and two days later she gave us two beautiful doelings.
My girls pick out which one was whose and named them. We watched them grow into beautiful mature does and become mothers.
Later we added more goats to the herd and ended up with a hardy group! They were our strong, free range, friends. They had become part of our family and have given us some great memories!
But to live the life we’ve planned, we had to relocate them while we had the chance to give them a good home.
Driving cross-country with six kids and a dog is going to be adventurous enough, there’s no way we could’ve taken the goats with us, but I’ll admit, it was planned out a few times!
…It’s hard letting go…but we’re one step closer!
There are many wonderful benefits of grinding your own flour. It’s high in B vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, iron, and fiber.
Most commercial flour has had the bran and germ removed, which is what makes up about 40% of wheat, where most of the nutrients are located.
Ever wondered why store brought breads and flours can last for months on the shelf? Because they’ve been stripped and processed leaving them with very little nutritional value.
Freshly ground flour goes rancid within three days if not stored in the freezer.
Another thing, whole wheat berries that are stored properly can last up to 30 years or longer. Amazing! Talk about food preparedness!
Proper storage for whole wheat berries is to simply store in a dry environment. Airtight plastic buckets make great containers.
When my family first began grinding our own wheat we used a hand grinder, then after at least a year we purchased a motor attachment to make things easier.
It burned up within the first week. The next one didn’t last long either.
So, we were hand grinding again.
We finally decided that if this was going to be a big part of our life we needed to invest in a good grinder, one that could handle grinding at least 4-6 cups of flour daily.
After much shopping around and reading many customer reviews we decided to invest in an attachment for the kitchen aide mixer.
Great investment!
I grind almost daily, and sometimes I’ll even grind my flour for the upcoming week and store in the freezer.
The motor in the kitchen aide is strong and can handle it.
Here is the links to the mixer, attachment, and the whole wheat berries.
I highly recommend checking it out!
My kids (and husband) love eating raw cookie dough…So each time I make a batch I feel like I’m on some kind of a secret mission to whip these up and stick them in the oven before anyone notices.
These literally take minutes to prep, then 10 minutes to Bake.
Simple and Quick!
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, melted
½ cup of sugar
¼ cup of packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 egg
1 ½ cups of flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup of chocolate chips
Instructions:
The Pilgrim Homestead 