First things first. This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click a link within this post and then purchase something, I receive a percentage of your purchase total as a commission. This does not cost you anything extra, but it sure does bless my family and my blogging efforts…and we totally appreciate that! I purchase turkey around the holidays when it’s at rock bottom prices. At what other point in the year can you get meat for .50 cents/lbs or cheaper?! You get the meat, plus you can make a fantastic broth with the carcass. Canning meat kind of weirded me out, to be honest. I’ll eat tuna fish, but I’ve never been able to enjoy canned chicken breast or other meats. And in my mind, they pretty much all equated to Spam. ::shudder:: BUT, I kind of got over that after reading many other mamas talking about how much better home canned meats taste than store-bought, and obviously since you’re canning them at home, there are no weird unpronouncable ingredients to worry about. So, I decided to give it a try. I had 2 turkeys. A 16 pounder and a 20 pounder. This yielded me about 20 pints of canned turkey, plus lots of broth. I froze the excess broth that I didn’t need for canning. Raw Pack vs. Hot Pack? It’s possible to raw pack turkey. I was tempted to go this route because I thought it would make my life easier. However, I read several sources encouraging me to roast the turkeys one day, take all the meat off the carcass once it cooled, and then on Day 2 […]
Homemade Mayo
SOYBEAN OIL, WATER, WHOLE EGGS AND EGG YOLKS, VINEGAR, SALT, SUGAR, LEMON JUICE, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (USED TO PROTECT QUALITY), NATURAL FLAVORS. That’s the list of ingredients on a jar of storebought Mayo. Admittedly, it’s not as devious as some of the other condiments we may find in our fridge or pantry. But it’s still not great. Soybean oil? I’m not a huge soy fan. Added Sugar? Why? And the mysterious “natural flavors” thing. I won’t comment on calcium disodium EDTA…because that would require me to have a single clue as to what it is. And I don’t. I sort of rejected the idea of homemade mayo (I don’t have time for that!!) until I was making a mac salad recently and realized that I was out. We really don’t use a whole lot of mayo in our house. I’d say I buy a small jar 3-4 times per year on average. So that means that there’s a funky jar of mayo sitting in my fridge for months on end. Yum. -_- This recipe is really super easy. The taste is superior to store bought mayo, in my opinion. AND there are no mystery ingredients. 5.0 from 2 reviews Print Homemade Mayo Author: Ashley @ Grow.Pray.Build. Recipe type: condiment I highly recommend using a blender or food processor for making mayonaise. I tried doing it by hand with a whisk, and it just doesn’t emulsify (blend together) as well and the consistency ends up being quite runny. Ingredients 2 whole raw eggs, preferrably pastured a tablespoon or so of cider vinegar a squirt of mustard 1½ cups of LIGHT olive oil (regular extra virgin olive […]
Smokey Lentil and Hominy Soup
I’m really not a huge fan of lentils. I try to like them. I try lentil recipes now and then because they’re so healthy and so darned affordable. But honestly, I’ve never been much of a fan. This is a soup recipe for people like me…who don’t really like lentils, but who WANT to like lentils. It’s also a tastey and filling meatless dish, making it perfect for Lent. Print Smokey Lentil and Hominy Soup Author: Ashley M. Recipe type: Soup Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 45 mins Serves: 6-8 servings Ingredients 1 cup lentils 6 cups water (or chicken stock) 2 bay leaves 2 lg garlic cloves, or 2 tsp garlic powder 1 T chopped cilantro 1 T smoked paprika 1 medium onion, chopped 2 medium carrots, chopped 1 celery stalk, chopped 2 cans diced tomatoes, drained 1 15 oz. can hominy, drained Salt and pepper to taste Optional: Grilled chicken or browned italian sausage is great in this soup if you want to add meat. If using water instead of stock, consider adding 2-3 bouillon cubes while cooking lentils. Garnish with fresh cilantro and/or a squeeze of lime. Instructions Rinse lentils Cook them in water or stock, bay leaves, garlic, and cilantro. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 15 minutes. Set aside, DO NOT drain. In a 6-7 quart soup pot or dutch oven, saute onion, carrots and celery in oil until onions are translucent. Add in diced tomatoes, smoked paprika, and hominy. Add lentils and cooking liquid. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 20-30 minutes. Optionally garnish with lime and a bit more […]
Creamy Butternut Squash and Broccoli Pasta (An *almost* one-pot dish!)
This recipe evolved out of many of the One Pot dishes that I’ve been seeing on Pinterest lately. I was looking for a pasta dish that was creamy, but didn’t require a lot of heavy cream or butter, both for nutritional and budgetary reasons. I also had particular veggies in mind that I’d like to use, namely butternut squash and broccoli, because that’s what’s in season right now and affordable. So this is what I came up with…and it was a real hit! The kids loved it, and my husband was pleasantly surprised – he gets a little skeptical whenever he sees more than one veggie in the same dish ;). Cooking the pasta in the milk makes it quite creamy, but the butternut squash adds even more creaminess without the added guilt or expense. 5.0 from 1 reviews Print Creamy Roasted Butternut Squash and Broccoli Pasta (An *almost* one-pot dish!) Author: Ashley M. @ www.growpraybuild.com Ingredients 1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped Oil for roasting Salt and pepper to taste 1 pound frozen broccoli 4 Cups Chicken Broth 2 Cups milk 4 tablespoons butter 1 lbs pasta of choice (uncooked, I like farfalle) ½ cup parmesan cheese dash garlic powder Salt and pepper to taste Instructions Preheat oven to 375. Peel and dice the butternut squash in ½ inch cubes. Toss in oil, salt and pepper, and spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. (Tip: I like to line the cookie sheet with parchment paper if I have it as the squash tends to stick.) Roast the squash for about 20-25 minutes, stirring every so often. At the 20 minute mark, […]
No Knead Sandwich Bread
When you’re making all of your bread by hand for a larger family, it can become quite a chore. It can be a huge blessing having those curious hands wanting to help, spending time together, playing together, and creating those memories that a mama hopes will last a lifetime. I would say that’s the case quite often. However, there are also times when mama’s tired, kids are cranky and trying to sweep the flour onto the floor every chance they get, and you really just need to not need to knead the bread. Did that make sense? 😀 Sometimes you’ve got a teething infant who wants to nurse nonstop, and a child who needs help with their math lesson, and a toddler scaling the walls, and a dog that just won’t stop barking at every. little. thing., and a child pulling on your shirt asking in the cutest possible voice to be read to. Again. You know the bread needs to get baked, or else there won’t be any for the lunch or dinner you have planned … but actually getting the bread made seems like a monumental task. I feel ya, tired mama. This is what’s working for me, and I hope it’ll work for you, too. A sandwich bread recipe. That doesn’t need to be kneaded. And you can even make the dough the night before if you want. Or even a couple of days in advance. But you don’t have to. Flexibility is what it’s all about here. This recipe makes enough for 1 loaf. I usually double it. Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups of bread flour (although all purpose […]
London Fog Recipe (AKA Earl Grey Latte)
Fall is in full swing now. Here in New York, Fall consists of a lot of drizzly, cold days. Many days of the week we get this rain/snow mix thing going on. Hail too. The bane of my husband’s existence (he works outdoors). While those days are no fun to work outside in, they are the perfect day for cuddling up with a cozy drink and a good book…assuming the littles will cooperate with something like that. Most days they do, as I’ve been very territorial over quiet/naptime over the years and they just *know* that mama needs her quiet time. So most days (though certainly not all), I get an hour of uninterrupted peace and coffee. I’m a coffee lover. Everyone knows that. I drink 2-3 cups a day usually. But every once in a while, I want something different. When I’m pregnant or nursing (which is quite often the case), I try to keep the caffeinated drinks to 1x per day. Lately I’ve been making myself a London Fog (aka Earl Grey Latte) with decaffeinated Earl Grey tea. If it’s not something you’ve tried before, I highly recommend it. It’s sweet and creamy and frothy. Everything a comforting naptime drink should be. Even if you *think* you don’t like tea…give this a try. You won’t be disappointed. Ingredients: 1 Earl Grey tea bag 8 oz milk (whole, almond, your choice) 1/4 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp. sugar Directions: Brew your tea in about 6-8 oz of hot water. I usually brew mine for about 5 minutes so that it’s nice and strong. Warm your milk (microwave is fine). Mix the vanilla […]
The Easiest Crockpot Applesauce. Ever. (Can it)
I live in New York… the apple state. There are a lot of things I love about this state, most of which have to do with its natural resources. Apples are one of those. Vineyards are another. Mountains…lakes….lush nature. We have a lot of God’s beauty here, and I try to enjoy it and take advantage of it as much as possible. Sure, there are times when I drool at the thought of states with lower property taxes, less strict building codes, looser hunting laws. All the things that make a homesteading lifestyle a bit easier. But ya know…that’s when I come back to that whole “Bloom Where You’re Planted” concept. So this month we headed out on two different occasions to pick apples. We have two apple trees on our property, but the apples were just not good this year. We found U-Pick apples for .80/pound, and picked a little less than 80 lbs. I probably canned about half of those into applesauce, which yielded about 10 quarts. The rest will be saved to eat fresh. We may get out one more time to pick a few more. I’d like to have some more applesauce and also make some apple butter, but we’ll see. We have a busy month ahead and I’m not sure we’ll have time. So. Back to that easiest applesauce EVER recipe. I have two crockpots … a 6 quart and a 3 quart. When I load BOTH of those with chopped apples, it was enough for 5 quarts of applesauce. Just to give you an idea of the amount of apples I used. Crockpot Applesauce: Ingredients: -Apples (we used […]
How to Make Elderberry Syrup
One of the things I’m doing along with our winter preps, is to prepare ourselves for “ick” season, as I like to call it. This includes replenishing my stash of essential oils known to help with cold and flu, such as eucalyptus oil for a natural vapor rub, rosemary, lavender, tea tree, etc. I also made up a batch of Elderberry and Rosehip syrup. Elderberries are high in vitamins which help boost your immune system. It can help your body fight off the “ick”, and also shorten the length and severity of symptoms if you do end up getting sick. It has the added benefit of being safe for men, women (pregnant and nursing…or not), and even children. I purchased my elderberries and rose hips from Bulk Herb Store (affiliate link). They had the best price I could find, and the best shipping costs for me as well. Search around, though. You may live closer to another supplier, allowing for cheaper shipping costs. (Note: Elderberries grow rampantly across many parts of the United States. Ditto for rose hips, actually. You may be able to forage for your own. I tried and was unsuccessful, but will try again next year! Just be sure not to confuse the elderberries with pokeberry.) Ingredients: 1 c. Dried Elderberries (high in Vitamins A, B, and C, and also contains tannins and flavonoids) 1 c. Dried Rose Hips (Added Vitamin C boost, can also be used alone as a delicious tea) 3 1/2 cups water 1/2-1 cup raw honey depending on how sweet you’d like your syrup to be. Optionally, you may had a cinnamon stick, a 1 inch chunk of fresh ginger, […]
Family Updates, Gaden Notes, and Preparing for Winter
It’s been almost two months since my last post. I have good reason…promise. I mentioned in my last post that I’d been feeling ill and exhausted…leaving me feeling slightly burnt out on the ways of simple livin’. You may have guessed … Yep! Baby #5 will arrive in the Spring. I’m well into my second trimester at this point and feeling much, much better. Being able to eat again is such a gloriously glorious thing. Food. My BFF these days. I have pretty rough first trimesters. With the last two babies, I ended up in the hospital dehydrated because of the severe morning sickness. Thank goodness it wasn’t as bad this time around, but I was still feeling very lousy. Tired, moody, tired, sick, tired, moody, sick, sick, sick. You know the drill. Adding to this the fact that my husband was out of town for 3 weeks for work, and we really brought it down to survival mode in our household for the end of Summer. I did eventually start feeling well enough to can the tomatoes when they came rolling in. Our harvest wasn’t as good as it was last year, but we still got enough for lots of salsa, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. I tried this recipe for my tomato sauce. It requires no boiling/peeling of the tomatoes, which I really appreciated. Being efficient with my time is essential, especially when trying to can with 4 little ones running around. There’s nothing fast about canning. Anything I can do to make it faster or more efficient, I’ll try. I know that’s a slightly controversial thing…not peeling the tomatoes. I’m […]
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Glazed Buttermilk Biscuits
This has become one of my family’s favorite breakfast treats. Healthy? Not even close. Delicious and warm and gooey and comfy? You bet. They’re so good. So, so good. Try them. You won’t regret it. Promise. Recipe makes 9 biscuits with a 3 inch biscuit cutter. Ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda 1 Teaspoon salt 6 Tablespoons COLD butter, cut into cubes 1 cup buttermilk 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon For Glaze: 6 Tablespoons butter 1 cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Cut in cold butter with a pastry cutter until resembles course meal. Mix in buttermilk until combined. Turn out biscuit dough onto a floured surface and pat (don’t roll) flat to about 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over the dough, and fold it in about 5 times. Pat our flat again and cut into biscuits with your biscuit cutter. Place biscuits in your baking dish (I used my 12 inch cast iron skillet) and bake 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. To make the glaze, melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan, then whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla until all is combined and a smooth consistency is reached. Serve biscuits warm with glaze drizzled on top. Tip: To get fluffy biscuits, you want to keep that butter as cold as possible until it goes in the oven. Those little bits of butter will melt in the oven, causing little steam pockets, resulting in deliciously fluffy […]
