Cheddar Crackers

I made Cheddar Crackers yesterday. Now I have made a decent amount of different recipes for these but nothing seemed to great. Well I stumbled on this recipe in the Lancaster Farming ( a farming newspaper around here), and these are by far some of the best crackers I have ever had. So I thought I would hop on here and share it with you. These are a lot like a puff pastry type cracker.


Cheddar Crackers
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper ( I still used black pepper)
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
3/4 cup butter, chilled
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
6 Tablespoons cold water, or as needed

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt, white pepper and mustard. Cut in butter with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the Cheddar cheese. Stir in water one Tablespoon at a time, until the dough holds together. Press the mixture into a ball, wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 mins.  Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. On lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a rectangle that is 16x12 inches. The dough should be about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 1x3- inch strips. Place the strips  onto the parchment baking sheets spaced about 1 inch. apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden and crispy. Cool completely before storing.


I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. I recommend them with tomato soup instead of saltines. YUM!


Happy Homesteading!

~Katie

Have a wonderful Sunday!

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Sunday!

~ Katie

The chirps of baby chicks

There is nothing like the chirp of baby chicks to bring a smile to your face. I love the way they all look up at me, when I'm out in the kitchen making the morning coffee , and they do sweet quiet chirps as if to say good morning. It makes my heart happy when my boys talk to them like they are old friends and tell them about their days. They make us laugh  as a family as they try to learn how to fly!


We have had 6 chicks be part of our family for a little over two week and they have certainly stolen our hearts. The boys have named them all ( after their favorite Nascar drivers, of course). They keep me company as I do the dishes at night and sometimes my alarm clock in the mornings. But I wouldn't trade any of it!

We got these chicks so our family would have the chance to raise them , even though sadly we can't keep them when they get older. ( Its against our borough's rules ) So when they are to old to stay inside they will be going to a wonderful lady from our church , who was in need of more chickens. So we are glad they will be going to a wonderful home. Yes it will be sad and probably very hard for the boys and I to say good bye. We are sure going to make the best of the time we have with them.


The chicks do bring the dream of living somewhere , that we can keep the chickens we raise. But that time will come in the Lord's timing. For now I will enjoy the company of hello chirps they give with my morning coffee, the escapees who flew the coop and we have to catch, the smiles and laugh of my boys, and the dream that one day we will have ones that can stay.


Do any of you have chicks/ chickens?  What breeds do you like? We have Black Austrolp and I think they are beautiful, even as babies!

Happy Homesteading!

~ Katie

Happy First Day Of Spring!!!!

    Oh I thought this day would never come with all the cold weather and snow we have been having! But it is here! Today is suppose to be 58 and partly cloudy! Yay!! I will definitely be outside!


    Okay so on this first day of spring it would be a great day for a giveaway! I was asked to try out Purex Crystals the limited edition fabulously fresh!  Wow this stuff is wonderful and really makes your clothes smell amazing as well!
For anyone who has never heard of these they are a fabric softener that you can add into your laundry to enhance the smell of them and keep them smelling fresh longer! I add these to my homemade laundry soap just to give it a little something special. So I would definitely recommend you try this product and see what you think!

     For two lucky people, they will get to try a bottle for free! Yep that's right I said Free! I will be giving away two coupons for a free bottle so you can try it out!  Okay all you have to do is put your name and a neat tip you use when doing your laundry ( like making your own laundry soap, etc.) and you are entered. The winners will be picked randomly on the 28th of March. So get entered now !


Have an amazing day!!!

~ Katie


**** The Purex Brand provided me witha a sample of Purex Crystals Limited Edition Fabulously Fresh in exchange for a product review. However, all the opinions expressed here are my own****

A hard decision

   Tomorrow my husband and I  make a hard decision that will put our dreams on hold for a couple more years. We will refinancing our current house to be able to pay it off. That way we can use all the money on the sale of this house to put a large down payment on the next house. This was a very hard decision to make for us because we have been wanting a homestead for almost 8 years now. So it is a bitter sweet time for us, especially me. When spring hits like this and it's almost time to garden, dreams of a big garden, goats, chickens, a cow and beautiful land come to mind. My heart aches for those things, but for now they will be put on hold again.


I know this is a good decision and when the time comes to sell with no debt and the money from this house we will be glad we did it. But right now the decision hurts and and makes me go , "really that long". Though knowing in 2 or so years will go by quickly and then the chance to have the Homestead we always wanted will be ours. I would like to ask for your prayers tomorrow as we sign the papers to refinance that we would continue to have peace about this decision and know that we are working toward our future that won't be that far off on our homestead. :)


Thank you all who read my blog, I know I don't say that enough. You guys are an amazing group of people and I am blessed to know you!


Hope you all have an amazing day!


~ Katie