A Lot to think about

As I am sitting writing this, watching the snow fall and the fire in the fire place ( well electric fire, still makes you feel cozy). It makes me think of how much we have and can be thankful for.  I do love this time of year because of being able to spend it with my family celebrating the real meaning of Christmas.

The downside to this time of year is all the commercialism that goes on around us.  We have never bought a lot of presents for our kids or ourselves. Honestly our boys have more fun with the boxes and the stuffing in the boxes  then the actual toys! haha    I know I am not alone in this!

  But also because it is teaching them that Christmas is not all about presents, the ads that are in the paper, or a man dressed up with a white beard, who comes down the chimney with presents. ( which our boys don't believe in).

We want to make sure they know that the really meaning is the wonderful and beautiful birth of our Savior, and nothing else matters! Yes everyone loves getting presents I included!. We just don't want toys and commercialism to be the focus.


Hey I am not saying I don't like watching Christmas movies, I love too! I am a Hallmark Christmas movie kind of gal.( well at least those that I can watch online, since we don't have cable), and like buying gifts for our families, and decorating our house and tree. I just don't want to lose the meaning of Christmas.


I am working on my next post for goals  I have for next year! Stay tuned!

~ Katie

River Cottage

      

          I am L- O- V- I -N- G this show!! If you have not checked out this series you need to do it soon! It is a chef in England who gets tired of living in the city and wants a better life in the country, growing his own food, etc.  This is what Tom and I want to do with our farm! Grow our own veg., fruit, meat, etc. and to share our passion with others to get them excited and involved in maybe not starting their own farm, but supporting local farms/ businesses.

       This show gets you excited about cooking with fresh foods from local farms and knowing where your food is coming from, instead of just buying the packaged foods from the store.

So check out River Cottage and see if you get hooked or not!  I know I am!

Let me know what your favorite part of River Cottage is and any recipes you might like to try!

*** Don't forget to check out all the River Cottage shows too ( Return to River cottage,  River Cottage Spring, River Cottage Winter, River Cottage Summer, River Cottage, Everyday, etc.) *** There are plenty there to watch!

I also wanted to say  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I hope you all have a wonderful time with your family!

~ Katie 

Fall craziness

Hi All!,

      I know I have been neglecting this blog for a while, but things have gotten to be crazy around here. Doing a lot of house projects to get ready to put our house on the market this spring. Outdoor work, cutting wood, chipping, getting the garden beds covered for winter. Also work and just finding time to have family time. 

     I hope you all are doing wonderfully at your homesteads. I will have another recipe for you guys, that I will be testing out this week. It is a sweet bbq sauce that says it taste better then sweet baby rays. We shall see my family really enjoys sweet baby rays but not all the sugar and additives. So this would be a great alternative. 

My menu plan for this week is:

Herb chicken w/ gravy, noodles, vegetable

Pizza (homemade crust), salad

Bbq porkloin , veg., mash pot.

Thanksgiving meal with family

Pancakes, bacon, fruit

Tomato soup, crackers and cheese, cut up veggies

Spaghetti w/italian sausage, whole wheat rolls, veg.

Homemade Lasagna ( homemade noodles), veg. 

I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving!! What is your favorite thing to make for Thanksgiving meals?

~ Katie

I asked and you answered

      I asked my follower who follow me on facebook what are some topics you would like to see on my blog. I had a couple tell me cheap and easy recipes. So I will be glad to do this! I will start you off with a really easy recipe. I know I know alot of people say that about recipes but this recipe has 3 ingredients! Yes 3 and only 3!  

 This is Sweet Baby Rays meatloaf.  Enough said! haha

Okay Ingredients for this you will need:

1 lb. ground beef 
Bread crumbs (store bought or homemade)
Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce 

** side note you can get Sweet Baby Rays really cheap with coupons and a great sale during the summer months, so stock up! **

        I combine the bread crumbs , bbq sauce and ground beef together in a bowl. Put in a loaf pan and shape like a loaf . Top with a little more Sweet Baby Rays and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or done through.  Before taking out of the oven top with shredded cheddar cheese and allow the cheese to melt. Let the meat set for a few min. Then serve with your sides of choice.  At our house it is egg noodles and peas.

    I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as my family does! Fast and easy to make and not a lot of money has to go into it. 

I will be posting more recipes as soon as I get a chance. 

Have a wonderful day!

~Katie

So excited about this review of Purex Ultra packs with Oxi!

Yay!! I am so excited to share this with you guys!:


   So I was given another chance to try out a product for Purex  and once again I wasn't disappointed! They

had me try the Purex Ultra Packs Plus Oxi. These packs did an amazing job on my laundry and helped get

the dug in stains that a 6 year old and a 3 year old can get on their clothes! LOL

Also as a mother of two children , I loved how easy it was to put my laundry in the machine and just pop a

Purex Ultra Pack in and turn the machine on. I didn't have to stop and measure out the right amount of liquid

like I did with the liquid stuff. These definitely made the day easier with doing the laundry.

     I would encourage you guys to go to Purex's website and check out all the other cool products they have

available for you to try. They really do have great products that I use all of the time.


Okay , now it is your turn to try out Purex Ultra Packs  Plus Oxi. I am giving away two coupons for a free

bag of the Purex Ultra Packs Plus Oxi!!!! Yay!!! Clean laundry for everyone!!!  ( Insert happy laundry

dance)!  Alright, now back to business . To be entered to win you need to do the following:


1) Tell me what your worst and favorite things are about doing your  laundry. Along with your first  name

and last name initial , so I can let you know if you won or not!

2) Share my blog on Facebook. (leave a comment telling me you did)

3) Become a follower of my blog! (leave a comment telling me you did)


 The coupons giveaway will end on Sept. 29th @ 12pm. Good luck everyone.

~ Katie

***Disclaimer: The Purex brand provided me with a sample of the Purex UltraPacks plus Oxi exchange for a product review. However, all the opinions expressed here are my own. ***

Back to Eden gardening

Tom and I are working on our garden for next year. We had raised beds this year, but when I saw the Back to Eden film. It got me excited about gardening again.  To see the results that he got using things from nature to build his garden and just needing to add a little wood chips and manure each year was great! If you haven't seen the video I totally recommend it.

So yesterday I worked on digging up all of our raised beds, putting newspaper down, adding the compost and manure. I am looking for a wood chips right now, so hopefully I will find a source so we can put that layer down next. Then see how it goes! They say it could take up to two years to see results like  Paul Gautschi, but every year you will see your garden getting better because your soil is rebuilding.


Have any of you tried this method before? Has it worked for you?  Do you have any recommendations on what we should tweak?

Hope you are all doing wonderfully! Happy Homesteading!


~Katie

Update on the homestead

Well things have been busy around here with my oldest son starting first grade last week, cleaning up the gardens for fall. We still have some tomatoes and peppers that are still producing but everything else has slowed down.

I'm hoping to can some apples this coming week . I am looking forward to making apple pie filling, applesauce, apple butter, apple crisp and pies. When apple season gets here I get really excited that fall is coming just around the corner. My favorite time of year!

We have been still looking for a homestead but the Lord has been closing doors on ones we thought would be perfect. But He knows better then we do what is perfect for us!  So we will continue to pray and wait.

Tom and I just finished making a farm house table and bench for our dining area. I have fallen in love with it. :( Sorry for the messy background :) )

I have always wanted a table like this and it is something we made together. Something we could pass down to our boys to have when we are gone.  I am so blessed to have a husband who has the skills to build things like this.  We spent around $200.00 on this project. 

So what is going on at your homesteads? Are your gardens finishing up for the year? Did you plant any fall crops? I would love to hear about it! :)

~ Katie