Hello , Hi there and welcome to the next edition of the HBHW newsletter. It is starting to feel like fall here in the deep south. The leaves aren't turning yet, and it still gets plenty hot in the middle of the day, but for the past few days our mornings have been nice and cool. I'm sitting here with the windows open and some chicken stock cooking on the
stove.
My daughter came home from school yesterday coughing and with a runny nose so some homemade chicken soup is in order. She's not terribly sick and went to school this morning, but the soup should be a welcome after-school snack (and a delicious lunch for
me).
Enough about the weather though, let's get into this week's issue. I have a yummy meat loaf recipe for you, a tip on freezing peppers that'll come in handy and an article about "yarn barf". I promise it isn't gross. Take a
look.
There's also a new "I"m Looking for Request" that has me a bit stumped. I hope you can help out.
If you have a recipe you're looking for, email me at susanne@hillbillyhousewife.com and I'd be glad to feature it and give you my own input. HBHW readers are an amazing resource when it comes to lost recipes as
well.
Enjoy!
Susanne
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My grandmother made a blackberry spice cake with a caramel cooked icing, lost my recipe, anyone out there who could help me?
Please click through to the post here and share your suggestions, ideas and recipes.
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“"An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains."
- Dutch Proverb
Featured Recipe of the Week |
- 2 eggs
- ⅔ cup milk
- 3 slices bread,
torn into pieces
- ½ cup chopped onions
- ½ cup grated carrots
- 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese or mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried basil, thyme or sage, optional
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef
TOPPING: - ½ cup tomato sauce
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon prepared
dry mustard
In a large bowl, beat eggs.
Add milk and bread; let stand a few minutes or until the bread absorbs the liquid.
Stir in the onion, carrot, cheese, herbs and seasonings. Add beef; mix well.
In a shallow baking pan, shape beef mixture into a 7-1/2-in. x 3-1/2-in. x 2-1/2-in. loaf. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine topping ingredients. Spoon some of the topping over meat loaf.
Bake for about 30 minutes longer or
until no pink remains, occasionally spooning some of the remaining topping over loaf. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
You're welcome to share the
recipe on Pinterest, Facebook etc. I'm also sharing a lot of recipes on the HBHW Facebook page. Click on through to check it out. As always, likes, comments and shares are much appreciated. :) |
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There’s nothing more scrumptious than a warm piece
of homemade bread fresh out of the oven. And with these 35 recipes, you’ll have more than just the basic bread to delight your taste buds. From chocolate chip pumpkin to banana to potato, there’s a wide variety of flavorful recipes to choose from.
Use them as a tasty breakfast treat or turn a simple soup or stew into a tasty and filling dinner with the addition of baked goods still warm from the oven.
Homemade bread is a staple in my frugal household and I’m sure it
will become one in your as well. Order the Book on Amazon
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We're having a lot of fun talking about all things frugal and homemaking on Facebook.This week we got a little more serious. Join in the discussion at the Hillbilly Housewife Facebook page. Be sure to like the page so you don't miss a thing. Here's just one of this week's topics. |
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We’ve been growing a lot of peppers in the garden this year including bell peppers (we even got the yellows to grow this year), jalapenos, tabasco, habanero, hot wax peppers and a few varieties. We’ve been eating a lot of them in salads, making hot sauce and salsa… you name it, we’ve probably tried it. But there were still more peppers growing than we could eat.
Thankfully it is very quick and
easy to preserve any type of pepper in the freezer. Here’s how I do it. It’s a super simple 3 step process.
- Harvest Your Peppers
- Clean, Chop and Deseed (optional)
- Freeze and Store
You can harvest peppers from your garden, or stock up at the grocery store and farmers market. Bring your peppers inside and clean the. Next think about how you want to use your peppers. For example, like to use bell peppers sliced in stir
fries, I also like to have some mild peppers like bell and wax peppers roughly chopped to use in salads.
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Hot peppers I either freeze whole, sliced in half, or deseeded and
roughly chopped to use in hot sauces, salsas, soups etc. Think about how you want to use your peppers after you take them out and thaw them. Then prep accordingly.
Next get out a couple of cookie sheets. If you want you can line it with wax paper, but a plain cookie sheet works fine for me. I just wash it really well after I’m done. Spread your peppers on the cookie sheet in a single layer. Don’t crowd them too much. Stick the cookie sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes or until
your peppers are frozen. Transfer them to a freezer bag, squeezing out as much air as possible as you close it. Label well and store in the freezer for up to a year. Rinse and repeat until all your peppers are processed.
To use the peppers late in the year, just thaw and use in place of fresh peppers.
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Homemade Convenience Foods
Make even more convenience foods right at home! You'll save money, control ingredients, and avoid expensive "fast foods" when you start making your own favorite
convenience foods.
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Featured Article of the Week |
Yarn Barf or a Story in Patience and Appreciation
Usually what you find here on the HBHW website is very hands-on, practical advice. This post is going to be a little different. It’s a little more philosophical and personal, but I think you’re going to enjoy it.
I promised to share a little more about my passion for yarn, knitting and spinning with you and while there’ll be plenty of “how to” type posts on that in the future, I thought I’d start by
sharing an experience with you that I had this past Sunday and how it has taught me to look differently at what I’m doing and what’s going on around me.
If you have ever worked with yarn in any shape or form, you know that yarn tangles easily. If you get a whole bunch of it tangled up, it’s referred to as “yarn barf”. I’ve dealt with my share of tangled yarn over the years, but this past Saturday I encountered the worst case yet. We were getting ready to watch College
Football and I like to knit during the games. I had 10 minutes before kick-off and thought I’d wind up some yarn to start on my Christmas knitting.
The skein wouldn’t wind up and this happened (See image on the right). That’s 470 yards of tangled mess. I just had it sit it down and look at it for a minute to figure out what I would do. The yarn is too pretty and soft to just toss it out (but to be honest, I considered that for a split second). After
taking a deep breath, it dawned on me that I had two choices. I could get mad and upset about this, blame it on the person who dyed and skeined this yarn, or at myself for not opening it up correctly and messing it up. To be honest, I don’t know if it was something I did or if the skein was doomed from the moment it got to my house.
So choice one was to be mad and upset about the whole thing. My other choice was to take it in stride and see this as an opportunity to play
with this pretty yarn even longer. The ballgame was kicking off and I decided to just sit there and untangle yarn instead of knitting with it. And I chose to enjoy it. I payed attention to the color progressions and the feel of the yarn and worked through the mess and slowly but surely wound a pretty ball of yarn.
It took much longer than I expected to untangle. I thought I’d spend one half of the game sitting on the couch untangling yarn, and the second half knitting.
It took the whole game and then some. I didn’t get a chance to knit at all on Saturday, but that was ok.
My husband kept looking at me like I was crazy. And he couldn’t believe that I wasn’t getting upset, mad and just gave up. I was having a surprisingly good time. And it was all in my attitude and how I chose to react. It also gave me a lot of time to think about how I chose to react and feel impacts all sorts of other things in my
life.
I’m not a fan of doing dishes and usually approach the chore with threat (no pun intended). But that’s my choice. Now I chose to look at it as part of the process of feeding my family. I focus on the fun of listening to some good music, or having a conversation with my daughter while she’s drying the dishes. There is something enjoyable to be found in just about anything we do. My day spent untangling yarn was a great exercise in focusing in on
that.
As an added bonus, I got to start my Sunday morning knitting with the pretty yarn and of course coffee.
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Please don't forget to "Pin" these articles and posts when you head to the Hillbilly Housewife website to read more. It helps get the word out about the site and the newsletter. Thank you! |
A Little Something Inspirational...
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That's it from me for this week. I'm getting ready to clean up around the house some, do some laundry and then head to the library after picking up my daughter from school. It's time to stock up on some new books.
Did you see that the new issue of the Homemaker's Hutch magazine is out? It's beautiful and full of amazing articles, recipes and a knitting
pattern from me. I think you'll enjoy it. Check it out if you're not already subscribed.
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