I am a potato-aholic. But I come by it honestly, considering I am from Idaho... (You do know that Idaho potatoes are the best in the nation, right?) I love potatoes in any form: homemade hash browns, baked, boiled, fried, mashed, roasted, french fries, scalloped, you name it! On the rare occasions we do eat out, one of my favorite steakhouses serves the most incredible baked potatoes. The skins are crispy ...Continue Reading
Easy Shortening-Free Pie Crust
I guess you could say that I'm a bit of a pie crust snob. I love a tender, flaky crust that is just barely brown on the edges, never burnt or crispy. And don't even try to convince me that those pathetic, pre-made, refrigerated or frozen crusts will do. No way! Every homesteader-chef needs to have a couple tried-and-true pie recipes in their arsenal. The methodology of a good pie crust is very similar to that of a good biscuit ...Continue Reading
Why I Don’t Clip Coupons
(Photo Source) Back when I started the transition from a workin' girl to a stay at home mama, I spent a considerable amount of time online checking out various homemaking blogs. A common theme I found among them was that many of the moms were coupon queens. They would spend mere pennies and come home with bagfuls of food and toiletries. Oftentimes, the items would end up being completely free! This totally appealed to my frugal ...Continue Reading
A (Frugal) Cheesecloth Alternative
It's funny to think that merely 2 years ago, I didn't even know what cheesecloth was, let alone have a need for it. However, now that my kitchen has been transformed into a real food workshop, I find myself needing all sorts of "weird" items. Cheesecloth has many uses. Most commonly it's used in various forms of cheesemaking (duh), but it also works great as a strainer for broth, jellies, or soft cheeses like yogurt or kefir ...Continue Reading
BEST Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
It took me an eternity... ...To to find a pizza crust recipe we really liked. So many of the other pizza dough recipes I tried were too dry, or too crumbly, or lacked that perfect chewiness we craved. I'm pretty sure angels sang when I made this dough recipe for the first time. It's so perfect we don't even miss restaurant pizza anymore, (which is a good thing when you live 40 miles from town...) I make pizza dough recipe with a ...Continue Reading