Tag Archives: cooking

Our favorite posts on cooking posted on TexasHomesteader.com

How To Rehydrate & Use Dehydrated Pumpkin Puree

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by Texas Homesteader ~
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Last year’s pumpkin harvest was truly out-o-control! I harvested so many pumpkins! Sure, I shared several of them with family & friends. But I still ended up with mountains of my own.

I love to use these heirloom pumpkins for puree in my Pumpkin Granola so I cooked ’em up & pureed them. They were measured out into 2-cup measurements and frozen for future use.

But RancherMan was the wild-hog-hunting KING and our freezer was filled to capacity with pork. But I still had two remaining pumpkins… 

They had some staying power, still looking as fresh as the day I harvested them. But I really needed to do something with them before they started to deteriorate. With no spare freezer room, what will I do?

I decided to Dehydrate the Pumpkins.

Rehydrating Pumpkin Puree. Come see how to rehydrate and use dehydrated pumpkin puree. Dehydrated Pumpkin puree stores in the pantry with no additional energy needed - a wonderful preparedness food! #TexasHomesteader

 

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Summer Cooking: Savory Meatloaf Recipe (Includes Solar Cooking Option)

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by Texas Homesteader ~ 

Meatloaf is a versatile comfort food and we enjoy it often. It’s a flexible recipe and you can use crumbled leftover meatloaf in many dishes on subsequent nights to get supper on the table FAST! 

I'm cooking up our favorite comfort food - meatloaf! I'm using my solar oven to cook it but the recipe includes standard oven directions too #TexasHomesteader

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Easy Blueberry Muffin Recipe Using Fresh Blueberries

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by Texas Homesteader ~

I love blueberries! I’ve tried to grow blueberries several times here on the Homestead. But in the botanical hole of death that is our yard, it’s not been successful with the exception of my Miniature Blueberry planted in a galvanized tub.

So instead I usually buy them. I can’t typically afford the fresh berries but I’m constantly using frozen blueberries by stirring them into my Homemade Yogurt or blending them with frozen bananas to make a healthy, cold summertime treat.

Sometimes I thaw them & include them in my mixed-fruit bowl when I’m serving a cool yet healthy dessert.

But recently a friend invited me to go with her to a you-pick place to pick fresh blueberries. Oh how delicious, I came home with about a gallon of those big beautiful blueberries! I can’t typically afford to buy fresh blueberries so this was a treat indeed.

Sure I still stirred them into my yogurt and even ate some by themselves. But I really wanted to do something special with them.

Hummm… I know, I’ll make homemade blueberry muffins!

With a batch of fresh blueberries to enjoy, I decided to make Blueberry Muffins. So easy, so delicious. Come check out my recipe! #TexasHomesteader

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Cooking Breakfast Should Include Hazardous Duty Pay!

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by Texas Homesteader ~

We typically don’t eat breakfast so enjoying it is a special occasion indeed. Usually either when we’re on a vacation or every year for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day when our tradition dictates that the honoree get homemade breakfast in bed.

I typically opt for fresh fruit, yogurt and homemade pancakes. RancherMan always (and I mean ALWAYS) requests bacon, fried eggs, jalapeno/cheese biscuits and gravy.

But as I crept around the house quietly to keep from waking him as I prepared his honoree breakfast, it almost seemed like a comedy. How in the world did our grandmothers do it??!!

I treated RancherMan to a hearty breakfast of Homemade biscuits, eggs, bacon and gravy. Good grief - how did our grandmothers do it?? #TexasHomesteader

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Solar Cooking: Hard-Boiled Eggs In The Solar Oven

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by Texas Homesteader ~
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I love my solar oven. I’ve said it time & time again, I hate to fire up my electric oven during the heat & humidity of our Texas summers.

Not only does it cost fuel for the stove to operate, but boiling eggs adds even more heat inside our home. That requires our air conditioning to work overtime cooling it back down, therefore costing even more money.

Several years ago I bought a solar oven and I absolutely love it! What a great item in your Emergency Preparedness toolbox!

Then at a Mother Earth News Fair I attended a few years ago, a solar-cooking seminar presenter told us how easy it was to cook ‘hard-boiled’ whole eggs in the solar oven without even using water. Color me intrigued!

Solar-Cooking Eggs. I'm hearing that you can BAKE your eggs instead of boiling them. I decided to give it a try in my solar oven. Check it out. #TexasHomesteader

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How To Make Homemade Tri-Colored Pasta Noodles

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by Texas Homesteader ~ 

I remember when I first found out how easy homemade pasta is to make. Now pasta purists typically use a special pasta flour called semolina. And of course when I first started making homemade pasta I did too.

But y’all know I’m far from a purist with anything, especially in the kitchen! I want quick, easy & delicious without special ingredients.

So I now just typically use plain ole all-purpose flour for my homemade pasta noodles and they always turn out great!

Flour – salt – egg – water and BOOM! 

Now don’t tell anyone else how easy it really is – people always seem to be impressed to find out when someone makes their own pasta! So don’t rat me out, m’kay??  Pinky swear??

Recently I decided I’d try to make colored/flavored pasta using powdered dehydrated vegetables from my garden last year. I knew I had dehydrated Malabar Spinach in the pantry, and dehydrated carrots too! 

Come see what I did.

I love homemade pasta, but I wanted tri-colored pasta. So to my usual pasta dough recipe I added dehydrated & powdered spinach or carrots, leaving 1/3 plain. Delicious! #TexasHomesteader

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