Here we are in a bright, shiny new year. I hope all of you had an awesome 2016 and are looking forward with eagerness to the possibilities that 2017 holds. RancherMan & I have many exciting things to look forward to in ’17! I’m thinking about opening an Etsy shop for some of the homemade soaps we make and maybe some of the repurposed denim crafts I do. Perhaps even a few crosses made from the 1880’s barbed wire that we still have in places on our property.
But since we’re on the cusp of a brand new year I thought it would be fun to share with you the single most popular post in each year since I’ve been writing this little ole blog of mine.
Whelp, here we are at the end of 2016. What a great year it’s been! My veggie garden was screamingly successful this year. And our homestead branched out with registered Angus heifers to augment the registered Hereford operation we currently have. But it wasn’t without its darker moments too, including twin calves that died in calving and dealing with expensive yet crappy appliances. But RancherMan & I tackled the successes and the trials together, side-by-side. And that’s the way I always want it to be.
All this month I’ve been sharing with you the top homesteading posts on the blog for each year I’ve been writing. I’ve linked to each of those years of Top-10 posts at the bottom of this post. So if you haven’t already enjoyed ’em, well there ya go!
But without further adieu, here are the top 10 posts of the year for 2016:
Did you know many Parmesan cheese lids fit a regular-mouth canning jar? It’s true! I place repurposed parmesan cheese lids on standard mouth mason jars. See all the ways they simplify my life in the kitchen.
RancherMan & I purchased all Frigidaire appliances when we outfitted our ranch kitchen. The constant repairs on our Frigidaire microwave have been frustrating. But more frustrating still is our crappy Frigidaire side-by-side refrigerator. It’s by far the loudest appliance in our home with visitors stopping to listen and asking “Is that your fridge??!” It required repair while it was still under its limited warranty, then after the warranty we’ve had to repair it several times. The condenser fan went out, the water line developed a pinhole leak and needed repair, the ice maker died, the water line to the dispenser came loose and made a flooding mess. But this time it’s a more expensive fix, apparently the main circuit control board is shot. This fridge lasted only 7 years y’all, and that was with many, MANY repairs. Frigidaire? Never again for us!
It was an expensive week for sure but we were able to find many ways to save a little cash. So c’mon down, let’s play the Crappy Fridge Edition of “5 Frugal Things to Save Money This Week”!
RancherMan & I have been burning the candle at both ends lately it seems. We’ve had business commitments, familial commitments and community commitments. Truth be told we’ve been running a LOT! So half of my gallon of milk sat in the fridge & got a little too close to it’s use-bydate and ended up lightly soured. I didn’t throw it away – I made cottage cheese with it! It was very quick & so easy.
Homogenized Milk vs Raw Milk
Now I must say there are some very strong opinions out there on whether or not soured pasteurized milk is the same as soured raw milk. I’ve tried raw milk before but I don’t much care for it so I buy my milk. I haven’t done massive research on all the nuances into safety vs purity of raw vs homogenized milk. I think there are valid points on both sides. But in this post I’m sharing what I’ve personally done.
No Arguments!
I’ve made this cottage cheese from lightly-soured commercially-purchased milk several times. My experience is that my homemade cottage cheese is absolutely delicious and tastes no different to me than commercially-purchased cottage cheese. I’m happy to share this easy procedure with you. But I won’t get into a soured raw milk vs soured commercial milk discussion, m’kay? We’re all friends here & you have the right to your opinion and to nourish your body as you like, just as we all do! I’m just sharing my personal experience here. So we’re all good?? Alrighty then!
I’ve heard about it for years, using squash in the place of high-carb pasta noodles. Some people eat spaghetti squash as a low-carb noodle substitute.
But I’ve found for us it’s best to eat spaghetti squash just as a fun-shaped squash. To me the taste is nothing like pasta. (I do have a delicious Cheesy Spaghetti-Squash dish we enjoy.)
Other people swear by making spiral-type noodles using fresh vegetables. Supposedly it’s a more realistic way to enjoy a noodle-shaped vegetable in the place of pasta. My garden produced so much zucchini I really wanted to give the spiral-noodle thingee a try.
There are various contraptions made to cut your squash into noodles and I decided on the Veggetti.
