by Texas Homesteader ~
* contains affiliate link
RancherMan & I drink coffee that comes in a handy lidded container. But I’ve been on a constant quest to find ways to use them once they’re empty.
But as gardening season hits in full swing, I’m reminded of another great use. Check out this Homestead Hack.
by Texas Homesteader ~
We love garlic. And thankfully it’s easy to grow garlic in our NE Texas garden. It adds a healthy yet powerful flavor to our food. We especially love it with Tex-Mex flavored dishes.
I recently harvested the garlic from our garden. I’ll allow it to cure for several weeks and then I typically hang whole garlic heads in my pantry. That garlic will be ready and waiting to be used at a moment’s notice.
But I grow & harvest lots of garlic every year. There’s no way I can use it all fresh before it goes bad. So to preserve some of the garlic further I also like to keep a jar filled with peeled garlic cloves in my freezer.
But ugh, peeling that many cloves is going to be a long, sticky chore, right?
Come see how I can peel whole heads of garlic cloves in seconds.
~Texas Homesteader~
It’s just a fact that socks wear out. It doesn’t matter how well you take care of them, eventually they end up with holes in them. And when they do, they go on to their second purpose here on the Homestead.
I typically cut off the toe section & elastic top from the holey sock, then cut the sock along the back ankle/heel/foot to open it up flat. I then cut the resulting material into a square-ish shape. I’ll be using this material in different ways – Check it out.
by Texas Homesteader ~
You say you’ve decided to pull out that can of paint you’ve had in the shed and go ahead & repaint the bathroom? Good for you! If you’re like me, painting always (aaaaaalways) involves paint being splattered on my clothes. No matter how careful I am!
I used to dig in my closet for the oldest shirt I could find and just realize it would be relinquished to the trash after I was through painting. But one time I was painting our bee boxes and hated to ruin a shirt – even an old one – just because I needed to paint.
So I got to thinking…
by Texas Homesteader ~
I love a multi-purpose product, don’t you? Take oats for instance. It makes a hearty, hot & healthy breakfast option. I like to drizzle some Honey From Our Hives and maybe sprinkle a little fruit on top. But there are other things you can do with oats besides make oatmeal for breakfast.
For instance, I often grind oats into oat flour for use in my Honey/Oatmeal Sandwich Bread recipe. It’s a low-cost yet healthy substitute for the more expensive whole wheat portion of flour that I used to use. And it maintains that heartier whole-wheat feel to the bread too.
But there are still more uses for this cheap, healthy product. I often use it as a substitution for breadcrumbs!
by Texas Homesteader ~
*affiliate link
This time of year after RancherMan & I gather documents needed for our income tax return, we always do a quick cleanup of the remaining confidential documents that we no longer need.
We utilize electronic bill-pay for almost all of our bills. And we enroll in paperless billing whenever possible. But there are still some cases where paper receipts are received such as packing slips, receipts, etc. So even though we fight against extraneous paper coming into our home, come it does!
Many people shred these documents for security’s sake. But we don’t have a shredder and I don’t fancy ripping all the paper by hand. So here’s what I do to actually USE that ‘trash’ instead. Check out this Homestead Hack:
by Texas Homesteader ~
I’ve always tried to make sure my family ate a well-balanced diet. Of course I don’t feel there’s anything wrong with eating some less-healthy foods… as long as it’s in moderation.
Fried foods, sweets, salty snacks – all were ok as long as they were enjoyed in proper moderation.
My goal was to get them to eat more of the healthy stuff, go lighter on the less healthy stuff and just enjoy actual junk foods on rare occasions. Luckily I found a sneaky way to tip the balance toward the healthy food. Here’s how I got my family to willingly eat more healthy veggies.
by Texas Homesteader ~
*contains affiliate link
I’m consuming a couple of tablespoons of honey containing ragweed pollen daily to help combat my allergies. But it takes so long using the honey dipper to drizzle 2 tablespoons worth each day. And I was making such a mess trying to spoon it from the jar instead.
So I tried pouring it gently from the jar.
Luckily I’ve found an awesome solution. Come check out this Homestead Hack.
by Texas Homesteader~
I often make dried beans using my pressure cooker. I’m a ‘Cook-Once, Eat-Twice‘ cook. Meaning I like to cook lots of one item and use it either again later in the week, or as a completely different dish as part of my Planned Leftovers meals.
But recently I cooked some great northern beans. They were delicious & we enjoyed them as a side dish for that evening’s meal. I served them later in the week as a quick side dish also.
But then I wondered… Is there a more exciting way to serve these beans that will have RancherMan smacking his lips? Well yes, yes there is! Check out this Homestead Hack!
by Texas Homesteader ~
I was baking homemade blueberry muffins for a Sibling Vacation recently. I typically make jumbo-sized muffins for RancherMan. But this time I used my smaller muffin-sized tin because there would be several of us in attendance. It’s easier to eat two small muffins than to waste part of a larger one, ya know?
So I whipped up my Blueberry Muffin batter, placed my silicone muffin pan on a cookie sheet & filled the muffin cups. But there was still about 4 muffins worth of batter remaining.
Do I overfill the muffin cups? Do I bake this dozen and then refill 4 of the muffin cups and bake them separately? What a waste! Ugh, what’s a girl to do?