Tag Archives: Winter

Our Blessings Abound. Happy Thanksgiving, Y’all!

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by Texas Homesteader ~

Thank you Lord for food to nourish me, a warm bed for rest, and the love of family to warm my heart! #TexasHomesteader

Thank you Lord for food to nourish me, a warm bed for rest, and the love of family to warm my heart.  From our family to yours – Happy Thanksgiving!

~TxH~

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Lazy-Cook’s Quick & Easy Italian Soup

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by Texas Homesteader ~

RancherMan & I were planning a day trip to visit my dad. When we go for a visit I like to take any meal-planning pressure off him. I’ll typically whip up something super easy & portable to bring with us so he doesn’t feel he needs to put on a spread for us. On this cold day I decided a big pot of soup would fit the bill quite nicely.

We typically leave early in the morning so we can drive the 3 hours for our visit. We’ll stay all day and plan to be back home around 10 that evening. Since I’ll be whipping up this soup early in the morning I need a lazy-cook’s recipe. You know, a recipe where I can just brown some ground meat, open a bunch of cans, dump it all in a slow cooker’s crock and GO!

Enter this Lazy-Cook’s Italian Soup…

Lazy-Cook's Italian soup. Just cook ground meat, onions & noodles. Dump it all in a soup pot with cans of vegetables. EASY! #TexasHomesteader

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Late Winter Garden Prep Is Underway

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by Texas Homesteader ~

It’s early in the season and most of us aren’t even thinking about dropping seeds or plants in the garden. Here in Texas planting zone 8 we typically don’t risk planting until Easter when in all probability the danger of the last frost is past. I’m not gonna lie, I jump the gun sometimes. There are times I get away with it, and other times I have to start all over…

But there are still garden tasks to tend to even though actual planting time is still weeks away. Come see…

Even though it's only February & cold outside, there are still garden chores to be done. Come see how I'm preparing the veggie garden. #TexasHomesteader

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Quick Taco Soup – An Easy Meal For ‘Those Days’…

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by Texas Homesteader ~

I typically like to cook our meals from scratch. But let’s be honest. For all of us, sometimes there are ‘Those Days‘…  Today is just such a day.

I’ve been busy all week, I’m just getting over being ill and today I really need to play catch-up. So a hearty meal needs to be on auto-pilot today. Easy ’nuff, I decided to make taco soup.

Quick & Easy Taco Soup. Just brown the meat with chopped onions & then dump in a slow cooker with different cans of food. Heat & eat! #TexasHomesteader

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Homestead Hack: Hiding Ugly Planters in Winter

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by Texas Homesteader ~

It was gonna get into the low 20’s overnight so I brought in 6 plants I’d had outside.  At least they’d be safe from the cold.  But they were planted in repurposed red plastic coffee cans. I needed to put them at a southern window in our guest bedroom. 

But ugh, such ugly planters for inside! Check out this easy Homestead Hack for making it all look nicer…  Use Whatcha Got!

When you bring your plants inside for the winter, are you embarrassed by ugly planters? I was! See this Homestead Hack for hiding ugly planters when you bring your plants inside for the winter. #TexasHomesteader

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8 Great Gifts For Your Environmentally-Aware Friends

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by Texas Homesteader ~
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It seems everyone wants to tread a little lighter on the earth – I love that!  Are you searching for environmentally-friendly gifts for your friends? Handmade items are all the rage this year.

Below are sustainable gift ideas for your green-minded friends and family.

here are many gift options for environmentally-aware for friends. Help them ditch the plastic with a safety razor or glass water bottle - many gift ideas! #TexasHomesteader

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Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays??

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by Texas Homesteader ~

This time of year we often see shouting from different sides of the fence about the holidays.  Some are incensed that someone would dare take Christ out of the holiday, some are angry that someone is pushing for only homemade gifts while others are angry that some families like to shop for their Christmas gifts.

I find this puzzling and oftentimes very much counter to the season itself.  A season that typically promotes feelings of joy & peace.  You may not celebrate your holidays the way your neighbor does, and that’s OK!

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? What a beautiful thing it would be to celebrate the season with the best gift of all: LOVE! #TexasHomesteader

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Garden Update: February Chores

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by Texas Homesteader ~

It’s been a very strange winter indeed this year. Oh we’ve had some blustery cold days alright but for the most part it’s been very mild. Heck here it is the middle of February and it was 80 degrees with sunshine today! But such wonderful weather lends itself well to working in the garden. I want to prepare it for a super-productive harvest this year. Come see what my February chores entailed.

Soon it will be time to plant my vegetable garden. I need to be prepared! Come see my February Veggie garden chores. #TexasHomesteader

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Homestead Hack: Leftover Roast Into Hearty Stew

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by Texas Homesteader ~

Recently I wrote about the benefit of planned leftovers. That’s the method of cooking when you purposely cook more of an item than you will eat at one time. Then bibbidy-bobbedy-boo presto-changeo remake the leftovers into brand new and delicious recipes.

Most recently I cooked a huge pork roast in not one, not two but THREE slow cookers. Yeah, that roast really was was that big! I planned to remake the leftovers into new dishes later in the week. I’ll be sure to share some of the fun recipes I made such as Carnitas Tacos, spicy Pulled-Pork Enchiladas and more. But today I’m sharing the quickest & most basic delicious leftover idea: a Hearty Stew!

Planned Leftovers remade into the quickest meal possible - a hearty meat/veggie stew. Check out this Homestead Hack. #TexasHomesteader

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Planned Leftovers: Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

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by Texas Homesteader ~

I’ve written before about how I love the Cook-Once, Eat-Twice method of cooking. And of course its close relative the Planned Leftovers method too.  With Cook-Once Eat-Twice cooking you might cook several meatloaves or stuffed peppers so you can freeze it for the same entree later.

With Planned Leftovers you cook much more than you’ll eat at one meal so you can remake the leftovers into something completely new and delicious.  I wrote recently about cooking el mucho quantities of pork roast to use for planned leftovers.  But today I’ll share the planned leftovers I enjoyed from a recent Slow Cooker Sticky Chicken I made.

Planned Leftovers: Use leftover chicken, a few dried out corn tortillas, a few cans of veggies to make delicious Chicken Tortilla Soup! #TexasHomesteader

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