Homesteading Goals for 2017 Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. For our family, it's a way of life on our little 1/4-acre in the middle of suburbia. While there is still a lot we rely on others for, there is a lot we can do for ourselves. Through gardening, food preservation, and a lot of DIY we are teaching our children to be self-reliant and we are working together as a family to have the things we need. These life skills are a primary focus when we ...
Blood Orange Marmalade
Have you ever tried a recipe just because it pushes you out of your culinary comfort zone? I plan on doing a lot of that this year, and its all thanks to the Food In Jars Mastery Challenge. Each month, I will be participating in a culinary challenge. Something that builds on the food preservation skills I already have, but pushes me to try something new. I already am familiar with a lot of these techniques, but they aren't things that I do on a regular ...
The Walpack Inn
Our visit to The Walpack Inn is part of the new travel section on Happily Homegrown where we will share our favorite restaurants, venues, and attractions. I was not compensated for this trip, and all opinions are based on my own experiences. Today is my wonderful husband's 40th birthday - New Year's Eve! Its always so hard to do stuff on his actual birthday, especially since having kids. We have gotten into the habit of going out sometime during the week between ...
Homemade Panettone
I’ve been wanting to make homemade panettone for years, but was always intimidated by stories that this slightly sweet, eggy, Italian raisin bread took days to make. Who has time for that? So I stuck with mediocre store bought varieties. That was until this year. Homemade panettone doesn’t have to be labor intensive. It doesn’t have to take days to prepare, and it doesn’t have to drive you bonkers! There are a few things that I find essential when it comes to panettone – candied citron, ...
Homemade Chicken Rice & Roni Packets
My husband is a meat and potatoes kinda guy. He doesn’t like pasta or rice (he refers to it as “fluffy white nothing”), and there is no way he’d ever eat a sweet potato with dinner. Fried. Mashed. Grilled. Baked. Roasted. If it is a potato, he will eat it (well, except for potato salad, but that’s a whole other story). So imagine my surprise when Steve tried this, and told me that he liked it! So, I did what every busy mom/wife would do – prepare a big batch for the pantry so that I have an ...