From My Home to Yours: 10/10/25

 From My Home to Yours

10/10/25

~ It's all about the meals this week and a right nice surprise ~

Have you ever experienced food fatigue?  You know when you're tired of cooking and eating the same thing over and over again.  That's where we're at so we're pulling out the stops and intentionally looking for new to us meal ideas using the same foods/ingredients we've always used.

My first plan of action was to pull these old issues of Taste of Home magazine from my bookshelf and start looking through them.  (I got all 5 of these issues for $1.99 at a thrift store some 10 years ago.)  They're issues from 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001.  The recipes and methods are still applicable to the way I cook today so the issues being 'old' and 'out of date' doesn't matter one bit!

I enjoyed looking through each issue and marked several recipes to try.  I do find recipes online that I try from time to time, but it was so satisfying just to slow down and hold these old issues in my hands and look at and absorb what was in them.  There's just something about slowing down and enjoying a less hectic lifestyle that is appealing to me in this season of life.  I plan to make next week's menu based off recipes in these magazines.  I am excited about finding new ways to use what we already grow, bargain shop for, preserve, glean, and or forage.  Of course, we will keep our old favorites, but we're definitely ready to add some variety to what we eat.

Do you ever get food fatigue?  If so, what do you do about it?

Hubby whisked me off for an overnight getaway this week!  We left the state we live in and spent some time in a neighboring state.  We both enjoyed it so much!  We took in some sights we've long wanted to see and surprise; surprise found an old order Amish community!

Can you believe that they were having a produce auction during the time we were there.  You know my hubby had to get in on that!  We brought back, tomatoes, green beans, broccoli, apples, peppers, and cabbage from the auction.

Down the road a few miles was an Amish cheese store, they make their cheeses on site and sell them in an attached store.  You could see the area where all the cheesemaking happened through huge, gigantic windows in the store area.  Of course, we were not allowed to go in because of regulations, but the place looked so clean it shined!  It made me feel good about purchasing their products. We spent some time talking with the wife of one of the owners who was working the counter in the store.  She was so kind and friendly and nice, I could have talked with her far longer than we did!  I tried something they make called skyr, it has a yogurt like consistency and was very good.  We purchased 3 blocks of their homemade cheese after sampling one variety they make.  We had a delightful time there as well.

We were told there were some 70 families in this Amish community, but from what we could tell they were spread out over a large area.  Another thing we noticed was that the whole area was absent from 'tourist.'  A couple of places we visited seemed surprised to see someone from outside the area there.  I mean you had to be looking to find this settlement ... don't ask me how we found it!

When we got home you know all that produce had to be preserved!!!

We got the beans snapped and canned and the next most urgent veggie to get preserved was the broccoli.  I removed the florets, blanched them and then froze them in the freezer part of our pantry.  Next, I chopped up the tenderest of the stems, cooked them until soft, then pureed them to make broccoli and cheese soup with this winter.  I froze the puree in 1 1/2 cup increments and added them to the freezer part of our pantry as well. 

Up next is the bell peppers.  My plan is to make about 10 meals of stuffed peppers and freeze them in increments of 4 per package.  That will happen this upcoming week as will the apples.  I want to can some of the apples, make dutch apple pies for the freezer, make a couple of apple cakes for the freezer, dehydrate some for use in granola and store some for fresh eating and cooking.

We were so pleased with all the veggies and fruit we purchased at the produce auction.  It was a small auction, but the produce was superior.  It was fresh, young and tender and the taste has been amazing on everything we've tried thus far.

I'm still working on my version of the #everylittlebitcountschallenge.

Before hubby whisked me away on our trip, I managed to complete day 21 ...

We were given several zucchini and eggplant.  It was too much for us to eat before they all ruined so I decided to flash freeze them and add them to the freezer pantry part of our pantry to be used in a roasted vegetable medley.

zucchini washed, cut into chunks and ready to be flash frozen.

I got the earlier mentioned green beans canned on Day 22 and the broccoli preserved as well.  This variety of green beans was called Jada.  To my knowledge I had never eaten that variety before, but I can tell you that I will be on the lookout for them in the future.  We had enough left over from the canning to have some with a meal ... oh my they were so good!

We had enough broccoli left over from preserving and enjoyed it as part of a meal.  It was tender and delicious as well!

I had a big 'fall cleaning' day on Monday and was happy with what I accomplished.  As I sit and type up this post, we are experiencing a northeaster weather event.  It has rained all day and been quite breezy at times.  It's supposed to continue throughout tomorrow.  We are thankful that thus far we have not lost power, and that our internet has stayed on and working!

I didn't get any sewing done this week but did get the fourth lesson posted in our ladies Bible study on Abigail over on From This Heart of Mine. 

That's all for this week!  

I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

~ quietly holding the home front ~

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You might be interested in my other blogs ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine  

From My Home to Yours: 10/3/25

 From My Home to Yours

10/3/25

~  Where do I even begin? ~

We've been without internet service all week.  A storm blew through last Friday evening and wiped out the internet in our area.  It was finally restored yesterday afternoon.

You all know me and know that I'm all about having backup plans in place for everything I can including an internet outage.  I must admit that I found some areas in my internet preparedness that need tweaking, and you can bet, I'll be working on those asap.

Do you have an internet preparedness backup plan?  Before you poo poo it off, let me ask you if you pay any bills online?   Do you work from home or have a job online?  Does working from home require internet access? Do you communicate with medical professionals online?  Do you access your bank account online?  You see, having internet access is not just about scrolling and hanging out online.  It has become an important part of how we function in our everyday lives.  This was brought home to me in a sudden and unexpected way this last week and like I said, I've got some tweaking to do!

So, what did my week look like ... let's take a peek ...

I continued working on restocking my pantry for winter; I believe we are ready for day 18 in my #everylittlebitcountschallenge.  

Day 18 ...  I jarred up the cayenne pepper that's been drying for several weeks.  I also jarred up moringa that I also had drying in my house.

Also on day 18, I strained and jarred the different herbal oils I've had in the works for several weeks.  Before too much longer I'll be making salves, etc with these oils.  Until then, I'm storing them in the refrigerator to help them hang onto their potency as long as possible.

fresh picked and washed peanuts ready for boiling

On Day 19, hubby was given permission to dig fresh peanuts from a friend's field, which he did.  He spent a day, digging and picking the peanuts off the vines.  Another day was spent boiling them and after he had shared some and ate his fill, he packaged and froze some for the freezer.  He loves boiled peanuts, me ... not so much!

On Day 20, I stored our potatoes in their fall/winter place until they are all eaten.  I also did the same for our onions.

I've really been focusing on fall cleaning and reorganizing this week as well.  The hurricane that we were watching and preparing for last week did not make landfall but did leave us with a couple of days of solid rain.  That's okay, we really needed the rain.  My little fall garden has greened up and is growing by leaps and bounds.

I got some sewing done; I finished all my santa sacks ... remember those ... and I continued to work on the towel project my sister and I are doing together via technology.  I also have a fall skirt in the making and as part of fall cleaning started working on reorganizing my fabric and sewing pantry.  I'll have a full post next week showing pictures, etc of the finished products.

I also posted the third lesson in our ladies Bible study on Abigail over on From This Heart of Mine. 

That's all for this week!  

I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

~ quietly holding the home front ~

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You might be interested in my other blogs ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine  

From My Home to Yours: 9/26/25

 From My Home to Yours

9/26/25

~  Welcome to my week ... it's been a doozy!!! ~

I woke up Monday morning sick, and it took me 3 days to recover!   That was the beginning of my week, today (Friday), the end of my week for blogging purposes, we've been in full blown hurricane prep mode as chances are increasing that our area will have an encounter with one Monday/Tuesday.  How's that for a beginning and ending to a week!

In between the beginning and ending, I had about 24 hours that spanned over a two-day period of time and boy, did I ever fill it to the max ...

food preservation ...

sewing ...

writing ...

massive laundry from being sick, plus regular laundry ...

and about a thousand little things that it would take way more time than I have right now to share about!

Let's see what that one 24-hour period of time looked like ...

 I believe we are ready for day 17 in my #everylittlebitcountschallenge .  

Day 17 ... I added 3 packages, each containing 2 cups of pumpkin, to the freezer part of my pantry ...

from left to right in the picture above ...

one pie pumpkin ...

washed, cut in half and seeds, etc removed ...

into the oven it went at 350 degrees for 1 hour ...

third picture, pumpkin coming out of the oven fully cooked ...

from left to right ...

baked pumpkin cooling ...

pumpkin scooped out of shell cooling further ...

packaged in 2 cups increments, bagged and added to the freezer part of my pantry.

This will give us enough pumpkin for 3 pumpkin pies to make and enjoy during the fall months leading up to and including the Thanksgiving holiday.  We don't usually eat pumpkin the rest of the year, making pumpkin a seasonal food at our house, so this will meet our holiday needs until next year.

On the same day, after the pumpkin came out of the oven, I had these butternut squash ready to go in.  I baked them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  I didn't want them fully cooked, just enough to be easy to cube.  I let them cool a bit once they came out of the oven, peeled them and then cubed them.  Next, I prepared them for flash freezing and the next day when they were completely frozen, I bagged them up and returned them to the freezer part of my pantry.  I got 2 full gallon ziplock bags from the 3-butternut squash.  Since they were flash frozen, which keeps them from clumping together, I can easily take the amount I want from the bag and close it up again.  I will use the cubes for roasting as a side dish or as an ingredient in roasted vegetables.  (These were the butternut squash that hubby gleaned several days ago.  I've been keeping an eye on them and noticed some bad spots forming.  I took action as seen above.  Keeping watch over what's in your pantry is an important aspect of pantry keeping.)

Remember in last week's post that I shared a picture, a teaser really, of a project my sister and I were working on together in-spite of living 12 hours apart.  You can find the big reveal here along with some other projects I managed to finish ... Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine: A Hodge Podge of Sewing Projects!

I also posted the second lesson in our ladies Bible study on Abigail over on From This Heart of Mine. 

That's all for this week!  

I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

~ quietly holding the home front ~

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You might be interested in my other blogs ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine  

From My Home to Yours: 9/19/25

  From My Home to Yours

9/19/25

~  transitioning my home from summer to fall ~

Hmmm ... fall brings to my mind coziness, quilts, pumpkins and pumpkin patches, hay bales, jackets, fall clothing, fall scented potpourri blends, fall festivals, hayrides, harvest/food preservation, books to read, and a slow burning fire in the stove when needed.  We're kicking off that season here at A Working Pantry by making a 'fall' to-do list ...

I'll be taking a look at our fall clothing to make sure there's not anything we need clothing wise to get through the fall and winter.  I don't think there is, I think this is one area that we're both in a good place with ...

I will bring out the fall throw pillow covers, quilts and blankets.  I don't do major decorating anymore, but alas I still like to add those quiet gentle things that remind me of a new season to enjoy.

I'll clean and organize the area around our wood stove and get a fire ready to light should our temps turn cooler suddenly.

I want to mix up several potpourri blends and get them ready to reach and grab when the desire to use hits me.  Don't you just love the scent of fall!

These are a few of the things on my 'fall' to-do list ... do you have things you do in preparation for the fall season?   If so, I'd love to hear about them!

Fall is also a time to restock our pantries for the coming winter and the #everylittlebitcountschallenge is helping me stay focused in this area.  I believe we are ready for day 15 in my #everylittlebitcountschallenge .  Let's see what it looked like ...

On Day 15, we were given the following items pictured above ... 2 bags of lentils, a bag of dried cherries and a bag of dried date pieces.  A lady my hubby works with gave these items to him and he said, 'thank you!'

On Day 16, I purchased a jar of honey to replace the one I had emptied a couple of weeks ago.  Rotating and replacing is one of the many ways we keep our pantry well-stocked.  We set a number of said items we want to keep in our pantry and as we empty one, we replace it with a new one always being sure to place the new one at the back of the rotation.

Also, on Day 16 we purchased 2 organic whole chickens that were on mark down, brought them home and added them to the freezer part of our pantry.  I see rich broth in our future along with enough chicken for several meals.

Again, on Day 16, we purchased a good-sized pie pumpkin which I plan to bake, scoop out the flesh, let it cool, package it in amounts for pumpkin pies and add them to the freezer portion of our pantry for use in the month of November.

In our fall garden I did a bit more planting.  I got carrots in the ground as well as leeks.  Right now, our fall garden consists of collards, cabbage, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, carrots, leeks, curly mustard and onions.  Still to go in the ground is garlic.  We still have herbs, basil, and a few peppers hanging on from our almost 'non-existent' summer garden.

I got some sewing done this week!!!  Many of you will know that have followed A Working Pantry for a while, that my sister and I do a sewing project together during the fall/winter months.  For several years, we did a quilt every year ... oh, did I mention that we live 12 hours away from each other, so we do it together via technology!  This week we embarked upon another project together and this time it's not a quilt!  They're not finished so you'll have to be satisfied with a teaser for this week. If all goes well, we'll have them done by next Friday!  (Anyone want to take a guess at what we're making?  Here's another clue .... we're each making 8 of them!  I'm making 4 with a fall theme and 4 with a Christmas theme!)

Ladies, I posted the first lesson on our next lady of the Bible.  You can find out who it is and read the introduction over on From This Heart of Mine. 

Before I close out this post, I want to thank you for the response to my post on Brokenness over on From This Heart of Mine.  It is encouraging to know that things I write are helping others in their Christian walks.  It's the reason I write!

That's all for this week!  

I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

~ quietly holding the home front ~

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You might be interested in my other blogs ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine  

From My Home to Yours: 9/12/25

  From My Home to Yours

9/12/25

~ Do the next thing ~

That's been my motto this week ... just do the next thing!

Here's what that looked like ...

Day 13 in my #everylittlebitcountschallenge found me turning a surplus of jalapeno peppers into chipotle peppers.  I sliced each pepper in half lengthwise, sprinkled with olive oil, liquid smoke and sea salt and mixed it all up well.  Then I laid them out on racks over parchment lined baking pans/dishes and let them dehydrate at 200 degrees in the oven for approximately 6 hours.  Once dried and cooled, I jarred them and added them to my refrigerator.  Hubby, thinking they were for snacking (no, no, no) tried one and popped the whole thing in his mouth.  He had quite the experience getting his mouth, esophagus and stomach to stop burning.  I told him they were not for snacking, but for seasoning purposes when cooking or making salad dressings.  What I really wanted to know though, was about the flavor.  Had I gotten the flavor right, did they taste like chipotle peppers.  He said the flavor was perfect, but with a 'certain look' in his eyes and expression on his face, he pronounced rather empathically that it would be a while before he used any!  I love that man!!!

Day 14 in my#everylittlebitcountschallenge  found hubby doing some gleaning of butternut squash.  We added 3 to our pantry.  We'll take it!  We enjoy butternut squash cubed and roasted by itself as well as in a roasted vegetable melody.  Butternut squash winter over well for us in our area.

I spent more time this week working on reorganizing my pantry.  A little every day, working on one shelf a day moves me closer to getting it completed without creating a really big mess all at one time.  This week it was important to me not to have a really big mess to have to work around or through. 

(collards and cabbage plants freshly planted and watered in ... the larger collard plants on the left are a bit droopy, but they revived and are all settled in as of this writing)

Before we close out this post, let's take a stroll out to one area of my fall garden.  I purchased cabbage plants while we were traveling from a Mennonite store and then when we got home, a friend gave us collard plants that were ready to plant.  So, one morning this week, I took myself out to this raised bed and planted them ... collards on one side and cabbage on the other!  That takes care of that raised bed and by Thanksgiving, we should be eating fresh cabbage and collards!  I'll take it!

Later in the week, the same friend gave me 4 rutabaga plants, so I planted them in a different raised bed.  I had never eaten rutabaga to my knowledge until this summer.  I always thought I didn't like them ... until I tried them in a roasted vegetable melody.  Can we just say, yum!

While I was planting the rutabaga plants a red wasp stung me on my hand.  Ouch!  I dropped my gardening tool and ran for the house (yes, I ran)!  I knew exactly what I needed to do and headed for my medicinal pantry as soon as I got in the house.  I pulled plantain oil off the shelve, saturated a cotton ball with it and started applying the oil on my hand.  My hand was swelling quickly and the area where the stings were was hurting.  Yes, stings, the wasp got me twice through the gloves I was wearing.  Within a minute, 2 at the most, the throbbing pain was easing up and I was able to get a better look.  Off and on all that day I kept applying the plantain oil, the next day it was considerably better, still swollen but not as bad.  Plantain oil and or plantain vinegar tincture are staples in my medicinal pantry ... and this is why!  I'm not a doctor, nor do I have any medical training, I'm just sharing what works for me.  

(Chive blooms ... do you see the bee?)

I promised an update on our big financial goal of paying off the vehicle we purchased earlier this year sooner rather than later by making 2 payments per month.  We made a change in that plan because we realized that if we paid extra on the principal instead of working ahead on making payments, we would be able to save ourselves a bunch of interest.  This month, the extra we could pay went straight on the principle instead of getting further ahead on the payments!  New goal:  pay something, no matter how small on the principal amount out of each paycheck!  (This is in addition to the regular payment we make each month.)  We are determined to keep working at this until the deed is done!

It's been a week of going to my heavenly Father in prayer with a concerned and sometimes heavy heart more than once.  As you can see, I don't have a lot to share of physical things done in my home this week, but the spiritual aspect of my being/home has been busy sorting through, pondering and praying.  I don't even know if that makes sense ... it's just where my head and heart are right now.

And finally, ladies, I posted a mini study on 'Brokenness' over on From This Heart of Mine.  If your world has ever lay crumbled at your feet, then you'll want to take a look at this study.

That's all for this week!  

I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

~ using my pantry to take care of my family and bless others as well ~

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You might be interested in my other blogs ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine