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  The recipes and methods are still applicable to the way I cook today so the issues being 'old' and 'out of date' doesn't matter one bit!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