Easy Pizza Sauce...so easy a kid can make it!

My teenaged son made this last night and we topped Boboli crusts with it, we had a little extra, so we made a bruschetta type of appetizer, too. :)
We adapted this from an allrecipes.com version

Easy Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

1 large pizza crust or 2 Boboli pizza crusts

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 1/2 cups water

OR Use 1 15oz can of tomato sauce

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

1/2 tablespoon dried oregano

1/2 tablespoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

Mix together the tomato paste, water (or just use tomato sauce), and olive oil with a whisk. Mix really well or the oil will separate. Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste, oregano, basil, and rosemary. Mix well and let stand several hours to let flavors blend. No cooking necessary, just spread on dough.

OR cook for 10 min. over medium heat to meld flavors quickly.

Spread on dough, top with your favorite toppings and cheese, and bake according to directions. If you plan on using fresh herbs, you will need to triple the amounts and dice them up really fine. If you're going to cook it, add the herbs at about 9 minutes of cook time, so you don't lose that great, fresh flavor. :)

Tip: if you find the sauce is a tad too runny (this depends on the sauce and/or amount of water you are using) you can add a tablespoon at a time to the sauce to thicken it up. I find that using my tomato powder from food storage does this quite well.

I took a photo with the pizza sauce on before it went in the oven, but the pizza was gone before I could get a photo of it after it was done cooking...six hungry teens make short work of pizza! LOL!

TV Dinners for Thanksgiving and making adjustments...

Spending time moving was not conducive to making a big Thanksgiving meal, so we opted for frozen Enchilada TV dinners. They weren't very good, but by the time we got around to eating them, we were starving! This was a TG dinner we'd NEVER forget! Everything non-essential was moved into the storage units, and by the time we were done there was barely a path to walk. I really should've sorted and had a yard sale. :(

The necessities were moved into the cabin, and the tools and hardware we thought would be useful were moved into the shed. The animals were settled in and we were ready for a break, too bad the Thanksgiving break was already over.

The kids had quite a walk to the bus stop, over half a mile down the dirt road, and the bus came at 6:50am!!! It was cold and dark, and if they didn't get up soon enough, then the cats didn't get taken care of...so mom was nice and drove them to the bus stop every morning. This was the down-side of moving so much further out in the country...the LONG bus ride to school. We were on the very edge of their school district, in fact the other school district's bus passes right by us!

Thankfully our first winter in the "cabin" was not too bad. The kids would probably disagree, but we didn't have major snow storms, ice storms, power outages, deep freezes that compromised our well & plumbing, etc. We realized before we'd been in the cabin long that even with the temps not getting too bad, the floor was FREEZING. Jason opted to skirt the cabin with pressure-treated plywood. It blends in quite well with it.

We had a few round bales of hay from our five acres in the fall (neighbor came by and asked if we'd like him to cut on shares, then he decided the hay wasn't good enough to sell, so he just left all 7 bales for us to use). The horses were content, the dogs were happy, and the chickens were finally laying again. Flopsie, the bunny was happy and ran circles in her cage. Everyone was happy except the cats...they were still in cages. We were afraid to let them out of the barn for fear we'd never see them again. Slowly, one by one, we let them out of their cages to run around the barn, and every day a different cat got to come in the cabin for some extra loving.

We'd worked a little more on the foundation of the house, which we are building on "piers". Hopefully I can get a picture or two from my husband's files to post soon.

Looking forward to our first Christmas in the cabin...

MOVE IN WEEKEND!!! Or how to make everything fit and still be comfortable?

Our move-in weekend was one of the worst to be moving! Thanksgiving...we had 4 days to get everything, including the animals, moved out. I had to work, Jason took the Friday after Thanksgiving off, and the kids weren't in school. Shannon & I put up a temporary electric fence for the horses. We barely fenced 1/4 acre, just enough to get them confined. We'd have to finish it in the spring. For now, they didn't need much because they were eating hay. Putting up T posts is not easy for a woman, we don't have the upper-body strength that men have...and Shannon & I are SHORT! I am only 5'3", Shannon is only 4'10". She did try, though, and as funny as it looked to watch, she did get some T posts driven in.

We had 12 cats to move (one was strictly a house cat) and had found cat breeding cages (again, craigslist) and a few small animal cages to put in the barn to confine the cats. All our cats had been born on our old place, so we were worried about them running away. I think we had 10 cages, two cats had to share. A few didn't like each other, boy was that fun arranging them so they couldn't see each other. LOL!

A new neighbor had a horse trailer and he moved our two horses for us, Tim helped him load them. Our old neighbor had to come get his horse he'd been boarding up at our old place and she lost her halter the night before (of course). We had four dogs to move (two indoors, two outdoors). We had to figure where the outdoor dogs would go, because they'd always had a kennel at the old place. I guess dog houses and staked out to trees ended up being the answer to that. A bunny, but thankfully she had her own cage/coop. Two drakes (male ducks) and five chicken hens. They were the hardest to get moved. Their coop (came with them when we purchased them) weighed a TON, was really tall, and didn't handle well. Jason & I ended up moving them last, and he cut the legs down on their coop so I could help him move it...otherwise it was far too tall for me to get a good grip. (This also made it easier to gather eggs...so it worked out well.)

Most of the barn and Jason's shed got thrown into boxes and bins and toted to the barn storage unit. I don't recommend waiting til the last minute to do something like this, it took us a year to sort everything back out again, and even then we still can't find some things that are probably buried in the back somewhere.

I am very proud of my husband and kids' hard work. The cabin is cozy, cute, and laid out very well. We have been in here over two years now, and we rarely feel "cramped". That usually happens when we have company, when I'm babysitting, or when everyone is getting "cabin fever" in the middle of winter!

The cabin is 12' x 32' and has two sleeping lofts. The big end of the cabin is our living space, with the kids' sleeping lofts above. The smaller end is the bathroom with our master loft above it. The lofts are only about 4' high at the peak, so unless you're laying down, it's not very comfortable, but somehow the kids manage to play video games up there, do their homework, and each has a laptop or a computer.

The bathroom is a full bath, and we put two dressers in there for clothing and towel storage. It even houses a litter pan! The doorway was too short to put a door in, plus there was really nowhere for that door to swing, so we opted for a curtain. We put up a shower curtain across the doorway, but the first time one of us used it, we noticed you could see right through it! We doubled up the curtain with another one, and that worked just fine. We also installed an exhaust fan in the bathroom, it keeps the rest of the cabin from becoming too humid after someone's showered. Mold is a huge problem in Missouri.

The kitchen layout is GREAT, and the only drawback is that the ladder to the master loft gets in the way. Jason installed the portable dishwasher from our old place and our cabinets are from his grandmother from the '40s or '50s. He even built a big, deep shelf above the cabinets for our "pantry". I have always kept a really well-stocked pantry. I believe it's a necessity. Having grown up on not much more than green beans and hamburger, I have grown to love cooking and baking, and I am always trying new recipes.

We were already starting to think about "what if" in terms of shelter, food & water. And I was beginning to buy in bulk and get some emergency food storage. People were losing their jobs like crazy, and the shape of the economy was the biggest reason we opted to get into something more affordable...but more on that some other time.

Here are pics of our cabin after we moved in.

I forgot to mention the little shelves Jason built along the edges of the main room, they're great for extras, like spices, boxed mixes, etc., that you don't use every day. Most people don't even notice them right away. If I weren't so big into food-storage, I guess they could be used for books, DVDs or cubbies for anything else you might want them for. Oh, and our heating system is 3 small space heaters. They do well heating this small space, they are normally set to low. One in the bathroom, one in the "kitchen", and one in the "living room". The heat rises, and the kids are usually too warm and run box fans upstairs. If they're too cold at night, we all have heated mattress pads. I always use mine, Shannon always uses hers, Jason has his side turned off, and Michael doesn't even put his on. LOL! Tim uses his sometimes, but he always has a sleeping bag on his bed, so he's usually warm enough. In the summer we run two window A/C units and they keep up pretty well with cooling, so long as I don't use the oven. Summers are for grilling and hoping the wind isn't blowing too hard.

Throw out the box...Homemade Mac & Cheese to die for recipe!

Granted, when time is short or when we want a quickie lunch, a boxed mac & cheese is still okay, but if you want something your family will beg for, or if you want to impress your friends, make it homemade!! I found this recipe in a book at the library, in fact I found SO MANY recipes in this book that I just HAD to have it! My loving husband purchased it for me as soon as he saw the oodles of post-it notes sticking out of the book: The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods you Can Stop Buying & Start Making by Alana Chernila

Ingredients:
1 lb penne, macaroni or shells
1 medium head of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces, including stem (OPTIONAL)
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, plus additional for the pan
4 c. whole milk
6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp paprika (sweet or smoked), plus additional for sprinkling over the top
1 tsp dry mustard
freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste
1 lb grated cheddar cheese or a mix of cheddar & gruyere
2 c. breadcrumbs, plain or garlic, homemade or store-bought

(I use macaroni, omit the broccoli, whole raw cows milk, unbleached all purpose flour, Hungarian sweet paprika, a creamy cheddar cheese (sharp would taste good, but definitely needs the creaminess of a mild cheddar...maybe 3/4 mild and 1/4 sharp), and store-bought Italian bread crumbs...there is a recipe in this book for homemade that I plan on getting around to trying.)

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat on the stove. Add pasta and cook for half the time specified on the package. Add broccoli, if using, and cook both an additional 2 minutes. Drain & rinse in cold water. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9X13 baking pan with butter.

Bring milk just to a boil in a medium saucepan and set aside. Meanwhile melt the butter in another saucepan, add flour and whisk over low heat just until the mixture turns golden and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the hot milk to the flour mixture and whisk well. Add the paprika and dry mustard, continuing to whisk over medium heat until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the pasta & broccoli into the baking dish, pour the cream mixture over the pasta and toss to coat completely. Sprinkle 3/4 of the cheese on top, then all of the breadcrumbs, then the remaining cheese. Finish with a little extra paprika and some salt & pepper.
Bake 30 minutes or until golden and starting to bubble, then put it under the broiler for a few more minutes, until it puffs up and turns an even darker golden. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 10 min. before serving.

This can also be stored in the freezer, whole & unbaked, wrapped in aluminum foil (thaw in the fridge before baking). Also stored baked in the pan, wrapped in aluminum foil, or in individual portions in freezer-safe containers for 4 months. Thaw & warm in a microwave.

It looks as good as it tastes!

The Cabin Arrives! AKA the tinyhouse

The morning we got the call that the cabin was coming, we were so excited! We could finally get working on a semi-permanent living arrangement! The cabin arrived on a sunny afternoon and the two guys who put it in place were really efficient. Jason was fascinated with the "mule" (equipment) they used to move it into position and level it. Once set we stood back and realized we really had picked the perfect spot on our property for it. What would we do with it when it was no longer needed as living quarters? I wanted a summer kitchen, Jason wanted a "shop". I think Jason has won, but maybe the stove and fridge will stay out there when we move into the "main house"? I mean, I do want new appliances some day. LOL!

Next on the agenda was insulation, plumbing and electrical. We found the insulation we needed, which I guess was not an easy task for Jason, since everything these days is for a different kind of framing than our cabin has. Wire was purchased, sheet rock, toilet, sink, and a wash tub/sink for the kitchen (it fit, and we were putting our portable dishwasher in the corner, so the deep sink/tub would do). Things were starting to get crazy! Winter weather was just around the corner and we needed to have the cabin done before the snows flew. The kids were back in school, so the boys only had weekends to help Jason. I had to get the rest of the house packed up and decide what absolutely would fit in the cabin and what had to go to storage. I really didn't have the time, with working outside the home, to have any kind of moving or yard sale, although it would've been nice. Work on the house was at a standstill now, the cabin had to get done quick!

After looking on craigslist awhile, we did decide to return the sheet rock and purchased instead 1/4" thick 4" x 3' slabs of cedar. They really make our cabin look like a "cabin"! And the price was right, too! Also purchased on craigslist was a tub and shower surround, WAY cheaper than at Lowes or HomeDepot, and it was brand new, just had some scratches. We also found wood-floor-looking sheet vinyl at a discount store and covered the whole cabin with it. It has fooled many people into believing we'd laid laminate. LOL!

Looking back, are there things we wish we'd done different? Yes.
For starters, we wish the subfloor in the cabin had been tongue and groove, because we have "squishy" spots now, and the vinyl floor is cracking along their seems. We wish we'd run more electric to the cabin, because we can't run the dishwasher and anything else on that wall at the same time (not the heater, not a coffee maker, not even the toaster). I'm sure there are other regrets, this is just off the top of my head.

Move-In Date was now known, we only had a couple weeks to clear out, Thanksgiving weekend was the end!

Plan B... living in the camper is out, living in a cabin is in (tinyhouse living)

The logistics of camper living was really on our minds, and we couldn't realistically imagine living in our camper for a month, much less a year. Five people, all adult-sized, a cat who had to live indoors (he's a cripple), two dogs that had never lived outdoors, we might be able to manage a week before we were ready to kill each other. The upside of the camper is that it is all-in-one, had heat and air, a kitchen, a TV, some storage space, and a bathroom, all we had to do was hook it to electric and septic...the downside...it was CRAMPED!

Two bedrooms, one a master that you could barely get around the bed, the other had three bunks and a little table. Shannon would have no privacy, and a teenaged girl needed her privacy, teen boys, too. The kitchen would never hold all the pots and pans I'd need for cooking, much less ingredients. And the bathroom was a foregone conclusion, it'd never work. Plus we'd have to skirt it to keep the pipes from freezing in the winter.

Plan B is now in the works...a new neighbor had sold her motor home and purchased a small storage shed that she'd run electric to and plumbed. It was cute, but tiny. It wouldn't work for our sized family, but something LIKE it might work. Jason and I took a drive and found a storage shed display and looked at the biggest one they had. It might work. We went home and did some drawings (Jason is very good at space utilization and using CAD programs). We sat the kids down and had a talk. This wouldn't be permanent, but it was something they needed to realize we had to do. The economy wasn't getting any better, budgets needed to be cut, sacrifices made, and some day we'd have a piece of land with a house we'd built with our own hands, and it would be OURS. The kids would be leaving home soon and we had to consider what we'd do when we were emptynesters, too.

Plan B would work...we'd live in a storage shed (cabin) while we built our house. We hoped it'd only be a year and that we wouldn't want to kill each other in the meantime. We ordered our cabin to our specifications, and continued work on the lot while we waited for our cabin to be delivered.

Jason took the tractor and leveled the building site and had a load of gravel delivered for the driveway. We rented a trencher and found the old septic hookup (a mobile home had sat on this lot before, the people had lost the land and mobile when the dad lost his job). We trenched the water and septic lines, and the electric lines. Water and septic and electric were now run to the house site.

Crockpot Hamburger Soup Recipe

Here is my family's favorite winter soup (not counting chili!)

Hamburger Soup
1 lb lean ground beef, cooked & drained
1 c. Thinly sliced carrots
1 c. Sliced celery
1 pkg (1 oz) dry onion soup mix
1 pkg (1 oz) Italian salad dressing mix
1/4 tsp. Seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. Black pepper
3 c. Boiled Water
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce

Dump all in a crock pot, mix well, cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Stir in:
2 c. cooked & drained macaroni
1/4 c. Grated Parmesan cheese
and garnish with 2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional).

Recent modifications, I have left out the salt, pepper and tomato sauce with good results. I think it tastes better, and of course, less salt.

Giving credit, where credit is due, I found this recipe in the Sept/Oct 2011 issue of GRIT magazine. I highly recommend this magazine if you enjoy farming, gardening, or dream of homesteading. :)

Work Begins

The next several weekends and a few nights after Jason was off work was spent at the property mapping out where the barn would go and the house would go. The barn had to go up first, for the animals shelter and feed, the house had to begin at almost the same time, because we needed to get the water and sewer pipes laid, as well as get electricity trenched. The house spot would need to be leveled, the driveway needed gravel and this whole time we're wondering HOW we're going to have five people living in a camper??? Granted, it was a very NICE camper, and 32' long. It had a small fridge, stove, oven, sink, a bathroom that is okay for when you're camping and don't intend to take a shower, but if everyone has to get ready at the same time in the morning, there is NO WAY that bathroom was going to work. We needed a Plan B for housing and we needed a tractor or we'd spend ALL of our money on rental equipment.

The search was on...get a tractor that was reasonably priced, in good condition, and could do most of what we needed. And Plan B was being considered, because we knew, even with all the planning ahead, we'd never get the house done in a few months, we'd need at least a year, maybe more.

Jason found a great restoration tractor on eBay. A Farmall 400. Bigger than our old Farmall H, in better shape, but it was a ways to pick it up...somewhere in Kansas. Shannon made the trip with him. It really is a PRETTY tractor. :)

Here is our almost finished barn, after we'd moved the animals in. We did get the open side closed in before winter snows blew. Here's another great picture, after a snow. Our horses are Sassy (background) our American Saddle Bred and Honey (foreground) a Tennessee Walking Horse. Both are broke to ride, sort of. Honey won't go anywhere without Sassy, and Sassy earned her name, although these days she's too old and crippled to ride. She has arthritis. I don't know what Honey will do when Sassy finally passes on.

Decisions Decisions

Jason was beyond disappointed, he was disgusted, we felt we'd been deceived when we purchased the property from the owners, who knew about the loud, obnoxious, incessant drone of a rumbling diesel engine, or generator, which ever one was keeping the refrigerated semi trailer cool. Even some of the neighbors came to us later with stories of our new-to-us, illustrious neighbors. We spent the rest of the day depressed and praying for guidance. Do we lose the few hundred dollars we'd put as down payment on the land, do we ask to exchange the parcel for a different one in the same subdivision (none were quite as good as the one we'd settled on), if we leave the land, where are we going to buy instead, because the horses need a few acres and the kids need to stay in the school district?

Jason went back out to the property on Sunday afternoon to look around again, get his bearings, and make a decision. I left this up to him. I can get used to just about anything, I didn't think he could. He came home and reported the semi was gone and one neighbor said the semi is usually only there on weekends, and then not every weekend.

He looked the property over really well and decided that he could put the barn as a barrier to the sound at the back of the property. We lose some prime garden planting soil, and the house will need to go where we'd planned the barn to go to get maximum sound isolation. There were really no other affordable options for acreage unless we wanted to be even further away from Jason's work, and only two subdivisions like this one that were still in the kids' school district. The other, we'd decided, was too far out, the land was mostly wooded, and too expensive to clear for a home site, much less good grazing. Our oldest was a Junior in high school and the transition out of the school district would be too hard on him and his studies. The decision was made, we'd keep the property and learn to live with the sound.

Several more trips out to the property that week and we'd figured out where the barn would sit, where the house would be built, and where we'd park the camper while building. The boys helped Jason get the well up and running and I found a steel shed kit for $200 at a scratch and dent store that we'd put over the well and store our building tools in for now. Plans were coming along now.

It's now well into August, school is about to start, and the count down to moving has begun. We didn't know our move-out-date then, but it turned out to be Thanksgiving weekend. I rented a storage unit close to our building site (about 4 miles away) and began packing up our house, knowing we'd be living in very cramped quarters, almost EVERYTHING had to get packed. While I am a very organized person, and my oldest is, as well, the other three are NOT. He and I packed boxes and labeled everything clearly. Michael packed everything (and I mean everything, even dirty socks) and just labeled boxes "M". Shannon packed everything (at least I think there were some dirty socks in there, because there's a whole basket of unmatched socks of hers) and labeled them "Shannon's stuff", "Shannon's Bedroom", and a few had pertinent labels like "toys", "books" or "crafts". Jason didn't pack ANYTHING. I don't know if he just didn't see the move coming or he just really hates packing, but he had ample opportunity. I was very adamant, I was NOT packing his things because I was not going to be accused of losing them. Sigh... We also had two storage sheds (his and hers...mine was mostly packed because it was Christmas decorations...his was mostly tools and hardware) and a HUGE barn to pack up (not very full, but everything out there was coated with dirt and grime). In the end we ended up renting two storage units, one for the house and one for the barn.

Raw Land, Now What??

After visiting the parcel we wanted to purchase at LEAST a dozen times, maybe more, between April and July, the deal was done, the contract was signed, and we could now do whatever we wanted with our land. (many counties in Missouri have no zoning, so the land is yours to do with as you wish, so long as you don't contaminate it). We do have a FEW restrictions on our parcel, as we are in a small subdivision of 5 acre parcels. Basically no junk cars, no semi trucks/trailers, and someone told us no swine, but that's not exactly what it says in the covenants and restrictions portion of our contract...it basically says not to bother the neighbors with obnoxious sounds or smells. We don't plan on any swine at the moment, but we did bring our 5 hens from our previous property with us, two horses, four dogs, a dozen cats, and a bunny rabbit, oh, and can't forget our two ducks!

So first things first, the property is ours, and we have a well and septic, SOMEWHERE in the mess of tall grass, briars and what looks like may have been a driveway...we don't have a tractor anymore, sold it a few years ago to buy a pickup truck, so called a guy with a tractor and bushhog. $300 later we can see that yes, there was a driveway at one time, but it was nothing more than a dirt track, going to need gravel. Found the well, time to get it set up to actually give us water! Found the septic, NOT where we thought it would be...the dreams of where we were going to put the house will need to change a little. Called the electric company and got our power on and a switch on the outside light pole to turn it off when we don't want to use it (sometimes we like to use the telescope).

Brought our camper out for the first weekend after the land was cleaned up so we could get working on that well and clean up all the brush and sticks that got mowed over. It was a hot summer day and we were glad we purchased the lot with the trees! We cleaned up what was to be our yard, cooked dinner on the grill, and then settled in for a quiet evening of dreaming.

Out dear God, what is that sound???! The junky place behind us has a big rig backing in, it's loud and sounds practically right on top of us. We keep hoping the thing will turn off...nope, it ran ALL NIGHT LONG! The next morning we got up from a NOT sound sleep, went outside and wondered WHAT had we gotten ourselves into?! We had done our due diligence, we'd visited the property at all times of the day, evening, weekends, visited the neighbors who lived in the area, and there was NO indication that we would be sleep-deprived upon purchasing this piece of land. :(

We packed up the camper, threw the dogs in the truck and headed back to our current home, wishing we'd not bought the place. Time to rethink this decision.

Basically you can see the beginnings of the well being put in on the right, and in the background to the left you can see the semi trailers on the property behind us.

Sharing our family's favorite snack recipe! Chewy Granola Bars!

One of the first things we realized in trying to be more economical was that our grocery budget was HUGE! Not that anyone having a family of five consisting of 3 teenagers is NOT huge, but we felt it was unreasonable. So began the learning curve on food budgeting, food storage, price matching, couponing in combination with price matching, buying in bulk, etc., etc., etc.

I have always tried to make our meals as much from "scratch" as possible, I believe it saves money and is healthier than pre-packaged, carb/corn/soy loaded convenience foods.

Here is our favorite snacking recipe, and my kids take them to friends' houses and events if they're asked to bring something to share. I purchase my oats in bulk, my vanilla in bulk, my honey locally or in bulk, and my butter at sale prices. Typically we use chocolate chips as the "add in" ingredient, and I try to buy those on sale, too.

These make a nice, chewy granola bar, and you can vary the ingredients a LOT. I found this just doing a web search for granola bars. It's from www.kitchenstewardship.com

Healthy Granola Bars
Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, or spelt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup honey

Add-ins: 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (or regular) and 1 cup chopped walnuts, or try any combination of 2 cups or less of dried fruits, sunflower seeds, coconut, nuts, baking chips, etc…

Lightly butter a 9×13-inch pan. In a large mixing bowl combine butter and honey first, Then add all ingredients except add-ins.
Beat hard until combined. Stir in add-ins.
Press mixture into pan — really jam it in there so your bars don’t fall apart. (You can use your hands!)
Bake at 325 degrees for 18-25 minutes until golden brown on the edges.
Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing and serving.

Transformations:

Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder and skip the chocolate chips
Use 1/2 cup natural peanut butter in place of 1/2 cup of butter
Substitute sorghum syrup or brown rice syrup for the honey (this is my favorite way to make the bars)

Want crunchy bars? Spread a full batch into a large cookie sheet or a half batch in a 9×13 pan. Press firmly and bake as usual. Cool completely and cut apart, then spread individually on a baking sheet or stone and toast again for ~10-13 minutes in a preheated 325F oven. Watch carefully for browning on the edges. Now, listen closely – do not touch. Got that? Wait until the bars are totally and completely cooled on the pan before removing, and you will have sturdy, crunchy granola bars to die for.

Beginning the Adventure

We purchased our 5 acres of bare land in July of 2011. The "adventure" into modern homesteading, self-sufficiency, or as we call it "economizing" began in earnest. We wanted to be as debt-free as possible. We didn't want a huge mortgage, car payments, credit-card debt, and all the other burdens of modern times that weigh families down. We did want a nice house, one we could be proud of, one we built with our own hands...so began the adventure of living in a tiny home while building the big house. The land was owner carry, contract for deed, and it had a well and septic on it. No neighbors around, although there was a house in the beginning stages next door, and behind us a dilapidated barn and mobile home with a bunch of beef cows milling around.

Welcome to the Beginning!

I'm Sharon, aka Wayward Pine Farm Girl. I hope to share our joys and tears of farm life, "tiny house" life, motherhood, building a home from scratch using only our own labor, and a prepping lifestyle that isn't all doom & gloom. :-) I hope you enjoy this blog and stop back often. I am likely updating from my tablet or smart phone, so please excuse type-o's...they're rather difficult to correct on these devices...sigh...