Did you know, that this is the first lasagna I’ve ever made??

Yup, it’s true... For as much as I love cooking, in all my years I have never made homemade lasagna. It’s just another one of those things that I thought was too much effort, what with all the different layers and everything.

Plus, if I’m being completely honest, I never really loved my mom’s homemade lasagna. Nothing against my dear mother, but the store-bought noodles always seemed a bit mushy, and she just layered it with the same sauce she made for spaghetti. I’ve always loved the delicious bolognese lasagna with the ricotta and béchamel sauce; The kind you get from an Italian bistro or something.

But since I made my own ricotta cheese last week and needed to use it all up, I figured now would be a good time to learn how to make lasagna at home from scratch.

And so, here we are: almost 34 years into life and finally a homemade lasagna to show for it!

I even made the noodles and the sauce from scratch:) (Ryan helped too, which made it a fun team effort).

And ya know what?? Just like most things, it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought;)

Cheese-making and home dairy in general is one of those kitchen projects and skills that can definitely be at least as intimidating as a homemade lasagna, if not more. But once you learn the basics and try making cheese and yogurt and butter and (name a dairy product) at home, you’ll soon find that it’s not nearly as complicated as you might have thought.

While I haven’t posted the recipe for this lasagna yet, I do have a recipe for my homemade ricotta cheese (which, by the way, is the best ricotta layer in a lasagna that I’ve ever had!), in the latest issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine.

To get the recipe, along with recipes for homemade yogurt and homemade mozzarella cheese, click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to thehouseandhomestead.com/magazine to SUBSCRIBE for FREE, and get the Home Dairy issue delivered right to your inbox:)

#homemadecheese #fromscratch #cookingfromscratch #homedairy #homesteadkitchen #homemade ...

♥️ There are five love languages:
1. Gifts/tokens of affection
2. Acts of service
3. Quality time
4. Physical touch
5. Words of affirmation

I read a book recently that explained how FOOD embodies all five of these love languages.

ie. I baked this humble loaf of bread for a friend who just had a baby (along with some other homemade goodies). It’s my way of offering both a gift and an act of service for a new mama who could surely use a meal cooked by someone else.

It will also help to foster quality time for her together with her family; Time spent around the table enjoying a homemade meal together, without the stress of having to cook from scratch while tending to a new baby.

Of course, when it comes to physical touch, nothing touches us more deeply than the food that we put in our bodies. The ingredients matter, along with how it was prepared (personally I prefer my food prepared at home with love rather than prepared and packaged in some industrial building somewhere).

Finally come the words of affirmation. Words like “mmm...” “yum!” and “this is delicious” come to mind when I think of good, homemade food. Whether I’m there to hear those words or not, imagining them uttered around the dinner table is what motivates me to serve others with the food that I make.

Food touches us all so deeply in so many ways, no matter what our own personal love language may be. And so, what better way to say “I love you” or “I care about you” than food... GOOD food, made from scratch with real ingredients.

I’m excited to be able to deliver a care package full of delicious homemade food to my friend and her family later this afternoon. It’s a small act of service and it cost me very little other than my time, but it can have a really big impact for someone else.

If you know someone who could use a home-cooked meal; Someone with a new baby; Someone who’s struggling or going through something hard; Someone who’s stressed out or overwhelmed; Or just someone you love... Consider taking a little time out of your day to prepare a little home-cooked care package for them. It may be the smallest thing you do in a day, but it might just have a big impact on someone you love. ...

And then there were five 😔

I always knew that raising livestock would inevitably lead to some hard losses at some point. We’ve honestly been pretty lucky up until now with our animals. We’ve built them sturdy shelters and given them a good life, safe and secure as possible on our property. But we do back onto the forest, and many predators roam nearby.

Raccoons, eagles, hawks, cougars, bears and mink are the main ones to watch out for around here.

Still, we’ve had a false sense of security because our hens ALWAYS head into their coop when the sun goes down and the automatic chicken door closes behind them and keeps them safe. But last night, for some reason, only four hens went in. Two got stuck outside, and it wasn’t until about 8:30 (roughly two hours after they normally go in), that we heard the frantic squawking of one of our hens.

We rushed out to see what was going on and realized she had been left out of the coop. We tried to calm her down and put her back in, but when we checked, only four hens (plus her) were on the roost. One was still missing.

We found her laying in the run behind the coop. Something had got her by the neck and some of her belly feathers had been plucked out. We now believe it was a mink, and that we scared it off before it could finish the job. But it was too late for her.

Luckily we made it out in time to save the other hen, or we’d have surely lost two.

I had a bit of a cry this morning as I know this wouldn’t have happened had we checked that they all went in. We got lazy and complacent, and we’ve learned a hard lesson because of it.

This homesteading lifestyle is full of hard lessons; Mistakes and failures, hardships and bitter losses. But without the bitter, the sweet wouldn’t be quite as sweet, and the good would be taken for granted.

Homesteading is bittersweet, but even through the hard stuff, I’ve never felt more alive or grateful for all of the good.

Chicken little, you’ll be missed, but we thank you for the lessons you’ve taught us and for all of the joy you brought into our life. 🪶 ...

🥶 Baby it’s COLD outside! And nothing warms the body and soothes the soul on these frigid winter days better than some nourishing and delicious homemade broth.

I hate paying top dollar for broth at the store, and have you seen some of the ingredients in the cheaper brands?? Dextrose (which can lead to dangerously high blood sugar), and highly processed vegetable oils (which can cause dangerous inflammation). Plus the sodium levels are often through the roof!

Not only can you avoid all of that by making your own broth at home, you can actually make a super healthy and nourishing broth for next to nothing by using chicken bones (saved after a meal) and veggie scraps (which you can just throw in the freezer until you need them).

Whether you want to make your own chicken, beef or veggie broth/stock, the process is the same. Make sure to roast those bones first! Then add your veggies, herbs, a little salt and pepper and water, and in a matter of hours you’ll have your own better than storebought homemade broth which you can enjoy right away OR freeze or pressure can for later.

And if you have an Instant Pot you can cut your cook time down by about 3/4!!

If you want to learn more about how to make your own broth at home, including why it’s so healthy for you, how to make it super frugal in an Instant Pot OR on your stovetop AND how to pressure can it afterward, click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/how-to-can-homemade-broth/ to get my full recipe and cooking/canning instructions. Oh, and I’ll also tell you what the difference is between broth and stock. Hint: not much 😉

Warm up this winter with your own homemade broth! And remember, spring is just around the corner (thank God).
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#homemade #broth #bonebroth #makeithealthy #nomnom #frugalkitchen #frugalliving ...

If there's one thing this past year has taught us, it's that we can't always rely on someone else to take care of us.

We CAN'T always rely on grocery store shelves being full, or on prices always being affordable.

We CAN'T rely on things always going as planned, or on always having access to everything we need.

What we CAN do is focus on the things we can control, like taking more responsibility for our food security and our emergency preparedness (not to mention our health!) by learning how to grow and preserve more of our own food at home, so that we never HAVE to rely on others again.

Right now, I'm offering access to both my Seed-to-Soil organic gardening course, as well as my Yes, You CAN! home canning for almost 40% off the regular price!

Alone, these courses sell for $79 each. But for a limited time only, I'm offering them both together as part of my Homegrown Super Bundle for just $99.

You'll get access to both courses PLUS a whole bunch of awesome bonuses too, including bonus video lessons and mini-courses, eBooks and printables and access to both the Seed to Soil and Yes, You CAN! private Facebook groups, where you can ask questions, post photos and updates of your progress and get support and encouragement throughout the growing and preserving season(s).

BUT WAIT! There's more...

I'm currently offering a FREE PREVIEW of both courses during the sale. You can check out the first two lessons of each course until the sale ends tomorrow at midnight, so you can decide if this bundle is the right fit for you at this time.

If you're ready to take control of your family's food security once and for all, this bundle was made for you. But hurry, because this offer is only available until tomorrow at midnight!

Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://schoolofmodernhomesteading.com/p/homegrown-super-bundle to check out the free preview or to learn more about the Homegrown Super Bundle! ...

If there's one thing that doing a pantry challenge each January has taught me, it's that meal planning is KEY when it comes to sticking to any sort of "diet" plan.

Now, when I say "diet," I don't mean some weight-loss regimen. What I mean is simply being intentional about what our diet will consist of (ie. what we put in our mouths and what we serve to our family), and sticking to it.

Throughout the pantry challenge, our diet has consisted of all homemade foods made from ingredients that we've stocked and preserved ahead of time. Because our intention for the month was to stick to creating meals ONLY from the food that we had on hand, we had to get really intentional and disciplined about our meal planning.

Meal planning is definitely one part of the pantry challenge that I'd like to continue with all year long. But if I'm being honest, I'm not naturally inclined to writing out a meal plan each week. It's one area in my life where I could honestly use a little help, especially if I want to make it a consistent habit. And I know I'm not alone! So many of us have trouble with meal planning, and it leads to all sorts of unhealthy choices (for our bodies and our wallets).

If this resonates with you as much as it does with me, then I want to share a pretty amazing resource with you that can help you get your meal planning dialed in from here on out. It's called the Healthy Meal Planning Bundle and it's currently on a quick flash sale for two days only (today and tomorrow).

If your goals for 2021 include cooking at home more, eating healthier, saving money and/or getting more organized then THIS may be the solution for you.

Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead to check out all of the resources included in the bundle, and if it’s the right fit for you then make sure to grab it before the sale ends tomorrow at midnight:)
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#homesteadpantrychallenge #mealplanning #eathealthybehealthy ...

Despite the fact that it's snowing outside, our garden is mostly dormant and we're not producing much food on our little homestead right now, January is one of the busiest times in our kitchen.

This is the time of year when we get to enjoy all of the fruits of our labour; When we get to put all of the food that we've preserved and put up throughout the previous summer and fall to good use.

This is also why I always do a pantry challenge in January, since this is actually the time of year when we've got the most food on hand and we can just focus our efforts on using all of that food to create delicious, belly-warming meals to get us through the rest of winter before the garden starts producing again.

I always get a lot of questions about how we actually use the food that we grow and preserve throughout the year, so I figured this week would be a great time to show you what a full week of meals looks like for us (in January, anyway).

Homesteading means cooking from scratch (A LOT!) and eating very seasonally. In the winter, this means lots of homemade breads and pasta, root vegetables and winter squash, sprouts and microgreens, meats from the freezer, preserves from the pantry and lots and lots of coffee:)

I invite you to join me in my kitchen to get a glimpse into what we actually eat in a week during our annual Homestead Pantry Challenge (when we go an entire month without going to the grocery store, relying only on the food that we have on hand already).

I hope this week's video inspires you to get creative in your kitchen with the ingredients that yo have on hand, whether or not you're participating in the pantry challenge.

Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead to watch the full video and don't forget to like and subscribe to our channel while you're there:)
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#homesteadpantrychallenge #homesteadkitchen #homecooking #cookingfromscratch #homesteadersofinstagram ...