Tag: homemade

Special Holiday Meals: Valentine’s Day Menu & Activities

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

It’s so hard to believe that we are almost through half of February!! Where oh where has the time gone?

We’ve been busy around here with the greenhouse, moving animals, setting up compost systems, and getting garden beds ready for planting, which should happen pretty soon. We are hoping to get some potatoes planted this week.

I believe that Valentine’s Day started out as a religious holiday, but it has now become a major spending event for those who are romantically involved. It’s crazy to see the amount of money spent on candies and cut flowers! We watched a clip on World Watch, and it was eye-opening! You can read more about Valentine’s Day traditions HERE.

Valentine’s Day: A Day To Celebrate or Not?

I can remember the days when my older kids went to public school… I’d always be scrambling to come up with money for Valentine’s and candies to send with them. Then my kiddos would come home with stories of how other parents had surprised their kiddos with balloons, chocolates, and flowers. I’d always feel like I hadn’t done ‘ENOUGH’ and I’d scramble some more to buy them a little box of candy or something special.

Continue reading “Special Holiday Meals: Valentine’s Day Menu & Activities” →

Maximize Your Pantry with $5 a Week

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

Hey y’all,

I hope you are doing well. You’ve probably noticed that a lot of my posts this year are some older posts and some of them include YouTube videos about various topics that I have spoken about before. Well, my time has been stretched a bit and I want to make sure to share information that I find helpful so sometimes when someone asks me about something that I’ve already posted about I don’t want to rewrite a whole new post so I might just update the old one or just reshare it if the information is still good.

Then sometimes I find YouTube videos that seem pretty helpful, and sometimes they are on subjects that I have been wanting to post about but just haven’t had time so I decide that it is best to share the video with you instead of waiting to get the post written because the list of posts that I intend to write keeps getting longer and longer.

I have many posts about our pantry and it is an important part of our everyday life but I do realize that some people don’t even know what pantry staples they should have to start with. This is a helpful video series that I found for building your pantry with just $5.00 a week. These suggestions will definitely help add flavor and variety into your meals and you might even learn to make a few new meals that become family favorites.

Continue reading “Maximize Your Pantry with $5 a Week” →

Garden Updates, Greenhouse, Flower Planting, and a Pantry Challenge

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

Hey everyone!

How is your new year going so far? We’ve been busy as usual and trying to get as much done as we can before the summer comes… although these lower-than-normal temperatures have been making that a little difficult.

Our gardens are still going and we are so thankful for that as we have really been enjoying the food that we are getting from them. Up until a week ago we still had tomatoes and green beans… the tomatoes don’t look too happy at the moment and the green beans are a little sad too but I think they might pull through when we get past these crazy temps.

Continue reading “Garden Updates, Greenhouse, Flower Planting, and a Pantry Challenge” →

Easy Homemade Pepper Gravy Mix

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

Who doesn’t love some Biscuits and Gravy on a cold morning? We definitely do but sometimes the kids want to help make the gravy and they end up adding way too much salt or pepper so I decided to make up some dry mix that they could use. It really does simplify the process and it’s nice to have on hand if I ever want to make a pan of country gravy really quick.

I also like to write the recipe on a small index card or piece of paper and tape it to the jar so I don’t have to pull out a recipe every time I need to refill my container.

Continue reading “Easy Homemade Pepper Gravy Mix” →

Old Fashioned Divinity and Seafoam Candy

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

This candy has been around for a while but I’ve never attempted to make it until I heard Papa reminiscing about it. I’ve meant to try it a few times but that was just the little push I needed to give it a go and my family is glad I did. They truly are divine and they almost melt in your mouth!

It’s a good thing that these will only be made for special occasions as they is FULL of SUGAR!

This recipe really isn’t too difficult but it can be a little tricky… having a candy thermometer and a stand mixer make it a little easier.

It takes about 30-45 minutes to make a batch from start to finish (including clean up) but I can take several hours for the candy to set up completely… try not to eat it all before then!

What are some old-fashioned recipes that you remember from your childhood? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!

Continue reading “Old Fashioned Divinity and Seafoam Candy” →