3 Quick Homesteading Kitchen Tips I Hill Country Homestead Texas

I'm no culinary queen, but we do spend a lot of time here doing things the old fashioned way. More so, we try to do things here on the homestead the way the Lord originally intended. This can be very lost in translation in our modern day in age, especially when it comes to our American diets. Peel away the layers of fast food and question yourself What Would Jesus Do when it comes to mealtime. These are a few practices I use in my kitchen that are a bit old fashioned and may add a task or two extra to the day. However, these habits help reduce food waste in the kitchen, make meal prepping a little easier with homemade ingredients already on hand, and help ensure wholesome ingredients are the significant elements of a meal.

Keep various kinds of dough In the fridge for use during the week.  Specifically pastry dough ( pastry dough makes husbands and children happy). I make bread on the weekends to sent to a farm store during the week, and I usually set aside a few baked loaves for sandwiches and whatnot. I also try to set aside a little extra dough to use in a pinch during the week. Refrigeration slows down the dough rise time and will usually make it a full seven days. The colder, the better. When you have a scratch made buttery pastry dough ready to roll out for a pie, quiche or hot pockets in a moments notice, everyone day gets a little brighter. 

Keep a ziplock bag in the freezer for chicken bones and vegetable trimmings — specifically, onion skins which add a beautiful color and minerals to the broth. I wait until I have two chicken carcasses or a full gallon ziplock and throw it in the Instant Pot, cover with water and a splash of apple cider vinegar, and run it on the broth/soup setting two full cycles.  No instant pot and no time, no problem. A quick 12-hour pot of bones simmering on the stove will still derive a healthy amount of vitamins, minerals, and collagen from the bones (especially if you add in skins).

Keep bone broth in the fridge made fresh, biweekly. Boil noodles in bone broth, add to sautéed vegetables, sauce base, use as soup starter, and various other flavor saving ways in the kitchen. Its nutritional benefits are so great it's worth the time it takes to make this staple every two weeks or so.  It all comes down to the broth. Our ancestors knew the nutritional power of broth and making broth is a historical tradition and one that is being rediscovered in homes.

Bonus Tip: Feed The Softened bones to the dogs. Happy Homesteading!