Nancy on the Home Front

Oven Roasted Rhubarb Compote

One of the things I enjoy about rhubarb is its tartness. The nice thing about this recipe for oven roasted rhubarb compote is that it uses minimal sugar, just enough to tame the pucker without overwhelming it entirely. This compote is delicious eaten alone, or on top of granola or even a dish of ice cream.

The original recipe came from on of my favorite books preserving by the pint. This recipe only made two ½ pints; I doubled the recipe and ended up with two pints. Just oven roasted rhubarb compote is perfect for our pantry, especially as we prepare for an eventual move.

Oven Roasted Rhubarb Compote

Ingredients:

1 pound rhubarb
¼ cup sugar
2 vanilla beans
1 lemon

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350. Wash the rhubarb and chop into 2 inch pieces. Arrange the rhubarb pieces in the bottom of an oven safe baking dish.

Put the sugar in a small mixing bowl. Scrape the vanilla bean seeds from the pods and add it to the sugar. Using a rasp, grate the lemon zest into the sugar. Toss the sugar, vanilla seeds and lemon zest together and sprinkle over the rhubarb pieces. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice form one-half over the rhubarb.

Place he baking dish in the preheated oven and roast for 20-25 minutes, until the rhubarb pieces are quite tender but have not lost their shape. When they’re done their color will have faded to a dusty pink.

While the rhubarb roasts, prepare a boiling water bath and two half-ping jars according to your canning directions. Place two lids in a small saucepan or water and bring to a simmer. When the rhubarb is done scoop the roasted rhubarb into the prepared jars. Wipe the rims; apply the lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Oven roasted rhubarb compote looks beautiful in the jars and will be a perfect addition to your pantry.

Goal Setting Week 22

Spent the last week on the road, which was actually one of our goals!

~~1. Find a new hosting site for my blog and make it secure.~~ Done! This was the first goal accomplished this year and I am so happy to have a secure website.

2. Monetize my blog. This is in the works, I have set up two affiliate accounts. Soon you’ll be seeing links to my favorite items on amazon. I’ve also teamed up with an amazing heirloom seed company, Mary’s Heirloom Seeds. The .99 cent sale is still going on. Plus she’s got a lot of other great offers on her site. Click here for more information.

3. Create a cookbook. One step at a time, as we are now in the gardening seasoning and I’m spending as much time as I can outside this goal might be pushed off until later this summer.

4. Be diligent about getting 10K steps in 5 out of 7 days a week. Did pretty good this week! Our friends all like to walk too which made it so easy. Managed to get 4 good walks in this week. Not quite my goal but happy to be getting steps in during a road trip!

5. As we continue to prepare for an eventual house sale, continue to de-clutter. Since we were on the road this week I did not do any de-cluttering. 36 items still to go.

6. Read 25 books this year! Since we were on the road during the last week I downloaded Audible and we listened to books while driving. Finished the book Moonwalking with Einstein which was fascinating.All about the Art & Science of Remembering Everything. 4 books to go.

7. Have a consistent meal plan each week and prepare ahead. No meal planing this week although I did pre-pack healthy snacks to enjoy is the car. I actually brought Prep Ahead Breakfasts & Lunches, with us for our road trip. Yes, I can read in and the car and yes I love reading cookbooks! I marked a few recipes to try in the near future. The idea of having lunches ready made sounds wonderful! If you are interested in ordering the book, click on the image below.

~~8. Finish 4 knitting projects.~~ Completed! Made two hats and two scarves. I brought my knitting along on our road trip and never took it out of the bag! There was too much to see. This last project may get put on hold until the weather is a little cooler.

9. Clean out our freezer. On the road so no progress on this goal this week,.

10. Take a few road trips and visit family and friends on the east coast that we will not see as often once we move to the west coast. First road trip is just about completed. Visited friends in Virginia Beach, Chapel Hill and Charlotte, North Carolina. Wonderful time visiting wonderful friends!

Remember,
“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.“

Tony Robbins

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site.

For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front

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Best Snacks for a Road Trip

For some reason when I think of a road trip I think of snacks. Perhaps it’s because my mother always had little snacks for us to enjoy on our long car rides? With our recent road trip I wanted to make the best snacks for a road trip.

What are the best snacks for a road trip? By preparing ahead you can save yourself a lot of money by packing your food rather than buying it along the way.

Make sure you have water or seltzer to keep hydrated during the drive.

Have some fruit to enjoy. Apples, grapes and bananas travel well and are easy to enjoy in the car without making a mess.

Fresh vegetables are also a must. Carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, green beans and celery and easy to prepare ahead of time and keep fresh in your cooler. If you like have a small container of hummus to enjoy with the vegetables.

If you enjoy crunchy snacks you can purchase some small bags of popcorn. To satisfy your sweet tooth, buy some healthy snack cookies like Annie’s or a small bag of dark chocolate.

You can also purchase BabyBel cheese or string cheese. Our goal was not to eat every moment while driving in the car but to have a variety of healthy snacks to enjoy. By planning the best snacks for a car trip you can enjoy your travels without having to stop and buy not so healthy food along the way.

We usually either make sandwiches for the drive or bring sandwich supplies with us. Sliced meat and cheese stores well in the cooler and it’s so easy to stop and make a sandwich along the way. A tortilla roll up with peanut butter and a banana is also an option for an easy lunch. I even found small packages of seasoned olives to have with our lunch!

Making the best snacks for a road trip doesn’t have to be hard. You can pack a cooler and a bag and have enough variety on hand so that everyone is happy. My husband and I were very pleased with the selection of good snacks ideas. We would plan out when the next snack would be and it gave us something to look forward to!

Chicken, Fruit and Curry Salad

Every once in a while you come upon a salad that is just the perfect summertime salad. This chicken salad should never be forgotten. The addition of coconut and pineapple gives this chicken, fruit and curry salad a real caribbean taste, perfect for your next summer gathering. The recipe originated from Marion Cunningham’s’ book Lost Recipes.

The recipe has room to make it your own. Use fresh pineapple, add more curry or make the dressing little bit lighter by using yogurt. With the chunks of pineapple and crunchy pieces of water chestnut and the surprise taste of curry, it’s delicious from the first bite. I served this delicious Chicken, Fruit and Curry Salad on top of lettuce with some quartered tomatoes. You could also serve it as a chicken salad sandwich using your homemade whole wheat bread or pita bread. It’s the perfect summertime salad.

Chicken, Fruit and Curry Salad

Make this delicious chicken, fruit and curry salad in the morning so it has time to chill. Then serve the salad for lunch as you enjoy the beautiful day. The leftovers will keep in the fridge for several days. I’ve made chicken salads before adding grapes and almonds but adding the pineapple is a real treat. Don’t wait to make this salad it will be a sure hit this summer.

This salad will keep for several days in the refrigerator. However it is tastiest when served right away. My recommendation would be to serve any leftovers in a chicken salad sandwich the following day. What is your favorite summertime salad? I can guarantee that we’ll be enjoying this summertime salad several times this summer!

The months of summer seem to fly by too quickly and having a few good salad recipes on hand for those family gathering and picnics makes the planing easy and enjoyable.

Miz Helen’s Country Cottage

Beautiful June Flowers

The garden is planted and coming along. The gardens are weeded and mulched. Before the garden starts really producing I am just enjoying the beautiful June flowers!

The phlox is the first to bloom; I love the way it spills over the rock walls.

Our lilacs are the next to bloom, they are pretty much past now but we have a bush at either end of our deck and for the last few weeks the scent of lilacs was everywhere!

We could use some rain, we had a rather wet early spring but haven’t had much in the recent weeks. However the Iris are in full bloom.

When we take our evening walks the roads are lined with beautiful flowers.

Lupines are one of my favorite flowers, we have numerous lupines on the property and wherever they want to grow I let them. If you look carefully this lupine is growing in the midst of our blueberry bushes!

June in Vermont is one of my favorite times of year. Everything is just so green.

It’s been a beautiful month of June so far. In addition to the wonderful June flowers we have a colorful array of birds at the feeder. My favorite is the Indigo Bunting, don’t you just love the blue!

June is a busy month and it won’t be long before the vegetable garden is really producing. In the meantime I will just enjoy our beautiful June flowers.

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Goal Setting Week 21

The year is flying by. I’m having a hard time focusing on my goals during the busy month of June! Keeping the house picked up for showings, staying on top of the gardening and about to leave on our first road trip! Hard to stay focused on the goals.

~~1. Find a new hosting site for my blog and make it secure.~~ Done! This was the first goal accomplished this year and I am so happy to have a secure website.

3. Create a cookbook. One step at a time, as we are now in the gardening seasoning and I’m spending as much time as I can outside this goal might be pushed off until later this summer.

4. Be diligent about getting 10K steps in 5 out of 7 days a week. I was determined this week to meet this goal this week. Now that my husband is on board he is encouraging me to go and get it done. If I don’t have by 10K steps by dinner we go for a short walk after dinner. I love walking in the evening and we were blessed to see these wonderful Swallowtail butterflies the other night. So many of them.

5. As we continue to prepare for an eventual house sale, continue to de-clutter. Finished the book The Magic of Tidying Up, can’t recommend this book enough especially if you are looking to de-clutter. My focus this week was getting ready for our road trip so only 7 items out the door. 36 items to go.

6. Read 25 books this year! Still reading a book called The Insanity of Obedience. But I finished two books this week, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up which I loved. Also finished the book Whisper, which my husband and I have been reading together. Very good devotional. I would highly recommend both books! Only 5 more books to read!

7. Have a consistent meal plan each week and prepare ahead. I am loving the new book I was asked to review called Prep Ahead Breakfasts & Lunches. Made a wonderful batch of granola from this book. Decided since we are going on a road trip this week that granola would be a good snack item. Also bought some small yogurts to go along with the granola. Haven’t made a recipe from this book that I don’t like! If you are interested in ordering the book, click on the image below.

~~8. Finish 4 knitting projects.~~ Completed! Made two hats and two scarves. No progress this week BUT I’m bringing my knitting bag with me on our road trip. Hope to make great progress!

9. Clean out our freezer. Used the last of our frozen rhubarb to make the first jam of the season. The freezer is looking mighty empty. Only some tomato sauce left.

10. Take a few road trips and visit family and friends on the east coast that we will not see as often once we move to the west coast. Just a few more days and we will be on our way! It’s defiantly going to be a lot of driving but I can’t wait to visit our friends and family. North Carolina here we come!

Some days I feel like I am plodding through these goals, then I remind myself if I wasn’t looking at them each week I might not be making any progress at all!

“Review your goals twice every day in order to be focused on achieving them.”

Les Brown

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For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front

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Essential Oils: Make Your Own Bug Spray

Living in the woods of Vermont we rely on bug spray. At certain times of the year you can get eaten alive by the bugs when working outside. Even in the evening when my husband and I take our walk the bugs can be bad. Using essential oils you can make your own bug spray. It is so easy to make your own bug spray. I have been making our own spay for years and I am so pleased with how well it works. It’s a nice feeling to know that this spray will be effective against the bugs while at the same time not harming your skin.

I have purchased essential oils from Mountain Rose Herbs in the past, but recently I started using Young Living essential oils. With a few additions my basic spray has improved! Try making your own bug spray, it is so much better for you than commercial spray. There really is no reason to spray toxins on your skin.

Bug Spray

Ingredients:

My original recipe included the following ingredients:
Witch hazel
Lemongrass essential oil
Geranium essential oil
Citronella essential oil

Directions:

The directions were easy, insert a small funnel into your spray bottle and fill the bottle with witch hazel. Leave about one inch of headspace.

Then add approximately 25 drops of each of citronella essential oil and lemongrass essential oil, plus approximately 15 drops of geranium essential oil.

Remove the funnel and replace with the sprayer cap, shake the bottle and it is now ready to use!

New Bug Spray Recipe:

My new recipe is very similar, however I am now adding several additions including tea tree oil, lavender and peppermint.

Ingredients:

To a 2oz spray bottle add the following:

10 drops of citronella essential oil
10 drops of lemongrass essential oil
10 drops of tea tree essential oil
6 drops of geranium esssentialoil
5 drops of lavender essential oil
5 drops of peppermint essential oil

Directions:

Fill up the remainder of the bottle with a 50:50 mixture of alcohol free witch hazel and water. Shake and you are ready to go!

Do you make your own bug spray? What sort of ingredients do you use and are they effective?

Greek Beef and Mushroom Pizza

My husband has been making pizza for years. Usually we stick to the traditional pizza such as Sausage or Clam and Bacon Pizza. However recently we tried something new a Greek Beef and Mushroom Pizza. The ingredients were a little different, who ever thought of putting cinnamon on a pizza! However the results were outstanding and we’re definitely going to try this pizza again. It’s a much lighter pizza with no red sauce and much less cheese, as a result you don’t feel so full after eating a couple of slices. If you’ve never tried a Beef and Mushroom Pizza before you don’t know what you’re missing!

Greek Beef and Mushroom Pizza

Ingredients:

2 tsp. Olive oil
1 small onion, minced
½ pound ground lean beef
1 tomato, chopped
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
1 Tsp. fresh oregano
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Chili powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. Pepper

Homemade Pizza crust

4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps thinly sliced
2-4 ounces of mozzarella
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Make your pizza crust and as the crust is rising prepare the topping.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about three minutes or until the onion is softened. Add the beef and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until browned, about five minutes. Stir in the tomato, parsley, thyme, oregano, cinnamon, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about to minutes.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the pizza crust on a baking sheet. Top crust evenly wit the beef mixture, then with the mushrooms. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and a light dusting of Parmesan cheese. Bake the Beef and Mushroom Pizza until the cheese melts and the crust is browned about 15 minutes. Slice and serve.

This pizza may be different from the traditional pizza you are used to but it is delicious and well worth trying!

First Jam of the Season

As usual our rhubarb is ready to harvest in abundance! I’m not looking to fill up our pantry but I couldn’t resist trying Lisa’s recipe for Vanilla Rhubarb Jam. It was the first jam of the season and I am actually using the last of last year’s frozen rhubarb to make this jam. If you’ve been following my goals you know I’m trying to empty our basement freezer. I was down to several bags of tomato sauce and some frozen rhubarb. The rhubarb is no longer; every bit was used to make this delicious Vanilla Rhubarb Jam.

The trick for making jam when the weather warms up is to make it early in the morning when the house is still cool from the night. I had everything prepped and ready to go and as soon as we finished breakfast I made the jam. Lisa’s recipe is quick, easy and so good. I canned eight jars and had a little left for breakfast some morning.

If you are interested in making the first jam of the season click HERE to try Lisa’s recipe. The vanilla flavor is mild but a wonderful addition to plain rhubarb jam.

Now that I’ve used up the last of my frozen rhubarb I have to decide what to do with our abundant harvest. We do have company coming this weekend so I’m going to make a Rhubarb Cake. This cake is another family favorite recipe and quite easy.

I may also make a small bath of Oven Roasted Rhubarb Compote. It only makes two half-pint jars and has only ¼ cup of sugar. Plus it uses a pound of rhubarb. This recipe is from one of my favorite books, Preserving by the Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces from the author of Food in Jars.

What is your first jam of the season? With strawberries about to ripen I can assure you that my second jam of the season will be strawberry fig jam.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site.

For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front.

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Goal Setting Week 20

The year is flying by. I’m having a hard time focusing on my goals during this busy month of June! Keeping the house picked up for showings, staying on top of the gardening and getting ready for our first road trip of the summer makes it hard to focus on the goals I set in January.

~~1. Find a new hosting site for my blog and make it secure.~~ Done! This was the first goal accomplished this year and I am so happy to have a secure website.

2. Monetize my blog. This is in the works, I have set up two affiliate accounts. Keep your eyes open as I will be sharing links to my favorite items on Amazon. I’ve also teamed up with an amazing heirloom seed company, Mary’s Heirloom Seeds. The .99 cent sale is still going on. Plus she’s got a lot of other great offers on her site. Click here for more information.

3. Create a cookbook. One step at a time, as we are now in the gardening seasoning and I’m spending as much time as I can outside this goal might be pushed off until later this summer or maybe even the fall.

4. Be diligent about getting 10K steps in 5 out of 7 days a week. Almost! Managed to get my 10K steps in four days out of 7. Came close on a few other days but didn’t quite make it. My husband just got his own FitBit so he is now joining me on this goal. Helps to have someone encouraging you to get those steps in! I have to admit I love taking a walk at the end of the day, the light has been so beautiful!

5. As we continue to prepare for an eventual house sale, continue to de-clutter. Reading a great book on The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (more below) which is helping me to take a closer look on the items still in our house. Manage to collect a box of 30 assorted items this week, everything from clothing and books to hangers. 43 items to go.

6. Read 25 books this year! Still reading a book called The Insanity of Obedience. I am also reading the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, the book is all about getting rid of stuff and how we organize the stuff we do have. Easy read and really is helping me to think about the stuff I have and why I want to keep it. This will be a great assistant in helping me get rid of the last 43 items on my goal list! 7 books to go!

7. Have a consistent meal plan each week and prepare ahead. No prepping for anything going on this week as we are getting ready to leave town. I am loving the new book I was asked to review called Prep Ahead Breakfasts & Lunches. If you are interested in ordering the book, please click on the image below.

~~8. Finish 4 knitting projects.~~ Completed! Made two hats and two scarves. Found a baby sweater that I’d started years ago so I’m going to keep knitting and finish that sweater. Another week with no knitting! I am hoping to get some work done while we are on our car trip. Not feeling too bad since I did reach my goal of finishing 4 knitting projects. Anything accomplished from here on out is a bonus.

9. Clean out our freezer. As I’ve said before our basement freezer is nearly empty. My husband made a delicious Tomato Basil Pizza this week which used up one of the bags of tomato sauce!

10. Take a few road trips and visit family and friends on the east coast that we will not see as often once we move to the west coast. Another week until we head off on our road trip! So thankful for friends to watch the house so we can go visit our southern friends! Love how the plans are all falling into place. Really looking forward to catching up with our friends and family.

I may not be checking off a ton of goals each week but I feel like I’m making progress. The house is certainly feeling less cluttered these days and I’m making progress on the other goals as well. One day at a time!

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site.

For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front

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Oven Roasted Rhubarb Compote

Ingredients:

Directions:

Remember, “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.“

Tony Robbins

“Review your goals twice every day in order to be focused on achieving them.”

Les Brown

Bug Spray

Ingredients:

Directions:

New Bug Spray Recipe:

Ingredients:

Directions:

Greek Beef and Mushroom Pizza

Ingredients:

Directions:

Remember,
“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.“