What's for dinner?

It is January and we live in Northwestern Pa. It's cold and we are all sick.. Being a mama of 2 very active kids, a wife whose husband has a man cold, being sick myself, and packing I have no energy to make dinner right now. My crockpot has gotten the most use out of it this past week and I'm so incredibly thankful to have it.
Tonight for dinner we made Beef Stew well.. Beef Stew Soup is more like it!

The recipe I follow I have been making it since high school home ec class 😂
2lbs beef stew meat

1 medium onion finely chopped

2 celery ribs diced

32oz of beef broth

3 cups of chopped carrots(we like carrots)

10-12 baby potatoes 

2 cups peas

6oz tomato paste

seasoning optional( I like parsley, oregano, garlic, and basil)

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup water

I add everything except the flour and water to my crockpot and let cook for 4-6 hours on high. I have a Ninja crockpot and everything seems to cook so much faster so it may take the whole 6 hours for you just keep an eye on the meat.

About 45 mins before done I mix the water and cornstarch(I prob should've added a little more but it's all about preference) together and pour in give it a good stir and let sit to thicken for the remaining cooking time. 

That's it! Nothing fancy everyone in my house really enjoys this recipe even the kids. 

What did you have for dinner?

We FINALLY closed on our homestead!!

After many months of stress, having so much to do, and failed promise closing dates I'm happy to say we closed on our homestead!! I can honestly say I will never buy a house again. The amount of stress, lack of communication between lender/realtor and realtor/us, and things we had to do just to move in I NEVER want to do that again.

The move will be slow we are still in a current rental lease until April where we currently are. Yes, we could pay the remaining on our lease and just go but it actually helps us. We have 2 school-aged kids and it is winter so the weather has been in the negative degrees here. Besides the weather, we don't want to take things we no longer use or don't want so we are going thru everything possible.

So what is our plan for our homestead? Well, this Spring we will be building our chicken coop and getting chicks I also want to start our garden. Looking for a rain catchment system in the works that is something I would like to have immediately since we have a well. This summer we plan to start the remodel of the kitchen. It's not horrible and it works but it definitely needs some upgrading for sure. This fall we will be planning for our yard leveling and retaining wall rebuild the following spring.

I have a question for some fellow homesteaders. What are your must-have items? I know everyone's list will vary depending on where you live and what you have/do on your homestead. We are beginners and I would like to be as prepared as possible!