Just a’Canning

Another day of repetition around here.  Today, I began putting up the second large stock pot of turkey bone broth and some leftover turkey meat.  It feels good to put a bit of quality food back in the pantry for use later.  I like that I know what goes into my jars, where I might not be entirely certain when I purchase products.

Today’s tally is 15 quarts (actually 13 quarts and 4 pints, but it all adds up the same) of turkey bone broth and 5 pints of turkey meat that was packed tight with  a bit of bone broth added in to fill the jars.  Not too shabby, if you ask me.

It turned out to be a lovely day to work on canning chores.  Hubby’s car requires a new fuel pump that has been ordered, so he needed to use my van to go to work today.  Being at home allowed me plenty of time to cook and chop and process with minimal interruptions.

I still have more bone broth to process tomorrow at some point.  Maybe a 7 quart canner load, more or less.  But, it will wait on low heat overnight until it is time to get started.

My lovely cousin gifted me with 5 big bags of collard greens from her food co-op this week and I will get those ready for the freezer.  It’s time to get off of my sore, broken feet for tonight and it can wait a few hours more.

All in all, a good productive day that has included this blog post and the start of an article for my magazine editor and a mad search for a previous one I had written (she found it first, thank goodness).

What have YOU been up to today?

Till next time,

Repetition

Quart jars cooling after coming out of the pressure canner.

In many ways, repetition is the stuff that life is made of.  I wish I could put up another blog post that shares another fabulous idea for the homestead.  Alas, I can’t do that today as what I am doing is a repetition from another day and post.

I tend to worry a bit about not posting frequently enough and sometimes life does get in the way.  Other times, though, I just feel like I have nothing to share because my activities are largely a repetition of previous events that have been previously documented.

For example, today, I am making turkey bone broth…again.  Yes, I did this last week as well (using our frozen carcass from Thanksgiving), but we had another turkey in the freezer that we defrosted, cooked, and are now making bone broth from the remains.  The meat from the bird was divided into enough for one meal for our family of 6 and the remainder is waiting in the refrigerator until I have time to pressure can it for future use.

Some practical tasks can be performed once and do a great job in saving money or helping to get these done around a homestead.  Building a greenhouse to start seeds in is a great example of this.  Perhaps a bit of maintenance will need to occur once in a while, but once the greenhouse is built, it can be used season after season to help grow flowers and/or vegetables.

Other tasks are equally useful, but are far more repetitive in nature.  Planting the plants in the greenhouse mentioned above will be done season after season, year after year, in pretty much the same way each time.  Both projects are helpful in getting the job done, but don’t always make for a life changing type of blog post.

Making dinner is the same.  My family tends to enjoy the same or similar foods in repetition.  My father has a short list of dishes that he really would like to see every week.  Hubby, the kids, Mom, and I enjoy a bit more variety than he does and use a longer rotation.  Dad, on the other hand would enjoy meatloaf and mashed potatoes every week, made the exact same way, without fail.  Never trying a new recipe would make writing about food a little dull for both writer and reader.

But, these simple, often repetitive tasks are the heart of keeping house, saving money, living healthier, and being a little bit more self-sufficient.  Repairing a loose button on a favorite shirt will save money over replacing the shirt.  You may repair several buttons on one garment or many buttons on several garments over the course of a lifetime.  Each repair is not necessarily newsworthy, but these little acts add up over time for your household economy.

Deep, rich chicken bone broth.

So, I can’t promise that all posts will be exciting and full of new ideas.  Much of life revolves around repetition of little tasks and habits that come together to help make life comfortable, and, even meaningful.

And, these extra jars of bone broth will give us cheap, healthy food for many months using only things we would have thrown out anyway.  It’s a totally win-win situation, if not worthy of another post on bone broth today.

What repetitive tasks give you satisfaction?

Till next time,

Easy Chicken Soup

One thing that I don’t have on my little homestead is a chicken coop full of hens and chicks.  We are in an agrarian area, but covenants that came with our property specify no large livestock.  We can have horses, but no cows, pigs, etc.  However, a neighbor once cleared land with goats and nobody batted an eye (so I am assuming that goats aren’t considered large livestock) and a couple of others down the road raise chickens, so I am pretty sure that would be okay here.

But, I have a chicken hating father, who can’t abide the idea of having hens running around.  Even when I have offered to keep them in a fenced enclosure or build a “chicken tractor” to get my eggs, he hasn’t softened one bit. Sigh.

I truly enjoy pastured eggs.  I really do.  And, as much as I would enjoy having my own source of healthy eggs, I don’t want to cause too much consternation for my family members.  So, at least for now, poultry is out of the question.

The next best thing to having my own flock of hens, is a good ol’ bowl of homemade chicken soup!  I bet you wondered what my desire for gateway livestock would have to do with soup.  For one thing, soup is one of the best things to do with a hen that is past her prime laying years.  No, I am not heartless, but I just can’t see having chickens as pets.  I know, I know.  Not everybody is willing to go there and that is okay, too.

But, even without homegrown hens, I can make a mean pot of homemade chicken soup that celebrates the humble chicken.  It’s that good.  And, you can do it, too!

The secret to a superior chicken soup is really all in the broth.  If you can avoid it, try not to use chicken stock.  Stock is made from the meat and isn’t cooked very long.  Stock will be straw colored and not nearly as rich and tasty as a good bone broth.  Broth is made by cooking bones and some meat with or without veggies and salt.  I always put onion and garlic in mine (you can even put the skins in as it will all be filtered out later), but there is no rule that says you have to.  If I have carrots, a celery heart (or the end pieces that have leaves on them), a piece of cauliflower that has seen better days, broccoli stems, onion peels, etc. then I will throw ’em in.  Basically, it’s a good way to take iffy looking produce and use it rather than throw it out.  I would throw in just about anything except collard (with or without stems) because the only catch is to keep delicate leafy things like herbs out until the last 30 minutes or so, so they don’t get cooked to death!  Oh, and I usually throw about 5 whole peppercorns in at the beginning, too.  To learn more about preparing broths, click here.

I am nuts enough about homemade broths that I will make up large batches and can pints and quarts of the stuff to use later.   It’s totally worth it!

But, back to the soup.  In my large crockpot (I think it is a 6 quart model), I will chop up a fresh onion, add 4-5 cloves of minced garlic (we love garlic, if you don’t then cut it in half), a stem or two of finely chopped celery, and 2-3 peeled carrots cut into small rounds.  I toss in a couple of cups or so of chopped or shredded chicken (can be cooked or uncooked), a Tablespoon of salt, a few grinds of fresh, black pepper, and 2-3 quarts of homemade turkey or chicken bone broth.  If I add 2 quarts of broth, I will add 1 quart of water and two bullion cubes or the equivalent in granules.  You can always add more water or broth if you want a fuller crock of soup, just remember to add 2 bullion cubes for every quart of water you add.

Turn crockpot on high and let it cook for an hour or so and then switch it to low and let it simmer for at least 4 hours.  Add 1 cup of rice for the last hour of cooking time.  Taste and adjust seasonings if you like.  Then serve with a salad and freshly baked rolls.  It’s a delicious meal and perfect for a chilly, winter’s day!

I hope you enjoy this easy recipe for Chicken Soup.  Once you have broth canned and ready to go at a moment’s notice, it’s quite simple to get a delicious dinner started!

What’s your favorite soup recipe?  Share it in the comments below.

Till next time,

 

 

 

Healthy Turkey Bone Broth

There are few things in life that are as soothing and wonderful as a warm mug of soup on a cold, winter’s day.  Not to mention if you are feeling a bit under the weather, chicken or turkey soup can be the difference between fed and truly nourished.

While chicken soup has been called Jewish Penicillin for decades, making it with homemade bone broth increases the minerals that are available for absorption and other healthy compounds in your soup.  It’s a very inexpensive thing to do if you like to feel a little self-reliant, a little frugal, and like tastier foods.

The longer and slower you cook your broth, the darker and richer it becomes.

Just beware that to make bone broth, you must cook it low and slow.  Increasing the heat won’t make it happen any faster.  Be patient with it.

Here is my original article on making bone broth.

Do you make homemade broths?

Till next time,

Fabric Yarn

Now, I’ve gone and done it!  In an effort to use up some of the *cough* many bins of assorted fabrics that I have purchased, been given, or traded other scraps for, I am tearing strips into fabric yarn.

I have a few ideas up my sleeve of items that can be made from these balls of fabric goodness, but no definite plan yet.

But, here are a few things that have piqued my interest:  Crazy Mom Quilts crocheted a rug, Mia’s Craft Ideas made a braided rug, and A Beautiful Mess made a woven rug.  Not to mention about a billion ideas and photos I found checking out Pinterest!  To see my board with ideas on it, click here.

Now on to dream and rip and join and wind into balls.  I love the anticipation of learning something new.  Don’t you?

What would YOU make with fabric strips?

Till next time,

Crockpot to the Rescue!

Some days are just the pits.  Half of your family members have chest colds; nobody wants to cook.  And, you have two broken feet to boot.

So what’s a gal to do?  Limp in to the crockpot and find a way to produce dinner for her hungry crowd before they get hangry!

Everything feels tougher and more time consuming when you are walking on sore tootsies.  Even with orthopedic boots, carbon shank inserts, and insoles to add needed support.  So, quick and uncomplicated top the priority list for this time in my life.

We had some chicken that had been cooked for a previous meal and frozen.  It was a wonderful start.  I added one frozen breast from a bag in the freezer and thawed it just enough to be able to run a knife through them.  I diced them fine and added to the crockpot along with 1 medium yellow onion, 5 cloves of garlic (minced), two carrots cut into thin rounds, 3 quarts of chicken bone broth, 2 bullion cubes and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of salt.  I let it cook on high for about 4 hours before stirring and adding about 3/4 cups of uncooked orzo to the mix.  Normally, I would have added celery and used brown rice (wild rice, too, if I have some), but it was more important to use what we had on hand.  Any noodles would have worked fine also.

While the soup finished and the pasta rehydrated, I set about making fresh rolls using the Kitchenaid Sixty Minute Rolls recipe that I found a couple of years ago on The Thrifty Couple Blog.  I doubled the salt in the recipe this time, but still find that it could have used a bit more for my taste.

This recipe really is quick and easy.  It would have been quicker had I been able to move about a tad easier.  To compensate, I didn’t divide the dough into rolls and just baked it in a single piece, slicing into squares when done.  I sat and read blog posts while everything had a final rise and again when baking in the oven.

All in all, the rolls took a bit more like 75 minutes, but considering I usually can pull it off in an hour, it was still really good.  I come back to this recipe again and again as I can make rolls in less time than thawing out store bought frozen dough.  Mine tastes better and I have control of what goes into them.  Besides, it made a humble soup from what we had on hand taste even better and seem like a luxury, not a desperate attempt to stay off my feet.

And that makes it all worthwhile!

What is YOUR go-to meal when your family is ill?