homemakingjoyfully.com

Homemade chicken stock – the easy way.

Laura — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:50:00 +0000

We love chicken around here and I love making one chicken go as far as possible.

My favorite and super easy way to cook a whole chicken is in the crockpot. It’s so simple and so delicious. You throw the chicken in (breast side down), season and put on low for 6-8 hours. Really, what could be simpler?

So, in keeping with stretching that chicken as far as it can possibly go, I make chicken broth/stock from it. And I do it the easy way, also!

Note: this is usually done just after dinner since I’ve cooked the chicken to have some for dinner.

Once I remove the chicken from the crockpot, I let it cool until it is manageable, then get to work separating it. I remove all the good meat (to freeze), then put EVERYTHING (skin, giblets, bones, etc.) back into the crockpot with whatever liquid the chicken has already given off. I then chop an onion, 2-3 celery stalks and 2-3 carrots and throw them in (you don’t have to bother peeling the veggies since it will all be strained out later). Add enough COLD water to fill my pot about 1/2″ from the top and add a splash of raw apple cider vinegar – to help pull out the marrow. Put the lid back on and leave it on low until the next morning (I usually don’t have time to tend to it until after breakfast).

I turn it off and let it cool for a while, then strain through a mesh strainer into a large glass bowl. I discard all everything that gets strained out and then I strain the liquid once more through a super fine mesh strainer – metal mesh coffee filter set inside the other strainer works perfectly.

I then stick in in the fridge for several hours to let it cool completely – usually until after dinner that night.

This is how it looks when it’s completely chilled before I portion it into my freezer containers.

I then transfer into whatever freezer containers I have available (I have an assortment of glass canning jars and plastic freezer jam jars).

Tip: I move my crock pot into the garage when I’m using it overnight for chicken stock. I simply cannot tolerate waking up to the smell of chicken broth.

Additional note: I buy locally raised, free range whole chickens and I personally know my farmer and her practices. I don’t recommend adding organs (giblets) into your stock if your chicken is not properly raised/fed.

Be sure to visit The Stock Exchange over at Parenting the Tiniest of Miracles for more great recipes and tips for making stock.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Slow Cooker Navy Bean Soup

Laura — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:40:00 +0000

For a while now I’ve been trying to incorporate more beans into our diet as a main protein for one meal each week and have been so happy with this navy bean soup recipe, there was no way I could resist sharing it with you.

I have adapted this recipe to suit our tastes and we think it is SO yummy! My favorite part is how easy it is to put together a nutritious and filling soup for my family.

Slow Cooker Navy Bean Soup

Ingredients

1½ cups navy beans (great northern beans also work wonderfully)
Chicken stock and/or water (I prefer homemade chicken stock)
4 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 medium onion, diced
½ - 1 lb. ham - leftover, works really well
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Soak beans over night, then drain and rinse

Add all ingredients to slow cooker filling to ½" from top with chicken stock or water

Cook on high 4-6 hours or low 8+ hours - check beans every few hours for tenderness

http://homemakingjoyfully.com/2012/01/slow-cooker-navy-bean-soup/

Could it be any easier?

This soup is wonderful served with cornbread or yeast rolls.

This recipe was originally posted in February of 2010.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Crustless buttermilk pie recipe

Laura — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:26:49 +0000

YUM! This is one of the simplest and yummiest desserts, ever!

It came to me via my cousin, Alisa and it’s either our grandmother’s recipe or Alisa’s mom’s (my aunt).

Crustless Buttermilk Pie

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 stick butter, melted
3 T. flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup buttermilk
2 t. vanilla
3/4 cup sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°

In mixing bowl combine butter and flour. Beat with mixer until well combined.

Add sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla. Mix again until well combined.

Pour into buttered glass pie plate.

Bake at 425° for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 350° and bake an additional 30-35 minutes, until center is just set.

http://homemakingjoyfully.com/2012/01/crustless-buttermilk-pie-recipe/

Enjoy!

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Colored pencil tips

Laura — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:24:15 +0000

I’m not sure when I came up with this idea (or even if it was really my idea in the first place), but it has been very helpful for us.

Sharpen both ends.

It’s really quite simple. Though a tad time consuming when it’s time to sharpen, they don’t need to be sharpened nearly as often.

Also, I could not stress enough how much you need an electric pencil sharpener, especially if you have children who are partial to colored pencils or homeschool and your children use pencil for most of their work.

We also store all of our pencils, crayons, and markers in sturdy vinyl zipper top pencil bags. This makes cleanup a snap and easy enough that even the youngest artist can put away their own. Just scoop them into the bag and zip it closed.

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Christmas tree photography

Laura — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:40:00 +0000

I have read some tutorials lately to help me learn how to take better photos of my Christmas tree – they help with photos of other lights, too – so I decided to share some of my successes with you.

Note: I have had my DSLR for about a year and a half and am by no means anything more than an amateur. I hold no illusions about my ability to teach others anything, but I can follow a tutorial and play around with the settings that work best on my specific camera and lense setup.

All photos were taken with my Nikon D5000 and 18-55mm 1:305-5.6G lense.

These first two photos were taken using this tutorial from August Tea Photography. I found it on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago and have found it incredibly helpful.

Also, it was dark outside, but all the lights (except the one in the entryway behind the tree) were on.

f/4; 1/8 sec.; ISO-800; 22mm; Spot metering

f/6.3; 1/10sec.; ISO-800; 48mm; spot metering

The rest of these photos were taken with the instruction from this tutorial at My Charming Kids.

This time, it was dark outside and all of the lights in the entire house were off (except a nightlight upstairs).

I love the starburst effect in this one.

f/36; 1 second; ISO-Hi1; 42mm; exposure bias +.7 step; pattern metering

The next one is my absolute favorite!

f/5.3; 1/15 sec.; ISO-Hi1; exposure bias +.7 step; 40mm; pattern metering

I get absolutely giddy (ask Michael) when I take photos that truly capture what I was going for. It’s getting more common and I am feeling very pleased with myself. However, it took me about 60 shots to get these 4 that I’m happy with – remember, no illusions that I really know what I’m doing!

* These photos have had no significant editing done to them, I cropped out some junk in a couple of them and resized them to be a blog-appropriate size.

This post is linked to Finer Things Friday and My Charming Kids.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Homeschool hurdle

Laura — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:59:05 +0000

I’m sure at one point or another every homeschool parent has faced some struggles or hurdles. I am currently one of them.

I’m wondering… What (if anything) do you allow your children to do/work on during read aloud time?

I am dealing with two drastically different personalities – both are boys and the younger one is only 5. In a perfect world I would love for them to sit nicely (read ::perfectly still:: – realistic, right!?) on the couch beside me while I read to them. I am, admittedly, a recovering perfectionist. Since we don’t live in a perfect world, I am entertaining thoughts of how to keep them focused. Sitting on the couch with me isn’t working.

My hangup with letting them do something while I’m reading to them is mostly because I’m just not sure how much attention one can pay whilst also thinking about what Lego creation he’s going to make or what color to draw his dinosaur, etc.

Anyone have any advice or first hand experience you’d like to tell me about?

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

My husband – he’s a keeper

Laura — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:04:40 +0000

My birthday was Monday. Michael was scheduled to leave on Sunday for a 2 week TDY and wouldn’t be here for my actual birthday so he planned our traditional birthday celebrations for Saturday afternoon.

Saturday evening, after the children had given me their hand made birthday cards and our traditional store-bought birthday cake, Michael sent Eli downstairs to tell me “the babysitter will be here in 45 minutes”…

My wheels then began turning! Michael only gave me enough information to get me dressed in “a little bit dressier – but not fancy” clothes.

When the sitter (our close friend and her itty bitty baby) arrived, I soon discovered that the date wasn’t the only surprise they had cooked up for me.

I received this fancy thing with two extra attachments!!

Do I even need to say how floored and totally happy I am about this?

I later learned that not only was our friend (and her husband) obviously in on it, but so was the couple who had watched our kids the night before so we could attend Michael’s squadron Christmas party! He later confessed to being so stressed about having to hide something like this from me! AND our friend footed the entire bill for this surprise up front because I’m the bank account manager and he was afraid I’d check the bank account and see the debit!

A husband and friends like this are relationships that are definitely worth cultivating and cherishing! I am so blessed (not by *things* even though those are nice) and feel so loved and appreciated. This surprise is extra special for me because Michael doesn’t really do gifts or surprises, so knowing that he went to the effort to coordinate this is more meaningful than I could ever express.

This post is linked to Finer Things Friday.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Encouraging Creativity

Laura — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:14:24 +0000

We have a box of packing paper (large sheets of plain newsprint) that’s been sitting in our garage for a long time and I really just got tired of shuffling it around, so I decided to put it to use.

We were working on a craft at our school table last week that required the use of liquid glue and paint, so I covered the entire table with sheets of this paper – taping down the edges where they hung over the table. This idea would work with those large rolls of butcher/drawing paper also.

After we completed our art project, while the children were playing independently in other rooms, I drew and colored this very simple, yet large tree on the paper (pretend all those pencil drawings aren’t there yet!) and left the crayons out for them.

When the children came back downstairs to the school room and saw the tree, they immediately began creating the rest of the scene. I gave no instruction on this project, just let their imaginations take over and this is how it now looks several days later.

The finalized scene includes a squirrel family hiding nuts for winter, a flock of geese flying south for winter, chipmunks climbing in the tree, a house with people in it and kids outside having a snowball fight!!

There is such creativity in those minds if you can figure out a way to bring it out. Apparently this is a great way for my boys (mostly Jacob) to express his creativity and love of drawing.

I’m already thinking up ideas of things to draw once I take this off and put new paper on the table – I’m thinking a pirate ship will be next.

What would you draw that you think would bring out the creativity in your kids?

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Deployment is upon us… again

Laura — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:39:09 +0000

Dear friends, I would love your prayers as we embark on another deployment.

We have the rest of this week with Michael – as he’ll be leaving for a 2 week pre-deployment training on Sunday – and then we’ll only have approximately one week with him when he returns before he leaves for 6 months.

If you are in deployment mode (preparing for or enduring), I would love to know so I can pray for you. Leave a comment on this post and I’ll be sure to add you to my prayer list.

You might also be interested in the series I wrote during our last deployment, it’s called Preparing for Deployment, but has a variety of topics, including helping children cope during the separation.

I’ll be revisiting the series while Michael is away and updating it a bit with some new tips and tricks I’ve learned and possibly a “reintegration” post for post-deployment struggles.

I’m also interested in any tips or tricks that have helped your family during these long separations – or any questions you might like me to try to answer. If you don’t see it listed in my series, please leave a comment with the information. I’d love to try them out and also add them to my series posts!

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

My Christmas Mantel

Laura — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:27:12 +0000

It’s been several years since we’ve lived in a house with a mantel and I’ve never really done a theme or seasonal decoration for the mantels we have had in the past.

So, this year, I thought I would put together something. My goal was to take my time and choose fabrics and items that I love that I can continue using for years to come.

The bare mantel is really quite ugly. The wood is painted (not stained) and darkish brown and since we are renting this home, there’s not much I could do about that. So, I set out to find a runner that would cover most of it. However, I discovered that this mantel is ridiculously long and I couldn’t find any handmade shops that had runners that were long enough in the style I had in mind – SO I made one!!

I used tan burlap and burgundy felt and made a fitted runner that drapes over the front and sides.

After cutting all of my pieces (mantel top, front facing and 2 end facings from the burlap; and several long thin strips of felt), I sewed the end facings to the front facing. Then I used embroidery floss and a large embroidery needle to”gather/ruffle” the strip of felt.

After the felt was ruffled, I machine sewed the ruffle to my long strip of burlap (the front and side facings) being careful not to sew over the embroidery floss – an opposing color floss works well for this. After the felt was sewn on, I snipped the knots off the ends of the embroidery floss and pulled the floss out of the ruffle.

After the ruffle was taken care of, I sewed the facings onto the runner/top portion. Take care to sew right sides together and keep your needle in the fabric when turning your angle to go around the corner.

It may sound a bit complicated, but I did all of this without the help of any photo tutorials and I’m not usually able to imagine the finished product and actually get all the pieces turned in the proper direction for hemming, SO, know that this was easy-peasy!!

After fitting my mantel cover on top of the ugly brown wood, I began decorating.

This year I started my Willow Tree nativity set, so that was a definite! The only other items on the mantel that are new are the berry branch in the back and the burgundy candle! I already had everything else, but the items had previously been used in other places.

From left to right: Tall thin glass flower vase with dark red glass rocks, Willow Tree nativity, berry branch, NOEL angel figurines, burgundy embossed candle on tall black candle holder, cute little snowman that matched my theme perfectly (I’ve had him for years!), photo of my husband’s great-great grandfather in Egypt, long stemmed gerber daisy’s and mini Christmas tree.

My absolute favorite part of this mantel, is something that we have had installed for a few months already. We really needed somewhere to hang kid’s artwork so we installed this awesome line system from IKEA and use these clip hooks and it makes it SO easy to display artwork, etc. We’ll be using it for our Advent ornaments starting tomorrow! I love that the runner hides the actual line, but everything hanging from it is still perfectly visible!

Overall, this was a really fun and quite simple project! I’m excited about hanging our daily Advent ornaments and adding to the ambiance.

My least favorite part of this project? The fact that the fireplace isn’t even in our living room. It’s in the lower level family room that we use for our school room. I would love to be able to hang our Advent ornaments in a well trafficked area of our home, because I feel it could be a conversation starter for some of our friends and guests.

Have you created any fun projects lately?

This post is linked to Made by You Monday.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh