"She works with her hands in delight" Proverbs 31:13

Finished!

Well I thoroughly enjoyed my chicken challenge and was able to get four dinners out of my one chicken. I was very excited! I even had enough leftovers for lunch the next day. After making the black bean chowder, I decided to make a stir-fry with lots of veggies and rice the next night. The next couple of days, we were a little tired of eating chicken and decided to have some other things for dinner. :) I actually still have a little bit of chicken leftover in the freezer to use for something else. I was thinking about making chicken and dumplings with it later. I as very pleased with how far that little chicken stretched for us! I would encourage y'all to see if you can come up with more ways to use a chicken and make it stretch farther for your family!

Chicken Stretching Challenge!

Hmmmm...sounds a little strange doesn't it? Well...I'm not going to be actually stretching a chicken, but I gave myself the challenge of being frugal and seeing how many meals I could get out of one whole chicken! I got the idea after seeing this article. I had a chicken in the freezer, and thought, "Why not give it a try?" I'm not finished with the challenge yet, but this is what I've done so far...

Here is my chicken! It's kind of a small chicken (I think four pounds), so I'm not expecting to get much out of this little guy. It will be interesting to see what happens though! Well yesterday afternoon, I just baked it in the oven with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Looking good!

  

 This is all of the meat that I could get off of the chicken. Not much but we'll see. I put all of the meat in the freezer to be used later, leaving a little out for last night's dinner. I also put the bones in another bag and in the fridge to be used to make chicken broth. Waste not want not!

 

Monday: Chicken Enchiladas

Last night at dinner time, I wanted something extremely easy for dinner so I used my reserved chicken in chicken enchiladas (one of Eli's favorite meals :)) We had these with sour cream, green onions, and some fresh cilantro sprinkled on top. There was even enough leftover for him to take some to work today! Does that count for two meals then? :) 

  

 

Tuesday: Black Bean Chowder

Tonight, we are having this for dinner! This soup is also really easy to whip up in a jiffy! This morning, I boiled the chicken bones in enough water to cover and cooked it until the broth reduced a bit. Then, I drained the broth with a colander and started throwing this soup together. There was enough chicken left on the bones to put into the soup, but I kind of picked it all off and ate it for breakfast. :) Plus this soup normally doesn't even have chicken in it. You can find this recipe here. 

So that's where I am today! Two meals...or three if we're counting leftovers. I wonder what I'm going to make tomorrow...

   

Dinner Tonight

What a rainy Friday it has been! We are hosting church at our home this Sunday, so a majority of my day has been spent scrubbing and cleaning the house. I'm kind of glad it was raining today because who wants to be stuck inside cleaning on a warm sunny day? :) It was such a lovely day though, and I was able to get all of my cleaning done and enjoy a visit this morning from a friend, also a young mother, that I had been talking to off and on for a while. Also, Esther ate her first bites of rice cereal this morning! I couldn't tell if she liked it or not. :) She made a funny face when I gave her a little spoonful and then seemed to enjoy it. One time I thought she had swallowed and, before I knew it, it was being spit out all over me. :) Silly girl. 

Since today was so busy, I decided to take it easy for dinner tonight and throw together some sort of soup. I have been subscribing to Food Network magazine and in each issue there is some sort of "copy-cat" recipe from different restaurants. I decided to make "Broccoli-Cheddar Soup" that tastes identical to the soup at Panera's. Eli and I really enjoy it but don't eat it too often because it has quite a bit of cheese and butter. :) It is so good though...probably for those reasons. :) Here's the recipe if y'all want to try it...

Panera's Broccoli-Cheddar Soup

6 T butter

1 small onion, chopped

1/4 C. all purpose flour

2 C. half and half (I use milk to be less fattening)

3 C. chicken broth

2 bay leaves

1/4 t. nutmeg

salt and pepper

4 C. broccoli, chopped

1 carrot, diced

2 1/2 C. grated cheddar cheese

Melt butter in pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook until tender. Whisk in flour and cook until golden, then gradually whisk in half and half until smooth. Add chicken broth, bay leaves, nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer. Reduce to medium low heat and cook for about 20 minutes until thickened. Add broccoli and carrot and simmer until tender. Discard bay leaves. Blend soup in batches in a blender until smooth. Return to pot and add cheese. Stir until melted and serve.

Quaker's Best Oatmeal Cookies

                                          

                                                (picture from quakeroats.com)

Baby was craving these today. :) I was actually really in a baking mood this afternoon, so I decided to pop some of these in the oven for something sweet. Besides, my cake plate was looking a little empty and needed to be filled with a big pile of cookies! At least, that's my excuse. :) No really...these sounded really good and food "sounding good" is quite rare for me nowadays. Eli really loves these too...I actually think that they're actually his favorite. Here's the recipe if you all would like to try them out. These are just plain oatmeal cookies but you could add anything that you want to them. Chocolate chips...walnuts...pecans...raisins...other dried fruits...the possibilities are endless!

P.S.- Thank you to everyone who was kind enough to share some advice with me about nausea! I am definitely going to be implementing these tips! Thank you so very much!

Quaker's Best Oatmeal Cookies

2 1/2 sticks butter, softened

3/4 C. brown sugar, packed

1/2 C. white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

3 C. oats

(I added about 1 C. chopped pecans to mine)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Beat together butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix into butter/sugar mixture. Stir in oats and anything else you want to add. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8-9 minutes for a chewy cookie and 10-11 minutes for a crispy cookie. Cook for 1 minute and remove to a wire rack.

Makes 4 1/2 dozen

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

Today was such a lovely day with its blue skies, singing birds, and much warmer temperatures! This morning, Eli came with me to the grocery store before he had to go to work to help me pick up a couple of things, and when we came home, we enjoyed a relaxing walk in the sunshine. After he left for work, I decided to put a load of laundry in the washing machine and suddenly had the craving to bake something!

 The other day, I stumbled across a recipe that I had printed out for Lemon Poppy Seed Scones and thought I would go ahead and bake them today. I love new recipes! After trying some of the Lemon Poppy Seed Scones from Ukrops that my Nan had gotten us all hooked on, I tried to find a recipe that would taste the same or at least pretty close to them. These turned out really well with a crunchy sugary top and a mild lemon flavor. I would definitely make them again! Here's the recipe if y'all would like to try it. Scones are soooo good. :)

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

3 C. all purpose flour
1 C. sugar
1 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp salt
10 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 C. whole milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour, 1 C. sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, lemon peel, and salt in food processor (I just mixed them together in a bowl). Add butter and cut in until mixture resembles a coarse meal (I just cut the butter in with a fork and used my hands). Whisk egg and lemon juice in a medium bowl to blend and add to flour mixture. Mix until moist. Add 1/3 C. milk. Process (or mix) until dough comes together, adding more milk if dough seems dry.

Using floured hands, gather dough into a ball and flatten to an 8'' round. Cut round into 8 wedges and transfer scones to a baking sheet. Brush scones with milk and sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbsp sugar. Bake until scones are golden brown or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool. Enjoy!

(Recipe taken from recipezaar.com)

The Best Basic Meatball Recipe!

Tonight, I rolled up a batch of these to put in our spaghetti sauce for dinner. This is one of our family's favorite recipes! It calls for ground beef, but we use ground turkey instead and it tastes wonderful! We ate ours over angel hair pasta. Here's the recipe if y'all want to try some for yourselves:

Basic Meatballs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Stir together in bowl:

1 C. unseasoned breadcrumbs

3/4 C. grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 C. milk

1/2 C. beef broth (or chicken broth)

1/2 C. chopped fresh parsley

3 eggs, beaten

2 Tbsp. dried oregano

1 Tbsp. garlic, minced

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. black pepper

2 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

pinch of nutmeg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Add:

2lbs ground beef (or turkey)

Mix together and shape into balls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Place meatballs (so they're not touching) onto a greased baking sheet. Cover bottom of pan with an additional 1 cup of broth. Bake until meatballs are cooked through. Enjoy!

Apple Pound Cake

                      

 The cooler weather that we've been blessed to have recently has put me in the mood for my favorite season...autumn! I'm reminded of the crisp air, hot soups, apple picking, warm sweaters, colorful leaves, and of course a lot of fall baking...my favorite. :) There is just something wonderful about the smells of baking apples, cinnamon, gingerbread, loads of pies, and all other manner of seasonal baking...delicious! The other day, I was having an "I'm craving fall" moment, so I decided to make an apple pound cake.

I love pound cake in any shape or form, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this version while flipping through one of my favorite cookbooks, "Mennonite Recipes from the Shenandoah Valley" (compiled by Phyllis Pellman Good and Kate Good). Usually pound cake recipes call for a ton of eggs and butter, but this recipe doesn't (which is nice!). It smelled wonderful while it was baking, and the recipe was extremely simple and delicious! I added a touch of cinnamon to the batter when I made it because, as I said, I was craving fall. :)

I'm excited to say that today Mom, Nan, and I are going to meet with the caterer for the cake tasting this afternoon! We had to cancel last week's appointment, but we are going for sure today. I will try to take some pictures today for scrapbooking...and blogging...purposes. :) Here's the cake recipe for those of you who want to try it...

Gloria's Apple Pound Cake

1 1/2 C. oil

2 C. sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

3 C. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 C. chopped nuts

2 C. finely chopped, diced, peeled apples

confectioners sugar

Mix together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to wet ingredients. Fold in nuts and apples. Pour into greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 80 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and then remove from pan. Lightly dust with confectioners sugar. Enjoy!!

Friday's Musings...

I can say this...we will never need to buy salsa again!

My afternoon was spent chopping, peeling, slicing, and dicing ingredients for homemade salsa to can. I am covered in tomato juice, and I smell like a garlic clove. :) We had about 25-30 ripe tomatoes hanging from the vines and needing to be used up in some way...and since my family could eat its weight in salsa...there you go. :)

The recipe was really simple! I just mixed together chopped peeled tomatoes, onions, green pepper, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, lime juice, cider vinegar, cumin, salt, and pepper in a saucepan and let it boil for about 10 minutes. Then Mom and I canned them.

Tip: When your eyes are on fire while peeling an onion...stick your head in the freezer. :) It works every time!

Now we need to figure out what to do with all of our cherry tomatoes! We have tons of them!

 

This morning, Mom, the boys, and I ran some errands in town. One of our stops was the ever-so-fabulous Dollar Store! Sometimes when I go to the Dollar Store, I find nothing. And other times I have to keep myself from spending too much...thinking "Hey this stuff is only a dollar!" and then ending up spending $20. :)

Well anyway! This morning I found some neat kitchen items for my hope chest. Yes, I am working on a hope chest post! Sorry everyone. :)

I can't wait to use them in our new home!

Speaking of which, I wanted to post the progress of our new home! Eli and I have both been convicted about remaining debt-free in the future, even with the building of our house. Eli's parents have been so gracious to let us build a house on their land to help us accomplish our goal while we're beginning our new lives together. I am so excited!! The land has just been cleared and is still in the "cleaning up" process, and once that's done, we can start building!

                  

This is where our house is going to sit. You can kind of see where the trees have been cleared for building.

                 

Here, Philip and I are helping clear the land. My arms are still sore! :) These pictures are from Tuesday.

                

Eli and Eric are tackling a tree with a chainsaw and an axe. :) The land is well on its way to being completely cleared! I am so excited! I absolutely love the house plans and am looking forward to watching the progress of our future home!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pinwheel Cookies

           

A couple of days ago, I told Megan that I would make some Chocolate Peanut Butter Pinwheel cookies from her recipe blog, Country Girl Recipes, along with her and post about them when I made them. This morning I gave the recipe a try! I really enjoyed making them, and the recipe was very easy to follow with simple ingredients. Not to mention, they tast good. :) How can one go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter? I did have a hard time when it came to rolling the two layers together because my dough kept sticking to the counter. :) I just kind of scrunched it all together! It is a great recipe though! Oh, and I didn't have any brown sugar, so I cheated and used white sugar. :) That might be why my cookies turned out more flaky than smooth? This was such a great recipe, thanks so much Megan for sharing it! To see how Megan's cookies turned out, head on over to her recipe blog. You can find the actual recipe here.

Today I have become a nurse because Mom has caught some sort of stomach virus. She is currently bed-ridden. :( We're just resting here at home today while she's recovering. Poor Mom! I actually think I might need a nurse myself. :) While I was fixing Mom some hot tea just now, I seriously burned the fire out of my pinky and ring finger. Mainly my pinky. :) I'm so graceful in the kitchen! Owwww!!!! Have a wonderful Thursday Everyone...and go bake some cookies!

Ice! I need ice!!

Too Many Cooking DVDs!

I was in a very "Martha Stewart" mood this morning! I'm not really a big fan of Martha...since she did some jail time and is kind of snooty acting :)...but I enjoy her recipes (I love ALL recipes!). A couple of weeks ago, Mom and I were in the good ol' Dollar General Store and spotted a few Martha Stewart cooking DVDs for only $3! Hey...why not? I have never really seen her T.V. shows but who can pass up some cheap DVDs full of recipes? Mom and I are really enjoying them! I've learned how to fry a turkey, cook a chicken 5 different ways, steam fish, glaze a meatloaf,  make a souffle (haven't tried this one yet :), make vegetarian dishes, side dishes, pastas, etc. :) I want to try and make her black bean burger. :) Anyway, I sound like a Martha Stewart advertisement!

One of the neat little things that I discovered while watching Martha cook is that she keeps all of her fresh herbs in a little cup nearby! I don't know why...but I had never thought of that before. Well, it makes perfect sense...you can treat herbs like flowers...put them in water and they'll last a couple of days.

                           

Here is my herb cup. :) This does make it a lot easier and more convenient than having to go out...in the rain... to the garden every time you make dinner. My garden is quite a distance from the house so it's nice to be able to just reach into your jar and get what you need. :)

Yes, I'm still talking about Martha. :) I love how she advertises her products while she's cooking. In practically all of the episodes, she will just be stirring something or putting chicken on a plate and she'll say something like, "Ehem...by the way...you can find these beautifully crafted platters on my website...Martha Stewart.com...aren't they just lovely? They come in all different colors, and you can just do so much with them...and aren't they beautiful? Go to Martha Stewart.com and you can get them there...etc.." Okay that was an over-dramatization, but you see what I mean. :) Hilarious!

Today, I made her Chicken and Dumplings recipe for lunch since we had some leftover chicken from last night:

                           

This recipe took me like 10 minutes to throw together...it was so easy! The ingredients are really basic! A lady who works at an old southern plantation created this recipe for her family. Here it is if y'all want to give it a try;

Chicken and Dumplings

• 1 onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 4 chicken breasts, uncooked
• 4 cups water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper to taste
• pinch of cayenne pepper,
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 3 sprigs fresh parsley

Combine all of these ingredients into a stock pot and bring to a boil. Cover and continue to cook until chicken and vegetables are cooked. Remove chicken and tear into chunks. Add back to the broth.

In a bowl, combine:

• 1 Cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 Cup milk

Measure dough with a teaspoon and drop into boiling soup. Let them sit on top of your soup for 4-5 minutes, and then flip them over with a fork to let them cook on the other side. When dumplings are finished...ENJOY!

Okay, enough about Martha. ;)