Remember how I said to save the bones from the Whole Chicken in a Crock Pot? Well, I should have also said don't unplug your crock pot either!
I try to get at least 2 meals out of a chicken, 3-4 if it is a 'Sumo' chicken (Perdue had some recently that were huge) Another way to stretch a buck is by making your own chicken broth or stock to boost flavor to all of your dishes. Once you take your chicken out, keep all of the drippings in the crock pot and add the bones back in (making sure to discard as much fat as possible) once you shred or use the chicken. If you just want broth, cover with water, put the pot on low, and let it cook overnight! That's it! Seriously!! To make stock versus broth, just add some veggies!
To this particular pot I added onion, carrot, and celery. I love adding in scraps that I keep in the freezer when we have them. That's a great way to use it all, not waste, and add tons of flavor. So far this year my favorite broth had stems from our rainbow chard!
Here's my set-up for the morning. I turn off the crock pot before I make coffee so it can start cooling down and be easier to handle. I usually take the crock out and sit it on the stove away from the heating element to speed this along. I have a big ole bowl that has a pour spout and my strainer fits inside. This morning I didn't have any cheesecloth but Viva paper towels work great!! I have also used coffee filters but they don't cover the entire surface of my stainer and stuff gets through.
Put the lined strainer in the bowl and pour your stock through.
Then just take this beautiful stock and put it into containers to store. I prefer glass jars since it is still pretty hot at this point.
If you need to cool the stock/ broth quickly the best thing to do is carefully sit the jars into ice water. This will bring them to a safe temperature to put in the fridge! Now the next time you need to use broth or stock you can save your family money, add tons of flavor, and (I think most importantly) you know exactly what's inside!
We all know that whole chicken is by far the cheapest way to buy it! But that doesn't mean that we always have the time to butcher or roast it. Here's a simple solution!! I originally saw this over at the CrockPot Girls (they have some great recipes) but figured I would make a post here for any of my friends who haven't seen this or aren't on Pinterest. Seriously, if you aren't on Pinterest..... WHY NOT?!?!
Here's my set up. Sorry lighting is strange since the sun wasn't out yet this morning when I put this in. Plus the camera was upstairs and I was just too lazy to go and get it, so sorry for the cell pictures.
I line a bowl with grocery bags and paper towels (newspapers work great, but our recycle was picked up this morning) This is where I cut open the bag, remove giblets, and pat the chicken dry. No, I don't rinse mine and here's WHY Basically you will cut down risk of cross contamination. Place the chicken in your crock pot and season. You can add onion or lemon and herbs to the cavity depending on the flavor that you are looking for. Here's another little trick, I only want to wash my hands once during prep. So, I pour my oil and seasonings into small bowls to avoid any cross contamination then I rub the seasoning into the chicken, tie up my bag of trash, and thoroughly wash my hands. Then I place the lid on the crock pot, set on low, and walk away.
Here's what it will look like when it comes out! It's almost impossible to get it out without the whole thing falling apart. Makes for shredding to use in recipes a breeze!! Don't throw away the bones, and stay tuned tomorrow for an update on how to use them!!!
There's no carving involved, the chicken will fall apart like this when you try to remove it!
Over the years I have worked on and changed around my emergency kit to fit many different situations, as well as a growing family. I made a video to try to more easily show you what and where everything is. I will also post pictures of these as well. Some would say what I carry is a bit overboard, but honestly a lot of these things I have actually used. My family has a bit of interesting luck and just within the last 3 years we have been in a tornado and had 4 separate flat tires (5 if you count a flat on a rental which I ended up changing the tire because they wanted to charge me $50!? How 'bout NO)
A little warning on the video: I do not enjoy hearing myself so this took some guts ;) Also, the beginning was filmed by my 5 year old so a tad shaky! Plus the video shows the contents of the bags.
The first and easiest to explain is that me and the girls each have a bag with a full change of clothes. The problem with these is sometimes I forget how fast they are growing and the stuff in the bags may be a bit snug. I try to check these with every season change. Always carry extra socks. For our kids they can't pass up a good bouncy house just because wearing sandals! Plus, I hang my ring sling from the back of the headrest to keep it out of the way!
I keep lots of MRE's, water, and a picnic blanket which is padded and waterproof. The blanket has been used for picnics as well as make shift shelter for sick kids or place to sit. I keep a small handy bag with duct tape, clothes pins, antihistamines, hand sanitizer, ear plugs, and a few other small articles. I know some are thinking, clothes pins? You'd be surprised at how many uses these have! Pinning blanket to the trees to give kids place to change out of sight, baby blankets secured to stroller, holding papers from blowing away, the possibilities are endless!
Orange bag holds first aid, ponchos, toilet paper, rope, matches, candle, flash lights, duct tape, glow sticks, and foil blankets. Those foil blankets are the last thing I ever thought I would use, but I was proven very wrong and I ended up restocking with one for each family member. When we were hit by the tornado, the big girls and I were actually in the vehicle (which was basically totaled) Covered in glass, parts of trees, rain we were all in shock. Add in that we didn't wait around for help since none of us were majorly injured and the car was still able to roll, I used emergency blankets to cover the kids and shelter them from the busted windows. That experience is why I am just a little overboard. You truly never know what is going to happen!!
I have also become Queen of flat tires so the little red bag holds extra vehicle emergency supplies. But, don't rely on fix a flat! Know where your tools are and how to change a tire!!
In the way back in the potty. Yep, you are seeing correct. This thing has been a true lifesaver. I am not paid to give my opinion here but I will put up a link to these!! Disposable bags= AWESOME!!
Trash can (Dollar Store) is held on using velcro tabs.
And up front is my cute cubby for paper towels, map, first aid kit, sunscreen, and bug spray.
I also keep a Gerber Multi-tool in the glove box, seat belt cutter, window punch, sticky notes, and pens.
The next few weeks I will be working on a few larger projects but will be updating with a few smaller ones while we get adjusted to our new schedule. Here's another easy project because before too long kids will be bringing home papers saying to wear a certain color this day, hat that day, crazy hair, or mismatched clothes........ FUN!! No, I'm not being sarcastic (for once)
For this we used pipe cleaners from the dollar store (man I love that place), some ribbon, and a few clips. The dollar store had these HUGE pipe cleaners instead of the small/regular craft size. I made pig tails and inserted the pipe cleaner through the pony tail holder and secured to her hair just above the pony tail holder. Sectioned her hair with the cleaner down one of the three sections and braided it, using a ribbon to tie off the ends. I was then able to bend them into the shape we wanted. It turned out awesome! Next time I will look for some larger clips to secure the pipe cleaners, they wanted to droop as the day went on.
So, today was the first day of school for one of the girls and had an assessment for another. It has been a bit hectic but here's a quick trick for today.
I always try to send the kids to school with a warm, nutritious breakfast to get them ready to learn. Oatmeal seems to take forever to cool off enough for the kids to eat it so just throw in some frozen berries! The oatmeal cools quickly and the hot oatmeal warms the berries for a win/win situation!!
Sorry for the cell phone pictures but I hadn't had my coffee yet ;o) Gotta get back in the swing of school mornings!!
Unless you are able to design your home from the ground up, there is usually a downfall that you find after you move in. For this house the cabinet space/arrangement has been a bit tricky. Add in that the kids help put away dishes, most of the easily accessible cabinets are quite full. Plus being short, I don't exactly use a lot of the upper cabinets.
Be prepared to take lots of notes on this one...... it's complicated ;o)
If you haven't noticed by now I love command strips, duct tape, and zip ties! Being Army we know that at any time we could be moving and this is not our forever house so I am always looking for ways to make the next move a little easier, hence the Command Strips.
You could use over the door hooks and eliminate the command strips and zip ties, but none of our doors work well with those hooks. The duct tape keeps the organizer from swinging and banging around. This keeps all of the kids' cups where they can reach them and places for our travel coffee mugs. That's it! See, complicated!
Here's one of those recipes that gets easier each time you make it. It is by no means hard just a process. I found the original post here but not a lot of pictures. These bagels may not win a beauty contest but they beat the dry store bought ones any day of the week!!
This is not very different than making bread but what makes a bagel have the texture is by boiling it before it is baked.
Here's everything that you will need. Add to the mixer 1 TB of sugar, 1 TB of oil, 2 tsp of yeast, pinch of salt, & 1 1/2 cups of warm water. Let sit until the yeast has activated (see picture below) Then work in 4 cups of bread flour.
Once it is worked in, put the dough on a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until dough is elastic.
Here's the dough after it has been kneaded.
I cut the dough in half and then again. One half into 6 pieces and one half into 4. I'm still trying to figure out which size bagel I prefer and I think from now on I will cut each half into 6 smaller pieces.
Cover these balls of dough and let rise about 15 minutes. Then take each onto a NON floured surface (floured surface gives no friction for rolling and makes this process very frustrating! Trust me LOL) roll until the dough is just wider than 2 hands, wrap the dough around your hand keeping the seam in your palm and roll to seal it together. This takes practice and as you can see mine are far from perfect!!
You want to cover your bagels and let them rise about 20 minutes. During this time I set up for the next process. A pot of boiling water, a cooling rack on top of a pan to catch drips, and well oiled pans. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
This was the very last bagel I rolled today and by FAR the prettiest one I have done so far.
Now is the time to boil. Boil on each side for 1 minute. I have a big flat, strainer/spoon that facilitates easy flipping.
Take the bagels out of the water and place on the cooling rack to drain while you put the next batch into the water. Transfer the bagels onto the oiled pans or at this point you can dip your bagels in toppings of your choice (these are caraway, coriander, minced onion, and garlic) Be sure to go seasoned side up first. Continue this process until all of your bagels are boiled then into the 400 degree oven for 10 minutes per side.
Here we are half way through and giving them a flip.
Once they are cooked, cool them on a rack and ENJOY!!!!
I have a few storage/ bathroom ideas for kids. We have 4 who share one small bathroom. We looked at other houses with more or bigger bathrooms but my opinion is that sometimes less is more. I did need to find a few solutions though like where do you have 4 towels?! They all had to be easily accessible, too. The one towel bar in the bathroom is for Jacob. He's big enough to reach it and it is safe to say that my solution did not appeal to him. Not too many boys want their towels to have ribbon on them =) First off, each of the kids has their own color. This way if we ever have a wet towel on the floor there's no blaming of siblings. Like I said Jacob being a teen gets the towel bar as well as the decorative hook. For all of the little girls I just used some Command Strips for bath towels and hand towels. It may seem a little silly to have so many hand towels in one small bathroom but it seems to cut down on germ sharing and that makes me happy!!
Here's what I did to the towels. I folded the towel to find the center and used about 5 inches of grosgrain ribbon to make a loop and very crudely sewed them to the towel with the end tucked under so that they would not fray in the wash. I am NOT very good with the sewing machine but I used a zig zag stitch and went over it several times. These have held on for over a year so I am pretty happy!!
Hand Towels
Then the fun of hanging swim wear when it isn't possible to do so outside. Just put another tension rod on the back side of the tub!
And you may see a trend with the next one. Need a place to keep stuff OFF of the counter but needs to be accessible to the kids? A shoe holder works GREAT!!! Mouthwash and things that the little kids don't need can go up high and the lower pockets for the little kids. As you can see we have plenty of room if we need more stuff in there!
First off, I can not take credit for coming up with this super cool idea. I found it over HERE and decided to give it a whirl. The kids have LOVED it as a special treat. I do a few things different than the original post.
We are super vigilant about what the kids eat. We do our very best to give them wholesome, homemade foods. We do not deprive them or ourselves but try to teach moderation. One thing we try very hard to avoid are artificial colors, well, artificial anything for that matter. But every now and then it can just be a little fun to be bad!
Today isn't a special occasion but it is raining so I am going to surprise the kids with a rainbow =) Since it is rainy the bread is taking a little more flour to keep it from being sticky so we will see if that affects the colors. For this recipe, after the flour is incorporated and before you let it rise you will add the food coloring. I choose to do this by hand and by bedtime I will be back to normal color HAHA
Here's the set up. The bowls are oiled and ready.
You can mix it in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface. Today it didn't work in the oiled bowl with the humidity. It will take LOTS of drops to get vibrant color. I added more after this was worked in.
Here's a pic on the surface.
Ready to rise. I usually let these rise for about 45 minutes after being worked so much to get the color in. You can go crazy with color combinations. Wet weather hurts my hands so I just did four colors, but you get the idea...... entire rainbow, team/school colors, favorite colors, etc.
Okay, so it is difficult to take a decent picture of your own right hand HAHA and this does not do the color justice!
Roll out each color separately into a rectangle, stack, and roll. I try my best to get them all the same size, but it is far from perfect.
For this I roll the long side of the rectangle. I pull slightly and try to get it pretty tight.
I then use a sharp knife to cut the loaf to the size of the pan, gently transfer the loaf, cover and rise. The end pieces I form into little rolls as a special treat since they cool faster than the bread ;)
DRUM ROLL PLEASE...........................................................................................................................
There you have it!! The taste of the bread is exactly the same as regular, just pretty!
Take the dough and divide into sizes needed for you pan(s) I use a lightly floured cutting board and I roll the dough for one loaf out into as close to a rectangle as I can get it. Liberally spread a mixture of cinnamon and granulated sugar (sorry, I don't have any measurements I would say this loaf used about 1/3 cup sugar and a few tablespoons of cinnamon) and I press down slightly to keep it in place. Then starting on a short end, tightly roll to the other side. I use a knife to cut the ends to fit the pan and set the dough to rise like normal. I like to take the little end pieces and make little rolls so that I can <ahem> taste test the batch ;o)
YUMMY!! This makes great toast or just on it's own! Enjoy!!
