Soup and Snow Castles

We cooked up a chicken in the crockpot a couple days ago. Usually, I make broth from the remains and freeze it to be turned into homemade chicken soup or stew. Well, after doing this about once a week over the winter, this family has grown tired of homemade chicken soup and stew! In trying to figure out what to do with all the broth from Monday's chicken, I remembered that we use a lot of condensed soups for casseroles and such. Perfect! I will find a recipe for homemade cream of chicken soup to cook with! Have you ever read the ingredients list in those soups? Downright scary. So it did me well to find this recipe: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/homemade_cream_chicken_soup and whip up a bunch of my own. Not to mention, it was a great way to help use up all the goats milk we are fortunate to have a surplus of right now.
I quadrupled the recipe and wound up with about 8 cans bags of soup. It is an easy and relatively quick recipe. Took me only about an hour. Take away babies at my feet, helping the 6 year old with math, and emptying out my spice cupboard (3 times!!) looking for that darn bottle of paprika, and I probably could have it done in half that time. It was tasty, though next time I will add a bit more spice and a little less flour. It thickened up real quick and I had to take the stick blender to it. Used it for Mom's chicken broccoli divan casserole tonight. Yum. I will file this recipe away and will undoubtedly be pulling it out at least a few times a year.

In other news, Winter is here. Well it seems it never left. Never mind that it is Spring. It is most definitely NOT Spring. I was quite enamored by this unexpected snowstorm as I walked out to milk this morning. Everything was glistening white, magical. I thanked God for the beauty of His creation. However, later today I learned that temps will be in the 30's for the next 7 days and that has me a little perturbed. Suddenly the snow is not quite so pretty. Because it will be around for at least a few more days, and we have reached the end of March. Sigh. So human of me. I am ready for green.

Ava, who embraces every new opportunity with glee, who has been counting down the days until Spring sinced mid February (because to a 6 year old, it just magically becomes warm and green again on the first day of Spring)and who- just 2 days ago, was making mud pies in shorts and a tank top (when it was 60 degrees), wasted no time getting out there and making snow castles... I love that girl.

And no, she does not have really huge hands. She just happens to grab the gloves that are closest :)

Until next time,

Elizabeth

Of Spoonbread and Chickens

What to do when roads are slick and snow-covered and provisions are running low? Five hungry faces are demanding to be fed and will simply not settle for PB+J (again). Make spoonbread!

• 1 cup white cornmeal (I was out of cornmeal, so I ground popcorn kernels in my Wondermill grainmill to make our cornmeal)
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cold milk
• 2 large eggs, well beaten
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preparation:

In a large saucepan, combine cornmeal with 2 cups of water; add 1 teaspoon of salt. I also added a couple Tbsp of honey.Bring mixture to a boil then lower the heat; cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. The mixture will be very stiff. Remove from heat and slowly stir in 1 cup of cold milk. Stir in the beaten eggs and melted butter. Preheat oven to 400° and heat a greased 1 1/2 to 2-quart baking dish or 8-inch square baking dish. Pour the well blended batter into the hot baking dish; bake for about 40 minutes, or until firm in the middle and nicely browned. Serve hot, straight from the baking dish, covered in real Maple Syrup. Mmmmm....

Late in the afternoon, I was able to steal away for a few precious minutes outside. It was a blustery, blizzardy kind of day here. Not nice for jaunts outside, for sure. But a peak in on the chickens was all I needed to recharge for the rest of the evening. They seem to be holding their own nicely in the cold, now that we've moved them to their smaller "winter house". I brought them some veggie scrap goodness and they repayed me with clucks of contentedness. But... we have a problem with the chickens: No eggs for almost a month. Not a one. They are healthy, and eating/drinking heartily, so not sure what the problem is. Hopefully they get the hint soon or to the chopping block it will be. Can't afford to feed any mouths around here that aren't giving in return. As to butchering- not sure who should be more afraid of this idea- we, or the chickens. More on that later...if they coninue not to lay...



Once inside again, Ava (6) and I shared a game of Bananagrams. And while dinner (leftovers) were reheating in the oven, Brenna (3) and I made Grandmother Wolford's rice pudding. On another day with more time, I may just share that goody with you. For now, I'm off to nurse sweet Charlotte (9 months) and then battle the icy roads to work for a few hours. Stay warm.