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

Soap Making, Child Training, and a Tribute to the Rooster

Whew! It sure feels good to catch a minute to sit down and blog again. It's amazing how quickly a whirlwind of days pass by. We lost our sweet rooster the other day. The second casualty of what we think is a weasel that lives under the coop. "Puck", who was affectionately named by Ava (because it rhymes with 'cluck'), and who was the only of our chickens we named, died a pretty awful death. I'd like to think it was in brave defense of his hens, though I'll never know. Garrett, in memory, made an origami bird (rooster) in black and white- Puck's colors. It sits on the windowsill above my kitchen sink where it too, will probably meet a quick end for all the times it has fallen into the sink (inevitably when it is full of water).

We've moved the remaining hens (who seem unaffected by the recent brutalities they've witnessed, and are laying again, I'm happy to report) to the vacant goat barn where we hope they will stay safe. We've put out a trap for the perpetrator in the chicken coop, but seems he's been untempted thus far. Or maybe after two large chicken dinners in as many days, he's hunkered down for a long winter's nap.

The last few days have been filled with soap making and child training. The latter being just a neverending job, it seems. Especially during long winter months. And every time I think I've got them straightened out long enough to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee, another argument ensues. It is then that I remind myself what blessings these children are and how honored I am that God gave me charge of them for what little time we have together. I want my children to learn patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The teaching of these begins at home. I did happen to snap a couple pictures of the children happily co-habiting in the last couple days. These moments have been a little rare here lately and so all the more precious are they...

This last, though not depicting co-habitation exactly, is simply a picture of Brenna spontaneously napping on the couch after several hours of rather challenging behavior. Ahhhhh... Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Psalm 127:3

I'm very excited about the soapmaking we've been doing. Scents on the curing rack so far include: Stress relief (lavender, patchouli, bergomot), Simply Lavender, Rose Geranium with added rose hips for skin nourishing vitamins and exfoliation, and our Dead Sea bar- a yummy bar fresh from the sea with mineral rich sea kelp powder and dead sea salts from Jordan. Here's some interesting information about the Dead Sea and the wonderful goodness it contains:  http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/deadsea.html. Of course all our bars are all natural and made with only the most nourishing ingredients. These include goats milk, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, mango butter and castor bean oil. Fragrances are derived from only 100% natural essential oils. We will be making several more varieties and then they will all be allowed to cure for a minimum of 6 weeks. In that time we will be working on our logo, website, brochure, and herbal salves! Joe has already designed a beautiful and practical soap holder to use with your soap in the shower so as not to waste any of your beauty bar! He'll be busy turning those out soon.

And the search for our own goats continues... In the meantime, I'm loving the snow, but a little thankful at times that I don't yet have to rush out at 7am to milk...

May His peace be in your homes,
Elizabeth