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

Honey, Herbs, and Woolens

Today was an exciting day. Well, for us anyway. We got out of the house. That makes any day exciting, no? The country kids and I all donned our best farm tour clothes and traveled down the road to buy this:

We also got a brief farm tour from the spry 78yr old farmer who raises natural beef, spanish meat goats, broiler and laying chickens, and (obviously) honeybees. He had kind eyes and was a father to 8 children and our conversation was pleasant and easy. I told him of my farm dreams and he told me how he started farming with 500 meat goats, and how he lost 100 broiler chickens in two nights to some unknown predator last year. He caught a mink a few days later, but didn't have the heart to dispatch it, and so drove miles away to relocate the rascal. A genuine individual, he was.

I can't wait to use this raw honey in some of  our soaps. You can get info on all the benefits of raw honey here: http://www.reallyrawhoney.com/healthfacts.php

I also got a shipment of some herbs I use in our soaps and salves:

I already have others that I've grown and dried (a very humble assortment) here myself, and am expecting more in the mail any day. Love herbs. Love crafting with herbs, Love growing herbs. Frankly, it just makes me feel good to have these God-given natural healers in my pantry. I love expanding my knowledge about their healing properties and can't wait to expand my own herb garden this year.

We also loaded the van with several Salvation Army bags and were able to drop them off this morning. It sure feels good to get rid of clutter.

As I was going through old clothes to look for Salvation Army donations, I came upon a sweet pair of woolen pants I had hand-sewed for Ava when she was a toddler. Hand-sewed, because we were in Minnesota at the time and I did not have my sewing machine with us. These were made from a pretty wool sweater I had reclaimed from a Salvation Army years ago and used as wool longies for her because she was in cloth diapers at the time. Though Charlotte is not in cloth diapers right now, I felt they were just the right size and would keep her chubby little legs warm on our journey to the farm this morning. If you want to make your own pair, it's really easy. I found a tutorial here: http://sewingdork.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-make-wool-soaker-pants.html#comment-form

What a cute blog this woman has, and lots of great sewing patterns as well.

Here's a picture of our Charlotte wearing her woolens:

and another, just 'cause I like taking pictures of her :)

and here's Ava, 4 or 5 years ago, in the same pair:

What's better than hand-me-downs?

Homemade hand-me-downs

And just for fun, Ava insisted I wear this blue ribbon in my hair today. "A present for you, to make you beautiful, mama."

Blessings on your Friday,

Elizabeth

GOaT YOGURT?

Creativity has been alluding me lately and thus my blogging desire has been scant. Perhaps it was the (non) purchase of the goats I had so been looking forward to, the below zero temps which had the (very loud)children running circles around me all weekend, my husband's absense for two days while he attended the funeral of his Grandaddy (and all the somberness that goes with those such things), chickens who don't care enough to even lay (just one?) egg, or simply, writer's block. But here I am, at 11pm, in a quiet house, feeling blessed enough for ten lifetimes. I love my simple life. I love my loud, crazy children, I love my husband who I could hardly stand to be away from for even two days, I love my Momma (who I'm so thankful to have sleeping on my couch because she was in town for a speaking engagement) and my Poppa who I'm sure is very lonely without her at the moment. I love my sister who is my best friend and consistently makes me laugh harder than anyone ever has, my brother who I don't see nearly enough, and my small circle of friends who share in my joys and encourage me along the way.  I love the beauty of the snow- especially on a cold clear night, and the rosy cheeks of children who've just come in from playing in it. And while I can't say that I love my chickens, I enjoy them well enough and am thankful for the peaceful busy-ness they provide me with each morning and evening when I bring them warm water and check for (just one? please?) egg.

So, a friend of mine asked me to share my recipe for yogurt. I make yogurt weekly because Brenna is lactose intolerant, but does very well on goat's milk products. This recipe can be made with goat or cow (or sheep or horse or yak ~hee hee) milk. It is really very simple and economical to make your own yogurt. I encourage you to give it a try!

You can make any size recipe you wish. For this recipe I used about 1 and 2/3 quart of milk, which will produce that same amount in yogurt. I usually make two full quarts at a time, but did not have enough milk for that this time.

Heat milk slowly and stir regularly to 180 degrees fahrenheit on top of the stove.

Let cool to 115 degrees.

To speed up this process, I usually put the pot in a cold water bath in the sink.

(Just be sure not to get any water in the milk)

When it has reached 115 degrees, whisk in approximately 1-2 Tbsp of store-bought yogurt (or yogurt from a previous homemade batch)  per quart of milk used. For your first batch of yogurt you will have to purchase a small container of store bought yogurt. Make sure it says it has "live active cultures". For future batches, just save a few tablespoons from your homemade yogurt to use.

As you can see here, I don't measure exact amounts- a large spoonful will work for two quarts.

You may also add as much or as little sugar (or maple syrup, or honey) as you would like at this point, and some vanilla extract  if you prefer a vanilla flavor (or lemon, orange, maple extracts etc...) You need to have all these ready and add them quickly so that your milk does not cool too much.

If you plan to add berries, wait until the yogurt has "set" or it will be too runny and won't set properly. Also, goat's milk yogurt tends to be thinner than store bought yogurts and so some people like to add some unflavored gelatin or some powdered milk at this point to help it set firmer. I don't mind the thinner consistency, so I leave these out.

At this point, you need to pour your milk into your jars and insulate your yogurt to keep it at around 110 degrees for 8 hours. There are many different ways to do this. The easiest way I've found is to wrap each jar in a towel and set them in an igloo cooler with another jar (or two if you can fit it) of very hot tap water.

and wait...

Brenna just loves her yogurt with berries :)