Home Made Chicken Broth-and then soup

Just a quick note, I have always bought my chicken stock for cooking, however, after talking with some girl friends a couple of weeks ago, I tried to make my own last weekend and what do you know, it turned out!!!!  All I did was take a "tray" of chicken thighs (I had them in the freezer from a sale this spring so it was time to use them, you can usually get them on sale for $2-4, depending on the sale/coupons) I put the chicken in a "stock pot" (it's all making sense now) covered them with water, I have no clue how much but if I had to guess I would say at least 4 qts.  I tossed in some onion and let it boil, and boil, and boil!  Then, I turned it off to let it cool somewhat.  At this point once it is cooled you could measure it out and freeze it, I decided to go ahead and make soup right away.  So, after taking the chicken meat off the bone, I returned half of it back to the pot (I used the rest for BBQ chicken sandwiches later in the week) and added carrots, egg noodles, salt, pepper, celery salt, and some chicken bouillon cubes (those would be optional, but with store bought chicken, I thought it needed the extra flavor!) Just let it simmer and that's all there is too it!  Who knew! ;)

SEPTEMBER 1st!

Well HELLO everyone! (well the 2 of you who follow this blog) :) It is the first of September and I am BACK!  I took the summer off, things get pretty crazy around this place for the summer, between farming, ranching, the office, and the lake, we are pretty busy!  I do as little cooking as possible in the summer and pretty much live off my stockpile since I don't have very much time to coupon and shop in the summer, and let me tell ya, that stockpile is a life saver! I am super excited for fall and can't wait to put up a few blogs with pictures!!!  I will be doing a little decorating in "the new part" and can't wait to post about that!  My garden has been good, that's right, I have a  garden, so I will post some of that, and last but not least, I have been reading and trying some really great recipes and can't wait to post about those!  So excited to be back!  Happy FALL everyone!

Pat-A-Crust

Here is a quick recipe I tried last night for pie crust. I used to buy pie crust. Life was good, someone else did the work, there they were ready to unroll and use... Then I discovered thePW cookbook, so I made them and would freeze them. Last night as Wade walked out of the house with the kids they said "what's mom going to do?"  Wade responded "she is going to make us a pie!" WHAT, I was?  I had no thoughts of the such!!!  I guess, if the kids and the man want pie, then I will give them pie!  Well I was out of pie crusts in the freezer and didn't have that kind of time so I called my friend Donna, who had brought one of these pies to a birthday party I was at.  This crust is so quick and easy, I don't know that I will ever roll another one!  It is a bit more "crumbly" than a rolled crust but that's a sacrifice I am willing to make! ;) (I don't EAT pie, just MAKE pie, so if the crust crumbles, I don't really care~) 

2 c. flour
2 T. sugar
Pinch of salt

sift together in a mixing bowl.  (got that, sounds tough I know)

2/3c. oil
3 T. milk

wisk together

NOW here is the tricky part...mix the dry ingredients and the oil/milk, with a fork, until it is all moistened and crumbly.  (I hope you can detect the sarcasm as this is about as easy as pie making gets!)

Pour the crust into your pie plate and start to "pat"!  I did the sides first then the bottom, just pressing and patting until you have a nice even crust.  If you want some "crust" for the top of your pie reserve 1/4 of the mixture.  I did that last night and then crumbled it on top of my pie filling.  Fill your pie and bake at 425 until crust is golden and pie filling is "set".  There you have it!  This, in combination with the canned apple pie filling I have from our apples off the tree last fall, is going to be a BREEZE to make a pie whenever they want one!  The pie Donna brought to the party was a strawberry pie, so I just might have to get that recipe from her too, it was AWESOME!  Hope you all get to impress someone with your QUICK pie making skills!  Good Luck!

EASY Pasta Salad

3 c. uncooked macaroni noodles
1 c. frozen peas, thawed and rinsed
1 8oz bag shredded cheddar cheese
2 c. miarcle whip
2 T. sugar

Cook the noddles, drain and COOL, then mix in the peas and cheese, then in a seperate bowl mix the mayo with the sugar (I always add some ranch dressing, or honey mustard, or even western dressing).  Mix the dressing in with the noodle mix.  Chill for a couple hour before serving.  Wade LOVES this super easy salad, I make it for him to eat for lunch during the week.  I almost always find some kind of meat to mix in, like left over bacon, ham, or summer sausage...pretty much a clean out the fridge salad, cause I also use whatever cheese I have left over in the fridge...and from time to time, I even have the left over noodles...ok maybe this should be "super easy don't throw that away put it in this..salad"!

Weekly Menu 4/25-4/29

MONDAY:

We had breakfast bowls...which was left over oven potatoes from Easter, left over sausage from Easter and then  I just wisked up some eggs and milk, put the potatoes and sausage in individual ramekins, then poured the egg mix over them and baked them until the eggs were almost set and topped them with shredded cheese!  Good, and super easy!

TUESDAY:

Tonight we are having a chicken skillet meal, I will slice up 2 chicken breasts and brown them (well it is actually whiting them but you know what I mean) then just pour some (about 2 cups) of noodles in that same pan, and add water to cover, once the water has cooked off, your noodles should be done and you can add a veggie if you want (I will be doing frozen peas/carrots) then mix in a sauce, like alfredo or spaghetti, or our new favorite and what I will be using tonight, about half a tub of Philadelphia cooking creme!(the Italian one)

WEDNESDAY:

Putting a couple roasts in the crock pot (to shred and make BBQ beef) and then making "cowboy beans" in another crock pot, I am PURPOSELY doubling this so I can freeze some for branding...we brand when we have time so depending on the weather, Wade usually just gives me a days notice about when they will brand a bunch or all...so it really helps to have the meals in the freezer! 

THURSDAY:

Grilling burgers, here again I will thaw out more meat than I need and use my AWESOME Tupperware burger press and make some extra patties, these come in so handy cause you can throw them on the grill frozen!  I will also make baked french fries!

FRIDAY:

Putting a WHOLE chicken in the crock pot, then will make some Betty Crocker potatoes when I get home...hope to have left overs for chicken salad!  ;)

Fabulous Freezer Idea!

My friend Chistina told me she has made sloppy joe's and froze them in muffin tins (I am sure I will use the cupcake liners) then once they are frozen, pop them out and seal them in a zip lock.  When you need a quick meal they are single serve ready to microwave and put on a bun or piece of bread!  HOW awesome is that!?!  I can't wait to get some in the freezer!  I get so so so excited about new ideas for my freezer...e-mail me if you have any great ideas!

Quick recipe for Chocolate Chip Bars

This weekend my family was out in the afternoon for coffee, so I wanted a quick recipe for some bars, I found this, modified it a bit and they were really good, served the purpose, and you are about to see how easy they were!

1 boxed yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1/2-1 c. chocolate chips

That's it!  Mix the oil and eggs, add the cake mix (This is thick!  I might add 2 T. of water next time, but they did turn out good without it) and then add the chocolate chips, you have to spread (it won't just pour) it in a 9x13 and bake at 350^  for about 20 minutes, you don't want to over bake these, I must have because they were really good warm but when my company left I had to get out a metal spatula to get the rest out of the pan and into the trash... :)