Chicken is on sale!!

     Wanted to send out a quick post to let all know in the area that Price Chopper has chicken leg and/or thighs on SALE for 69 Cents a pound!!!  How very ironic!!!  SO, get out there and buy some chicken and get cookin!!  Blessings!
Go to Price Choppers circular here:
http://pricechopper.shoptocook.com/circular/clickable.jsp

Cooking LOTS of chicken

     A few days ago I decided to cook a bunch of chicken and when I was all done I decided this might be a good thing to share on the blog! 

     A few months back there was this GREAT sale on chicken leg quarters (where the leg and thigh are still attached to each other).  They were selling this 10 lb. bag of chicken leg quarters for... I think it was  maybe 69 cents a pound!! CHEAP!  So I bought it thinking I would cook it someday I had time.  Well a few days ago I finally did!

     The first thing I did was rinse and dry all the chicken.  Then I put them all on foiled lined and oil sprayed cookie sheets ( easier clean up).  After that I salted and peppered both sides of each leg and then roasted them for around 50m to 1hr. at 350 degrees.  When they were all done we each had one for dinner with some peas and potatoes!! :)  But after that, I took all the skin and bones and put them in a stock pot and put all the chicken in another bowl ( I pulled it apart as I went so I didn't have to chop it up later).  I covered the bones and skin with water ( DON'T FORGET to add 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar, it gets the really good gelatiny stuff out of the bones) and let them boil for a very long time, ( I would normally do this in a crock pot up to 24 hours, then to the stock pot to condense the broth, but there was to many bones etc. to fit in my big crock this time!)  I let it boil/simmer for a long while, then I strained out the big bones and stuff into another bowl, then I used a even finer strainer one more time for some of the tiny stuff.  I put that bowl in the fridge over night so the fat would rise and somewhat harden.  This makes it easier to remove in my opinion.  What is left over is this rich almost gelatin chicken broth full of nutritional goodness!!!

     After you've got all the fat scraped off, ladle this into the smaller sized freezer ziplock bags ( don't forget to label the bags first, much easier this way:).   I used four cups for each bag.  You can push the bag down into a cup to make it easier to fill if your doing this alone.  Then I put them on a cookie sheet and froze them in the deep freeze.  And there you have it, homemade chicken broth!

     Then as you can see above, I separated out the chicken into 6 two cup bags and froze them too!!  Now I have some great items ready to make my life easier for meal for the next few weeks!  I have already done chicken noodle soup!  I used left over noodles from last nights dinner that I just put in a ziplock with alittle olive oil to keep them from gumming up.  Then I added a can of green beans, some pre-cut carrots that I froze this fall,  my broth and chicken alittle salt and pepper!  Instant YUMO!!  Hope you give this a try, it's been a blessing for this house!!





Fun video about homeschoolers

Saw this on facebook and had to share it here.  Very cool and gooberishly funny:)

Shop till ya DROP!

Well, anyone who know's me know's I love a good thrift store... well, I think I have found my favorite!  This Monday my friend Joy and I went to two thrift stores called SAVERS.  These thrift stores are HUGE and the have such a wonderful selection of items and it's all organized so you can find what your looking for!!  I LOVE THAT:)  Plus, the things they have a pretty nice and at good prices.  This particular day they were have a sale of 50% off EVERYTHING!  Now, honestly, I hadn't been doing alot of thrifting lately because I am really working at this minimalist thing.  For me, it's the idea that we don't need alot of stuff and in fact, alot of stuff isn't good for us.  My reality is this, if I wake up to stuff everywhere, organized or not, I feel kinda crowded and basically it's just not a peaceful feeling.  So, I've been backing down from "great deals" lately.  BUT, this was such a GRRREAT deal that I had to at least go and look. I prayed that I would find just what Yahweh had for me and NOTHING more and that I would be a good steward of the finances he has blessed us with.  It ended up we had a great time, got a few things that were a real blessing too.  Most of  you know now that I have been covering my head for about 10 months now...  well in that time I have been kind learning what works best for me as far as head wear goes.  Some things have worked, some don't, but I'm always trying new things.  Well, one of the things that we found at these two stores was a abundance of choices in coverings!  SO, I picked up a few for SO cheap and I took a pic to show you:)

I wore the one on the far left with teal blue flowers today.  This one actually is from www.headcovers.com and is SO comfortable.  I also experimented with leaving my hear down today and having it cover some of my ears.  It was a great way to wear a covering when it's COLD outside as it was VERY cold this morning.  Having my hair down really took the edge off the frigidness..(is that a word??)
I also had a great time getting to know my friend Joy better.  She also just recently started up her own blog that you can check out HERE.  
I believe the next sale like this at the SAVERS store is on presidents day Feb. 20th if your in the area and interested:) 
Have a blessed day!

A great way to MEMORIZE scripture!

I thought I would share with all of you the bible verses being worked on this week by the "Sweet Journey" book club. These verses would be great for any woman to memorize. These verses also fly strait against what the world tells you woman are suppose to be. I pray that we can all trust Yahweh's (God's) word enough to claim these verses as the TRUTH. AND... the truth shall set us FREE!!

Titus 2:3-5

King James Version (KJV)

3The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

4That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

5To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Titus 2:3-5

The picture above is a new way for me to try to memorize scripture. It was mentioned to me by my friend Joy and has been working amazingly! I wrote the whole verse out and read it out loud. Then I took one word away and read the WHOLE thing out loud again. Then I went through the house all day picking things up and putting them away from here or there, and each time I passed the board, I took one more word away and recited the WHOLE verse again. This is just amazing, I almost have the whole verse down and it only took a few hours!! Just amazing!! Give it a try, memorizing God's word is one of the BEST weapons we have against the enemy!! USE IT WELL SISTA'S!!

It's Time To Get Back To Bloggin!

     Well it's been far to long since my last post!!  I have recently been encouraged to go back to bloggin after a bit of a break and I'm excited to start back up.  Having a 2 year old has really changed my daily routine and I'm still working at figuring out how to fit it all in!  My crafting has slowed down to a very slow crawl as of late, but I plan to work it in a little more starting now:)  I would also like to start posting about a new book study I have started.  The book is called "Sweet Journey" and it is written by Teri Maxwell.  You can see the book and the Maxwell family web sight HERE.

    I am VERY excited about this study because it will be hitting the three basics of having a closer relationship with Christ, namely: Reading your Bible, Praying and Memorizing Scripture:)  Three things that ALL of us have had our struggles with!  Our group had our first meeting this Wednesday and I was SO happy with how everything went.  I really believe God has great things for us with the book and this group.  I encourage you all to check this book out:).

     More on the study to come... (when it's not 1 am in the morning and my eyes can't hardly stay open:)

Blessings to you all!

First Day of School!

Well, today was our official first day of school.  Everything was ready, plans were made, and though it all went well, it didn't go according to my plans!  God's plan always trumps mine, thank goodness!
So, here are some pic's of the first day:)

To celebrate our first day of school, we had a BIG pancake breakfast this morning! YUMMO!

Benjamin was VERY happy to "start school" today:)  He even has his own backpack filled with goodies for him to do during the day:)

This surprise was the best, daddy was home for there first day due to rain.

That's me, the happy Mamma:)  Excited to start the day!

I put up a few posters in the dinning room to be helpful for the girls as well as to get that "school time feel".

I really like this one.  It has names for things that I sure don't remember learning.... but that's not saying to much!

Today the girls had a math video to work through.... oh how I wish I could have done math in a lazy boy back in the day!!! lol

The girls geography this year is SO cool.  We have this awesome book called 'Material World" and it goes through 30 countries.  It centers on one family in each country and has that family take EVERYTHING they own out of the house and set up in the front for a BIG picture.  It is AMAZING to see the differences in not only the things each family owns and DOESN'T own, but just the different cultures within the families, as well as the different statistics for each country.

An excited Kayla!

An excited Samantha!

I'm guessing getting this backpacks ( so cheap at walmart ) was a HUGE hit!  We gave them to them Sunday night and they got to see all the supplies inside.  They were SO EXCITED about these backpacks.... never stops amazing me the kinds of things my girls appreciate.  I just LOVE these ladies!
I hope all of you enjoy your back to school day!  GOD BLESS!

Feminan Napkin Clutch! :)

I've got a new item up on my other blog sight, Kelly’s Crafty Creations. It's a cute gift I've been wanting to make for awhile, Go on over and check it out!

Todays harvest

I went out and harvested a bunch of stuff today.  It was hot and sticky, but worth it.  I am SO thankful to the Lord for blessing this garden.  It is really going to help us out especially in the winter.  Take a look and see.  ANYONE can do this, you don't have to have a bunch of land!!!!  Just grab a small place with sun, even if it's on the roof and grow some yummies!!!

Sorry so dark, not a great camera.

a lot of cherries, some beef and Bradley tomato's and a few jalapenos

Pickling cucumbers. I picked some small ones to try and make mini sweet pickles...  there should be a few more ready in a few days

two of these are from actual red pepper plants, the rest of from green pepper plants!  I think I will cut most of these ones up in a almost mince size and freeze them for the winter.

a few carrots I pulled for the week.  There are some really wonky lookin ones in there.

Three large cucumbers and two medium size zucchinis.  I'm thinken of making some baked zucchinis chips this week.

Garden pictures UPDATE!

Well, I thought we were due for some new pics on how the garden is doing.  Take a look:

Strawberry Bed.  I am letting them put out new strawberry plants, rather then cutting the shoots and getting more berries.  I'm hoping next year it will be full enough to cut the shoots and give more berries a chance to develop.

I am getting a few straggler berries though:)

Arugula gone to seed

These are the little seed pouches.  I gotta get the girls on separating those out! :)

Cilantro gone to seed, which is coriander!  Need to get that harvest too.

Attempt at a close up, my camera isn't to spiffy at that.

In the background is one of the cantaloupe growing in the jungle...

There are many of these little micro cucumbers right now growing :)

Another cantaloupe in the back middle of the pic.up

Medium size cucumber

Two watermelons.  The one in the front has been growing for EVER but really isn't getting any bigger.... any suggestions?  Should I sacrifice it and cut it off for the greater good?????

New baby watermelon trying to make it's way

This is a pic on the right side of the large tub jungle.  These are my pickling cucumbers..

Zucchini, there is another one hiding in the grass that you can't see

The tomatoes are really doing well, SO BLESSED.

Small watermelon

Another cantaloupe

A newer cantaloupe growing

Here are the jalapeno plants.  They have been amazing!!  I have so many of these guys in my freezer right now.  Should warm up our winter months well!

Cherries

Finally getting some of these guys to turn to red!

Yellow pears!  I love these guys!  They really taste the same to me, but the color they bring to the party is so worth it!

Well, this was basil, Rosemary and parsley....  the rosemary and parsley did NOT make it:)  BUT, the basil is doing real well!

The lemon grove is very bushy now.  Hints of mint and oregano here and there , but mostly LEMON BALM!

So, there ya go, and here is some of the harvest that day ( about three or so days ago):

We went ahead and harvest all the onion bulbs that were left, they were lookin pretty done.

Yum yum.  I just froze in a zip lock bag most of the onions whole.