Chicken Soup

As promised, here is a tutorial on making chicken stock and chicken soup. This was one of the last things I wanted to have in the freezer before baby comes. We love this soup and its great to have the stock in the freezer all ready to go.

First, buy a whole chicken. Wash it off and chop it up a bit. I usually cut mine in half and cut off the legs and wings. It doesn't matter how you do this, just fit it into a large soup pot. Add some onion, carrots, and celery - just break the veggies into chunks, don't worry about chopping them all up. Cover with filtered water and a splash of rice vinegar. Let this all sit for about an hour to help draw out the nutrients. Heat to a boil briefly and then cover and turn down to simmer for an hour and a half.

Use a pair of tongs to take out all of the chicken, leaving everything else still cooking in the pot. The meat will easily fall off of the bones. Put the bones, skin, and everything back into the pot (still cooking) and put all of the meat in a container. In the above photo I'm almost done: a few bones left on the plate, good chicken meat in the container, and bones back in the pot to cook some more. Cover the pot and let it simmer as long as you'd like. I started this stock in the morning and let it simmer all day until dinner time. (Put the cooked chicken in the refrigerator.)

When your stock is finished cooking, use a strainer to scoop out the bones and veggies, dumping them into the trash. After I scoop out the big chunks, I use a canning jar funnel with a strainer on top and ladle the broth into the jars through the strainer, leaving 3-4 inches at the top. I got about 4 big jars of broth, and some left in the pot to make a batch of soup for supper. (Be sure to strain this as well to get any little bone pieces out.) Leave the jars on the counter to cool, then refrigerate them overnight before freezing. I sometimes divide up the meat and put it right into the jars with the chicken stock. This time the jars were rather full so I didn't have room to add the meat. I'm going to divide the meat into small bags and freeze it along with the stock.

When I want to make soup I'll pull out a jar of stock and a bag of meat all ready to go. Add to the soup pot:

chopped onion

minced garlic (2-3 cloves, more if we're sick) - stir fry for a few minutes

chopped carrots

chopped celery

chicken stock and meat from freezer

a large carton of chicken broth

a teaspoon or two of chicken bouillon

a pinch or two of sugar (my Dad's secret ingredient)

noodles (we like the homemade style, like this) or rice

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer about 20 minutes (or longer if you're using brown rice).

Enjoy! The stock makes this soup extra nutritious and tasty. I've read that some people make this type of stock once a week and use the meat in casseroles and dishes and use the stock for liquid in cooking rice, steaming veggies, and more. Give it a try!

Nesting: Filling the Freezer

I much prefer posts with pictures, so here's a photo of a nest that Grandpa and Grandma found recently and brought over to show the girls. I'm in full "nesting" mode lately (in between naps). One thing I've been trying to do is stock up my freezer as much as possible. We have a chest freezer that we didn't have when either of the girls were babies, so this is my first time really stocking it with meals.

An easy way to fill the freezer is to simply make double of anything you are cooking that can be frozen. We've been eating easy meals lately like spaghetti or eggs and toast which don't really need to be frozen. When I do have something on the menu like chili, soup, or a casserole, its simple enough to double it and freeze half. If I'm making a 9x13 casserole, I can either make two full pans, or make two 8x8s from the one recipe. We like having lots of leftovers, so I usually do two full pans and freeze one.

For a casserole type dish, I sometimes use disposable foil pans (that I wash and reuse). I also have a few extra glass pans that I've collected; these get covered with plastic wrap and then foil on top of that. Chili or chicken pot pie filling goes in a plastic freezer bag (after the food is cooled off). I also use canning jars and plastic lids for freezing things in. Remember to label your dishes with what's inside, the date, and simple baking instructions (350 for 35 minutes, etc). I also find it helpful to keep a list on the refrigerator door of what I currently have in the freezer.

Our freezer was already a bit full with blueberries, strawberries, diced tomatoes, and other summer produce, but I did manage to fit some meals in. If you're looking for ideas, here's what I have frozen so far:

tofu pasta shells - tofu, spinach, and lots of cheese stuffed in jumbo pasta shells and covered with spaghetti sauce and more cheese

enchiladas

chili

taco meat

cooked ground meat - I do this all the time, brown a pound of meat and then only use half of it for spaghetti and freeze the other half

chicken pot pie - freeze the filling and a shell, assemble and bake when needed

frozen pizzas from the grocery store (shhhh...)

a couple kinds of muffins

black beans - rehydrate and cook the beans and then portion out and freeze

freezer jam - this is very easy to make and the girls love it

a few casseroles my mother in law brought over

extra bread dough

I still need to make another batch of chicken stock. I divide the stock into large canning jars and put the meat right in there with the broth so that when I make soup I just have to add the veggies, noodles, and some more broth. One chicken makes 4 or 5 jars and I use those to make a large pot of soup so it goes a long way. I'll have to blog about this next time I do it, it makes the best soup.

Anything else that I cook in the next few weeks will probably get doubled and frozen if I can find the room to stuff it in there. I also freeze things like cookies, granola bars, pancakes, etc. Even after the baby comes I'll continue doubling meals and freezing them just because its nice to have something ready to go for those days I don't feel like cooking. In the summer this doesn't work as well because we eat more salads and fresh veggies, but winter foods seem to freeze well. Its also nice to have a freezer meal on hand to take to a friend if a need arises.

Do you have any other freezer tips to share? Favorite freezer meals? Ways to package frozen dishes for the freezer? Please share!

linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays

Meal For A Friend

One of my friends just had a sweet new baby boy and I signed up through our church to take her a meal today. I haven't actually prepared meals to take to other people very often so I had to do a bit of thinking. I ended up taking chicken salad, banana bread, chopped veggies and dip, and some apples. I wanted something that wasn't extremely common. Other people were taking the family meals this week too and I wasn't sure what they had already eaten, but I didn't want to make anything too strange that they might not like it. Here are a few of my thoughts on taking meals to new moms (or families with illness, etc):

-Check with the family about what food allergies or preferences they may have.

-Make a well balanced meal. Add a vegetable (even a bag of frozen veggies they can heat up), bread of some sort, and maybe a dessert. Healthy foods are best for helping new moms or sick persons recover!

-Include cooking directions if the food needs to be heated. (temperature, time, and other details)

-Including the recipe written out on a card can be helpful if the family likes the meal and wants to prepare it again themselves sometime. It also lets them know what is in the meal in case of any allergies.

-Try to package the food in containers that you will not need to have returned to you.

-Let the family know what time you plan to drop by.

-Deliver the meal in time for it to be heated. If you're bringing a frozen dish, deliver it the day before the family plans to eat it or have it already thawed. Let them know if it can be frozen for later use.

- Go for it! I wasn't sure what I was doing, but we've had meals brought to us by others and it was so touching and made us feel very cared for.

And just in case you're interested, here's the Chicken Salad recipe from my mother-in-law:

2 cups cooked, diced chicken

1 box sea shell macaroni (cooked and drained)

1 small can crushed pineapple (with juice)

1 cup chopped celery

1/4-1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup grapes (cut in half)

Mix all together and chill.

1 1/2 cups Miracle Whip

1 Tbs yellow mustard

2 Tbs pickle juice (or vinegar)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Mix well and toss with chicken salad. Chill 2-3 hours.

How about you? Have you prepared a meal for anyone lately? Do you have other tips to share? What's your favorite meal to bring someone?

Snack Ideas

I typed up this list of healthy snack ideas to have on hand because my girls are always hungry and asking for a snack. From time to time I run out of ideas or feel like I don't know what to give them. I am okay with letting them snack, but I'm pretty particular about wanting it to be something healthy. My mom was also asking for snack ideas for my two nephews that she watches, so I was inspired to actually sit down and do this. Here's our list. Of course I've only included things that my girls like, feel free to give me more ideas in the comments, we may try something you suggest! (Most of these would also make good ingredients for Muffin Tin Mondays.)

apple - dip in peanut butter or yogurt for something different

banana

oranges

grapes

grapefruit

blueberries

strawberries

(any other fresh fruit we may have on hand)

frozen fruit

dried fruit (raisins, papaya, craisins)

applesauce

smoothie (see my post here)

lightly steamed veggies and ranch dip

avocado cut into chunks with garlic salt

tomato with seasoning salt or ranch

pickles

chips and salsa

chips and guacamole (avocado, salsa, splash of lemon juice, and garlic salt)

chips with shredded cheese melted on them

chips and hummus

tortilla with cheese and/or refried beans

yogurt (can include fruit or granola sprinkles)

cheese cubes, slices, or string cheese (cut cheese with cookie cutters, or let the kids cut their own shapes)

cottage cheese with fruit

deviled eggs

leftovers

crackers (with cheese, turkey, or peanut butter)

pretzels

graham crackers

cheerios

ducks (Meijer organic version of goldfish)

popcorn

toast with cinnamon sugar, peanut butter, or jelly

homemade bread with butter

zucchini or banana bread

muffins

granola

homemade granola bars (see my recipe here)

nuts

homemade popsicles (juice or yogurt)

Ok, lets hear your ideas. Help me add to this list!

CSA Veggies

I think I've mentioned here that this is our families first season as part of a CSA. I was a bit worried at first (and still am!) about how to use all of these fresh veggies, many of which I had never eaten before. The farmers have been great about giving me suggestions each week of different ways to prepare the veggies. Here are few things we've done (and a few things I need ideas for!):

Bok Choy - I wash and chop the whitish stem part and then the leaves too. I just make separate piles because the leaves cook faster and need to be put in the recipe later than the stems. I make stir fry with the bok choy and a package of sliced assorted veggies I grab from the produce section at Meijers. The assorted veggies includes baby corn, mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, and a few peas. I just find it quick and easy to mix the package with the bok choy rather than buying and chopping all of the veggies individually. I've also used a frozen package of stir fry veggies as well. We've been making stir fry every Tues night after CSA pick-up and its tasty, but getting a bit old. I do like that it gets us to eat a lot of veggies I don't normally serve otherwise. I wonder how much longer bok choy is in season? I got the recipe for the stir fry sauce off of a package of Freshlike brand stir fry veggies:

2 tsp beef bouillon

1/2 cup water

4 Tbs soy sauce

2 tsp corn starch

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Mix together.

Heat vegetable oil in pan. Stir fry chopped up chicken. Add veggies for 2-3 minutes, add sauce and cook until thickened. Serve over brown rice.

Kohlrabi- Last week was the first time the inside of my fridge had ever seen a kohlrabi. I'd call it a success! Katie, one of the farmers, told me that it tasted similar to a broccoli stem, and she was right. She suggested eating some raw, but we ended up putting it all in our stir fry. I chopped off the top leaves and then sort of peeled/ chopped away the outer skin until I just had the inside part of the bulb. I diced it and threw it in the stir fry. The taste was so mild I probably could have just steamed it and served it with butter and salt on top. I'll have to check into more ways to use kohlrabi.

Spinach- We like to eat spinach raw in salads. Another favorite recipe is Tofu Pasta Shells- large pasta shells stuffed with cheeses, chopped spinach, and a bit of tofu then covered with spaghetti sauce. Lucy loves this dish and chose it to have for her birthday dinner this week. I'm not sure if I can post the recipe, its from the book The Healthiest Kid In The Neighborhood.

Salads- I usually pick out whatever type lettuce is mildest tasting when I pick up our share and we make up a big salad several nights a week. I add my homemade croutons and some chopped tomatoes on top. My biggest problem is that we tried buying organic ranch dressing, but didn't like it. I feel bad topping my fresh organic lettuce with junky ranch dressing! I have a recipe to make your own that I need to try. We also use Italian dressing, which is healthier. I usually save some of the greens like Sorrel and others to put in tortilla wraps to send with DH for his lunches. Sorrel has a tasty lemony flavor that is nice in a wrap. I use a wheat tortilla, cheese, lunchmeat (I can find nitrate free at the Meijer deli now.), lettuce, and some ranch. I have been wanting to make up some sprouts again to add to the salads and wraps, they add a nice tasty crunch and are sooo healthy. I posted my first sprouting adventure series here.

Chives - We've chopped some of these a few times and added them to mashed potatoes which was tasty. I still have too much and am not using it all though. I wonder if there is a way to freeze chives? I think DH would probably like some in an omelet, but he doesn't often eat breakfast at home.

Green Onions - I spread cream cheese on a piece of ham and wrapped up a green onion, a tasty treat I'd had before. These were too spicy for me! I tasted green onion all afternoon and that was not helping my pregnancy nausea. They did eventually get eaten by other family members though everyone agreed they were spicy.

Radishes - Again, too spicy for me! I sliced them and put them in a bowl beside the salad so that people could add them if they wanted to.

Basil - I have made pesto sauce in the past and frozen it in ice cube trays. We use this on pizza, pasta dishes, and tortilla wraps. I need to harvest a bit of basil from my garden and add that to my CSA basil and make a batch. Homemade pesto is so much cheaper than buying it at the store and we really enjoy the flavor. When I put it on pizza I spread the pesto on, then add slices of tomato, cooked chicken, garlic, and mozzarella - delicious.

Cilantro - We have cilantro growing in our own garden as well, because DH likes it and wants to make fresh salsa with it this summer. Tomatoes aren't quite ready yet, so I'm planning to puree this in the blender with a bit of olive oil and then freeze it in an ice cube tray until we need it.

Parsley- I think I used some of this in a potato soup that I made once, but otherwise I'm not sure what to do with it.

Kale, Swiss Chard - Sadly, I haven't used this the past few weeks! I did just try this recipe for Creamy Swiss Chard Pasta this week. DH and I both felt kind of sick after, I think it had too much milk in it for us. Another idea would be to just add a leaf or two to a smoothie, which both girls love and would probably not mind it being green. It was also suggested that I chop these and add them to omelets.

Vegetable Stock - I've been meaning to do this. Someone suggested making vegetable stock with the leafy tops and veggies that I might not be able to use up. I guess you just simmer everything with some onion and garlic for 20-30 minutes and then strain and freeze it. I could use this for cooking rice with or making soups. I've been afraid to do it because I'm never quite sure what to use - if I use the radish tops, will the stock be spicy? Can I throw in the kohlrabi leaves or not? I just need to try.

Cookbooks - I have Simply In Season, which is a wonderful cookbook about using produce in season. I've had this cookbook for a year or so and we've been trying recipes from it. Some have been successes, some not. I'm waiting to purchase the cookbook From Asparagus to Zucchini from our CSA. Otherwise I've been looking up ingredients on recipezaar.com, I like that the recipes are rated so I can pick and choose the ones with lots of good reviews.

Other - I picked up an OXO brand salad spinner on sale 50% off at Meijers a few weeks ago and after some conversation with OXO I did find out that it is BPA free. (Pampered Chef refused to tell me what their salad spinner was made of and I've been searching for a safe one ever since.) I also got some of these green bags to keep produce fresh. I'm still deciding, but I think they are helping a bit.

Overall I think I'm doing fairly well so far. Considering that I'd never even held bok choy or kohlrabi or sorrel before, and I have a nauseous, not very adventurous feeling pregnant stomach... If you have any more ideas for the things I've mentioned, please let me know! If you've never tasted a kohlrabi, go buy one! Or better yet, sign up for a CSA next year. :)

(This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.)

Surviving Early Pregnancy

I recently posted about our Mother's Day gifts to the Grandmas.  Their other surprise was that we told our families on Mother's Day that we are expecting baby #3 in January.  Everyone was thrilled!  We told Lucy and Julia the night before we shared the news with extended family; Lucy hugged my stomach and is excited that as the baby grows she can talk to him or her.  She's already planning on helping me take care of the baby.  Julia points to my stomach and says "baby" but she's not quite sure what is going on yet.  I've been feeling nauseous off and on, but nothing too horrible.  Here is how I'm surviving early pregnancy...

1) Food:  When we started trying to get pregnant I made double batches of food as often as I could and put them in the freezer.  I had muffins, cookies, zucchini bread, cooked ground meat, chopped onions, and half a dozen meals frozen.  Its actually quite easy to make a double batch of something if you are already going to be cooking.  I'll admit that the food in the freezer hasn't sounded good to me yet, but I'm sure it will come in handy once I get my appetite back a bit.  We'll use this food up during the pregnancy and then stock the freezer again for after baby arrives.

2) Sleep.  I've been sleeping with Julia when she naps.  Lucy knows that she has to color or read books quietly and although she does end up waking me up some days, I do get some napping time in.  My body is working hard creating this little baby so I don't feel bad about taking naps!

3) Housework.  I have to say that my dear husband has been a wonderful help in this area.  When I'm feeling nauseous and all I can do is get the girls their meals and get the food put away, he's great about washing dishes and cleaning the bathroom when he has spare time.  I have a magnet on my fridge with a simple cleaning schedule that I try to follow when I get overwhelmed with a messy house -

4) Nausea remedies.  In the beginning I was trying to eat protein as much as I could and it did seem to help.  The food didn't sound good to me at the time, but once I ate it, I did feel relief from the nausea.  (eggs, peanut butter toast, cheese toast, almonds, etc)  At this point my stomach is very queasy and I just have to eat whatever sounds ok to me at the time.  I'm going to try some of the remedies I've seen - B6 vitamins, calcium, and other things.  I'll share anything I find that works.

Don't worry, I love blogging and although I've taken a bit of a break here, I have plenty of fun posts (including giveaways) lined up for the coming days!  

Meal Planning

Until recently I hadn't planned out meals day by day.  I would make a list of meals that we wanted to eat, buy the ingredients, and keep that list on the fridge.  Problem was, some meals would need fresh ingredients that would go bad before we got to that meal or something would need to be thawed out and I wouldn't do that in enough time.  Some friends of mine were using Google calendar to meal plan and encouraged me to give it a try.  I'm hooked!

I love using Google calendar and having meals all planned out for several reasons.  Probably the biggest benefit is that I've done the work of figuring out what to eat for dinner ahead of time.  I don't have to stare at my list trying to figure out which meal to make, which meal needed that onion that is going bad, etc.  I like the feature that allows you to simply click on a meal and drag it over to another day if plans happen to change.  I type in leftover days once or twice a week since we are a small family and usually have extras.  I'm also using the calendar to plan out my other baking - bread, granola bars, bagels, and other things that aren't necessarily dinner, but need to be planned.  Knowing what we are eating for dinner ahead of time also allows me to create better meals.  If I know what we are having I can make fresh tortillas, put some cinnamon raisin bread in the bread machine, or be sure we have a fresh salad on hand.  Using Google calendar has been a great tool to use in feeding my family healthy meals and organizing my day a bit more.