Homemade Chicken & Dumplins

The HF (that's right!  that handsome boyfriend has now become the handsome FIANCE!...more on that later) and I have been going without chicken for a while...and he hasn't been a happy camper.  While I try and keep us on a strict grocery budget of $200 a month, he has no problem with buying whatever he wants for food.  Needless to say, I keep up with all the grocery buying.

A guy that the HF works with passed on to him a flyer for whole organic chickens from an Amish farm for a pretty decent price so we ordered 10 of them (6 for us, 4 for some friends).  Yesterday I spent the day cutting up all of the chickens and dividing them up into bags for later meals and last night I made our first chicken dish in over a month!

Here's the recipe for the best chicken and dumplins you'll ever eat:

1 1/2 quarts homemade chicken stock

3 chicken legs, shredded

3 chicken thighs, shredded

Dumplins (recipe below for those)

1 can evaporated milk

lots of black pepper and some salt

Pour your chicken broth into your pot and bring it to a boil, drop in your cut up dumplins (about 1/3 of them) into the boiling water and wait til they set, then throw in a handful of chicken.  Repeat with the dumplins and chicken until it's all gone then pour in the can of evaporated milk, turn the heat down to simmer, and pop the lid on it.  Let simmer for an hour then they're ready to eat!

Dumplin recipe:

2 cups self rising flour

pinch of baking powder

pinch of baking soda

3 tbls olive oil

buttermilk

Mix together your dry ingredients then mix in enough buttermilk til the mixture is moist but not sticky.  I don't measure my buttermilk so use your best judgement.  This is a recipe that my step mom passed on to me and it is also her biscuit recipe!

No picture for this recipe because we ate them faster than the time I could grab my camera...maybe next time!

Bragging Rights--Canning Tally 2013

In the past year or so I've really gotten into canning.  I happened to stumble on a couple of blogs through Pinterest and they changed my life forever.  Canning has been the most rewarding hobby I've ever picked up.  I guess I didn't realize it when I was younger, but everybody around me canned food.  It's amazing being able to go down to my basement and grab a jar of beans to go with supper that night, or grab a jar of homemade chicken broth to make homemade chicken and dumplins'.  Does canning take a while to get the hang of? Yes.  But it is SO worth it in the end.  You may spend a little more money upfront by buying fresh veggies (you could grow your own garden to lower costs) but your family will be eating much healthier foods than the MSG loaded stuff you buy in the stores!  Don't be scared, give it a try!


So far this year I've canned:

6 pints purple hull peas
40 quarts, 2 pints, & 2 One & a half pints of green beans
7 pints pickled okra
9 pints dill relish
4 half pints pickled pepper rings
12 half pints of hot Tabasco pepper sauce
14 pints rotel
5 pints jalapeno salsa
8 pints tomato juice
5 quarts, 2 pints, 3 one & a half pints of chicken broth
3 quarts, 4 one & a half pints smoked pork broth
3 pints pintos
3 pints zipper cream peas
4 pints butter beans
2 half pints Chile sauce
8 pints peaches--Thanks Karie!

To add to what I have left over from 2012:

9 pints dill pickles
4 pints bread and butter pickles
4 pints squash pickles
2 pints dill relish
3 pints, 1 half pint applesauce
2 quarts apple cider
3 half pints pear jam
3 half pints jalapeno jelly
5 one & a half pints red pepper relish
4 quarts smoked turkey broth
2 quarts deer broth
2 half pints apple glaze

De-Waxing Candle Jars

Recently I came across these super cute candles in mason jars at Dollar General for $1.50.  They were fall scents and I immediately had multiple craft ideas for the jar pop in my head when I saw them...and you can't beat $1.50 for a cute candle AND a mason jar, right?!

Well...now I'm left with  burnt out wicks and 4 candle jars with wax in them.  I looked online and several websites gave me the same way to do this.  You simply grab your jar with wax, pour boiling water over them and let them sit for a few hours!  I got impatient and had to do this twice but all in all it only took about 3 hours.  

Tada!

Mason Jar Soap Pump

So I was browsing through my Pinterest folders today and came across these Mason Jar Pumps.  I was already going to have the HB make me these Mason Jar To Go Cups so I made sure to grab extra Jars from the store to use. I've got a basement full of jars but Ball has come out with these new Vintage Blue jars and they are too cute!  

What you'll need: 

Pair of needle nosed pliers
Mason jar with lid and ring
x acto knife
super glue
pump from soap bottle

First thing you'll want to do is make an "x" with your x acto knife in the center of your jar lid.  Take your screwdriver and poke a hole in the center of your "x" then take the pliers to open up the hole to where your pump will go. This doesn't need to be an exact circle because your pump will cover it up.

Take your super glue and glue the lid to the ring and let it dry completely.  Don't put it on your jar just yet because the ring will stick to your jar and it will be a big mess...trust me on this.  

Once that's all said and done glue your pump to your lid and screw the ring on the jar.  And you're through! 

Cherry Pie

I owed a friend of mine's husband a favor for fixing my car a while back and his only request was a homemade cherry pie.  6 months later and he got his request.  You can't really beat cherries at $2.88/lb!  So I set off to trusty ole' Pinterest to find a cherry pie.  I realized a few different things when I looked for a recipe for cherry pie: 1. Pitting cherries is not a fun job and 2. There are a million different cherry pie recipes!  I mashed a few together and will tweak it next time because it was a little watery but AWESOME nonetheless!

First off, I pitted my cherries by using a toothpick.  Once you pull the stem out of the cherry, take a toothpick and poke the pit.  From there you'll want to run the toothpick around the pit and pop it out.  It sounds easy, huh?  Yeah...not so much.

Cherry Pie

(2) 9" pie shells

2 lbs cherries, pitted

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 tbs flour

1/2 cup cherry limeade

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup sugar

Place your first shell in your pie plate.  Mix all other ingredients together and pour into the pie shell.  Cover with second pie shell and brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.

Enjoy!

Weekend Fun

This weekend my dad & Hobby (my stepmom) came to visit and it was fabulous!  We had a wonderful weekend full of bargain shopping, thrift store browsing, and family bonding.  We hit some major deals and it was great some quality time with my parents.  The HB even got to sneak away from work Friday afternoon and Saturday and was able to smoke a chicken and a fresh pork shoulder that dad brought up!  My favorite store Hobby and I hit up was a little antique store and we scored some awesome items.

We got this adorable relish tray and  1/4" Pyrex plate at Goodwille for super cheap.  The HB isn't a big pie eater so the small pie plate is perfect for a personal pie dish!  

Just a forewarning when you're deal shopping at stores like Goodwill:  Home good items are not always a great deal...canning jars in particular.  They were selling them at $.99 a piece which is not a deal because you can get a case of 12 brand new ones for under $10. 

A blue bird of happiness.  Hobby says every kitchen should have one.  I think it gives my kitchen a cute touch.  We got this at the cute little antique store.

This little gem was one of my favorites.  I've been obsessing over cast iron for a while and thought was absolutely adorable.  It's heavy duty and Hobby suggested it would be a perfect toothpick holder.  

"Watkins 1868"

 I'm assuming this was made on the printed date but if anyone has any information on this I would love to know more about it!

Earlier in the day we went to Target just to browse and picked up a flemsy plastic pastry blender.  Then we went to the antique store and came across this beauty!  It's pretty much one of the greatest inventions ever and I'm in love with it.  I love that it's old, it has history, and it was made in the USA!  Watch out pies, here I come!

Anybody know anything about these?  Year it was made maybe?

Hidden in the corner of this same antique store lay 4 unopened boxes.  Me being the nosey little gal I am opened the top one up and almost squealed in excitement.  There were 4 dozen quart size canning jars just waiting for a home to love them and I snagged them up! I paid a quarter a jar and I can't stop admiring them.  The front of the jars have MASON JAR stamped on the front with a star.  Any idea on what year these babies are?  I'm not thinking they are super old.

Hobby & Daddy brought me some canned goods that I was just ecstatic about!  To add to my stocked pantry she brought me a jar of blackbery jam, 2 jars of zipper cream peas, 1 jar of pinto beans, 3 jars of purple hull peas, a jar of venison spaghetti sauce, and a jar of vegetable beef soup.  

I am so lucky to have the family I have and love that I have grown so close with them.  Never take family for granted because they won't always be there and always cherish the moments you have with them.