11.24.2009

Chicken Spaghetti


pic from The Pioneer Woman

The Pioneer Woman has a Cookbook out and its on my christmas list. Who doesn't get inspired to cook when you have yummy pics to look at!

If you made this Oven Roasted Chicken and Chicken Stock last week after I posted it you may have extra like I did. So we had Chicken Spaghetti from The Pioneer Woman's recipe files last night and everyone loved it. Simple, delicious and kid friendly.

11.17.2009

A collection of memories from the past few months...



































Fall Fieldtrips

Monterey Aquarium
I didn't end up with very many pics of the actual animal exhibits. The jelly fish and sea horses were my favorite. Sitting under a tide wash (under glass) and getting to see the shark tank was exciting enough for the kids. There is a whole nother world in the ocean that God designed! How awesome is He!









Hilmar Cheese Co.
We didn't go into the factory and watched one part through an upstairs window (cheese curds dumping into bins). Would I say it was a bit dissapointing? Maybe but I don't think the kids really knew and they did learn some things about the process and made their own icecream. I will say they have a lovely gift shop and cafe to dine in. Free cheese samples and icecream make for an interesting combination. :)


Shaking the icecream containers


Yummy



Fresno Chaffee Zoo
After a few hours or so in a zoo, we are usually done. But I really like this zoo. Cheap entrance fee, lots of trees and bushes made it not feel so zoo-like and there were quite a few animals. That being said all the typical animals were there. It was a typical zoo fieldtrip. A few hours and we were done. :) Thats the kind of zoo visitors we are.


I am always amazed at the different animals that God has created and each zoo trip reminds me of this. The giraffe is extremely unique...I could have watched them a little longer.


Found these 2 animals in the gift shop


Brooke just read The Trumpet of the Swan and was excited to find a Trumpeter Swan here. It's horn-like call did sound like a trumpet. Imagine that.

Oven Roasted Chicken and Chicken Stock


pic from Tammy's Recipes


Last night we had Oven Roasted Chicken.
It was easy.
It was delicious.

I might never buy a Costco rotisserie chicken again...

Now my crockpot is simmering today making this.

Crockpot Chicken Stock
1. Place chicken carcass and any stray bones into crockpot. Larger chicken (6 lbs.) use 6 qt. crockpot.
2. Add any additional vegetables you like - onions, celery, carrots, garlic, herbs. Keep a bag in the freezer of scraps leftover from chopping vegetables. Then just dump this bag in with the bones.
3. Cover the bones and vegetables with cold water and add 1-2 T. apple cider vinegar. Cold water allows the flavor and nutrients to full extract from the bones.
4. Turn the slow cooker on low and simmer overnight for 18-24 hours.
5. Once it has cooled a bit, strain chicken stock using a colander, sieve or cheesecloth.
6. Store in quart canning jars ans use in soups, stews, sauces and cooking grains.

11.07.2009

Have you heard about this?

After reading this "balancing broom act" we decided to perform our own test. After trying out our broom at home we decided it was a joke.

But we tried again and we were able to do it here



and here (thanks for the great afternoon Waltons!)



So I googled this and didn't find much but in the town of Muscatine, Iowa, TintnCurl was working the broom too.

It made for some good "clean" fun alright.