Bone Broth and Catching Up!

Here we are in the second week of March! I can’t believe that it is Spring Forward weekend already! Seriously! Where is time going? My last post was before Christmas! Yikes!

Here is a little bit of what’s been happening in my life:

1. We spent Christmas with our girl, her man, and the little man. I loved my time there! Looking forward to getting to return next month (next month already???) for the birth of the newest little man!
2.  We said, “Welcome home!” to son #1 from his deployment!  Yay!!!! So happy that the family is together again! You can see Little Miss Mia welcoming her daddy home here.
3. We said, “See you later!” to son #2 whom we now won’t see again until after his return from deployment.
4. We experienced a very, very cold spell back in January which lasted longer than usual. Here’s to hoping it killed all the yucky bugs!
5. We experienced a very, very warm spell in February which brought out lots of blossoms on the trees and flowers and allowed the honey bees to begin their search for pollen.
6. Now March is here with its bi-polar weather…we actually had frost the other morning which may have killed some of those blossoms that opened up in February!
7. We are in mid-March and we have not gotten the flu that seems to be hitting about every household! Other than colds/coughs in late-November and into early December, none of us have been sick…no fevers, no chills, nothing! We are truly blessed!
8. I haven’t done a lot of experimenting in the kitchen recently…no excuse…just haven’t done it.
9. We have Borrowers in the kitchen again. This time I can’t find 2 of my half-tablespoon measuring spoons and one of the knives from my fairly new knife block. Seriously?? I am the only one who does any baking in my kitchen, and 3 of my most-used items are missing? It definitely must be the Borrowers. If you are unfamiliar with Borrowers, give the books a read! My kids loved them when they were young!

Most of you know that I have been following the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating for several years now. I just love this eating style! I can’t get over how much better I feel when I leave the sugars and starches out of my diet.

I have been reading a lot about the benefits of bone broth, but I had never made any until last night. You can read all about bone broth here.

I had purchased a whole chicken at the store the other day, and cooked it in the Instant Pot for dinner. Once supper was over, and I was cleaning up, I decided to take the remaining meat from the bones and begin a pot of bone broth. After reading up on several ways to make it, I experimented and came up with some pretty great tasting stuff! And I love my Instant Pot!!! I just put everything in it before going to bed last night. This morning, it was finished! Here is how I made mine.

• bones from one whole chicken
• broth from cooking that chicken (maybe 3 cups)
• 1 medium onion, cut into 4ths
• 2 carrots, cut in chunks
• several cloves of fresh garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• about 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• other veggies that you happen to have in the fridge: some celery, bell peppers, etc.
• herbs such as basil or oregano (I used about 1 tbsp basil)

Add everything to your Instant Pot and give it a few stirs. I added the ACV last, but I don’t think it would matter. Add just enough water to cover everything that is in your pot.

Set your Instant Pot on high pressure for 240 minutes. (Yes, you read that correctly!)Once the time is up, let the pressure release naturally. Since I did this before I went to bed last night, it was all done by the time I got up this morning!

Strain all the bones and veggies out of the broth. If there is a lot of fat with the broth, you can separate this. Pour it into jars or individual serving sizes. Drink a hot cupful every day! I got 3 quarts plus one cup once I had strained it and removed the fat. I drank the one cup before breakfast! It was very delicious!

Low-Carb Burger Buns and the Great American Eclipse

Good afternoon, all! I am actually making it back to the blog before too many weeks have passed since the last time I was here! I tell ya, life gets busier and busier!!

Since I posted last, my little man turned 1!

We have picked over 50 pounds of figs from one tree! Yes, that is correct! This particular tree is 19 years old and has always produced well. I think it has out-done itself this year though! I quit weighing them once we reached 50 lbs. Thankfully, we are about done with the picking. The honey bees are enjoying what is left.

Speaking of the honey bees, we have also gotten some honey from our first-year hives! We have hives in 5 different locations and have discovered that honey from those hives tastes different! The honey from one of the locations reminds us all of butter pecan ice cream!

 

We here in the south are anticipating the Great American Eclipse coming in less than 48 hours now. My hometown happens to be in the path of totality, so we are expecting kaboodles of extra people on Monday! Actually, they are already arriving. Traffic is heavier than normal for a Saturday; hotel rooms are booked over 70 miles out; and eclipse glasses are no where to be found! I read an article today about the 12 busiest cities along the line of totality for the eclipse…the 12 cities that will see the largest influx of people for the eclipse. Three of those 12 cites are in my state! I think I will just stay home on Monday!

Since last night, I received Face Time calls from 3 of my 4 kiddlets! I love this modern technology! It is just so amazing to be able to see them at the same time I am speaking to them, even though they are so very far away.

Surprise!  Last night I actually tried a new recipe! I know…it has been forever since I did that! But I’m really trying to get back on the THM wagon and stay there! This low-carb bread is amazing. I decided to divide the dough into 8 small pieces which were the perfect size for burger buns…sliders to be exact. I made my burger patties to match the size of the buns. By adding burger toppings, we had a great meal.

Yes, that is a jar of honey with some honeycomb in the back ground. This bread would be amazing  with some local honey drizzled over the top! You can find the recipe here.  Enjoy!

 

Vegetable Chicken Soup

I’m finally back writing an entry on the blog! I can’t believe that it has been about 3 weeks since I last posted. It is partly because we have been enjoying a wonderful spring this winter! Seriously! I know that the groundhog saw his shadow, and thus said that we would have 6 more weeks of winter, but he totally forgot to tell the birds, the bees, and the flowering trees! The song birds have been serenading us every morning for weeks now, and all our fruit trees are blooming! The last time we had such an early spring was in 2007. That ended disastrously when we had 3 nights of killer frost in mid-April. We lost all our fruits that year!

My sweet little grand girl has been practicing to be flower girl at her Opal Gen’s (Uncle Ben’s) wedding in July.

And sweet Little Man has learned to sit up all by himself!

Now about that recipe… Many people here in my area of the south have been sick lately. Thankfully, the sickness has not found my house! One of my friends was sick last week, so I decided to make her some chicken soup. Since I had some extra veggies in the fridge, I added them to the mix as well. A few spices added in made it a very tasty soup!

1 quart chicken broth

1-2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced

1 large carrot, peeled and diced

1/2 medium onion, diced

4-5 medium sized mushrooms, cut in fourths

1 c. or so of cut green beans (I used fresh ones, but canned would be fine)

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp. each  turmeric, chili powder, garlic powder (use whatever spices you desire!)

Combine everything except the chicken in a large pot and bring the broth to a boil. Simmer until the veggies are tender. Add the chicken and heat through. Check flavor for spices and adjust to your own desires.

A Little Bit of Random Thoughts

OK, so it’s been over 2 weeks since I’ve shared anything at all here on the blog. Sorry about that! But, life does get busy….

I recently returned from spending 10 days with my girl and her little man. I loved getting to hold, cuddle, and love up on this little guy!

You’d think that my girl and I would have cooked up some recipes while I was there, but no such thing happened…at all. Baby Sammy and painting took most of my time! I was able to help Barbi finish painting her dining room; the trim in her living room, and the downstairs half-bath!

Last week I discovered another blog here on WordPress. It caught my attention since it is not only for the military, but also for those of us who knit or crochet. Since I have 2 of my 4 Blue Stars deployed right now, this sort of thing is very close to my heart. Take a peek here, and then get out your yarn and hooks or needles, and make some scarves for our service men and women! I plan to start this project this weekend!

I actually do have a few blog post ideas floating around in my head. Once I get these thoughts organized, I will share them here.

Thanks for being patient with me!