A Video to Prevent Chicken Back-Up

We signed up for a CSA last year through which we could get pastured, whole chickens. My mom went a little overboard and ordered us eight chickens a month. Eight chickens a month. Now, this isn't unreasonable to meet all the monthly chicken needs of six omnivores. The problem is that I was used to just going to the grocery store and buying six individual chicken breasts for dinner. Now if I wanted six breasts, I had to defrost and cut up three whole chickens. And then I had to use six legs, six thighs, six wings and not let the rest of the carcass go to waste. That bird, after all, was a happy free-range bird. She had a job eating bugs and scratching through manure, helping to both prevent parasites and fertilize the soil. She was a successful career chicken, an important member of the farm community. A chicken with a dream. I can't let a chicken with a dream die in vain!

But habits are hard to break, and needless to say, I still went to the grocery store and bought chicken breasts. This led to some serious pastured chicken back-up in my freezer.

I'm a little wiser now, having learned how to plan a little better. One way that I'm making things a bit easier is by picking up batches of whole chickens fresh on the farm the day of processing. I can then cut them up and freeze individual pieces, so it's more like going to the grocery store. I think there will be less waste this way, of both chickens and money. Here's hoping!

Even if you just go to the grocery store, you can save a lot of money by buying a whole bird and butchering it yourself. Here's the video that I watched countless times, my laptop on the counter as I stood next to my cooler full of chickens on ice, pushing the spacebar with my elbow to pause every now and then as I followed along. It's by far the best one I've found at explaining where to put the knife and it's pretty clear to see how she does everything in the video. And I think that it's awesome how she gives you homework at the end. I feel like writing and telling her that we cut up ten chickens, so could I have some extra credit? I know, I'm a total over-achiever. ;)

I hope you're having a great week!

How I Make Home-Made Stock

Have you ever made home-made stock, either beef, chicken, or vegetable? It's so much more flavorful than the store-bought kind, but to be honest, I used to think it would be too much trouble to make. Every celebrity chef has their own recipe for chicken stock, but I always find it so wasteful. They often want you to use the whole chicken (or two, or three!)  and then just throw it away once you have strained the liquid. This offends my sensibilities. Waste a whole chicken???? What are they thinking? Likewise with the vegetables. Veggies are relatively inexpensive (only compared to meat and dairy, though), but I still find it bothersome to have to buy vegetables just to make stock.

At last I found a kindred in The Unplugged Kitchen, by Viana La Place. She suggests saving all your kitchen scraps: onion and garlic peels, vegetable peelings, tops, and stems, cheese rinds, and even bread crusts and making soup every week. Then, one of my friends wrote on her blog about saving vegetables scraps in the freezer and making vegetable stock with them. So I decided to try it. Voila! Luscious, dark, flavorful broth, made for free, out of the stuff you usually throw away. And it's super easy to do.

All week long, I save my vegetable scraps, and I mean, everything. Tops, peelings, and root ends of carrots, turnips, eggplants, sweet peppers (though not the seeds or core), celery, okra, potatoes, sweet potatoes, stems of herbs, the tiny little garlic cloves that are too small to use, you name it, I save it. Because I'm using the scraps instead of throwing them out, I make sure to do an extra-thorough wash and rinse of everything before I use it. I put trimmings in baggies and store them in the freezer. We eat a lot of veggies in this house, so I end up with a lot of scraps. One day a week, I roast a chicken. Whatever day that falls on is the night I make stock. Before I go to bed, I ceremoniously dump the carcass and all the pan juices into my large crockpot (not sure of the actual capacity, but it's at least 6 quarts), then I dump all the frozen veggie trimmings on top, and cover everything with pure, filtered water. The only thing close to measuring I do is to make sure I don't over-fill the pot. I add the tiniest pinch of salt and two or three black peppercorns, put the lid on, turn the crockpot on low, and forget about it until the next day. Whenever I get around to it the following morning, I pour the liquid through a fine colander and into 3-cup-capacity Tupperware containers. I use a ladle to press and squeeze every last drop of goodness out of the scraps, then throw the scraps away. Then I label each container and put it in the freezer.

If you are only making vegetable stock, you could make your scraps do double duty by then throwing everything in the compost pile once you've strained your broth. If you are making a stock with meat in it, then throw the scraps away, as animal products are not supposed to go into a compost pile.

The flavor of the stock will not be consistent when made this way, as it would if you followed a recipe, but I have yet to make a batch that didn't taste good. And, I make mine almost for free with hardly any trouble, which is more than I can say for the Barefoot Contessa recipe (although I'm sure hers tastes fantastic). Oh, I do have to confess that I do not include beet scraps. The thought of red or pink stock is just not appealing to me.

And finally, I'll leave you with a link so you can read up on why broth and stock are so very good for for the body. Everyone's grandmother says that if you are sick, you need home-made chicken soup. Well, it turns out there is some actual science behind that old wive's tale. You can read about how good broth is for you here.

Stitch School Blog

I have been playing around with making play food out of felt. So far, I have made a loaf of French bread and an eggplant with moderate success. However, I had no pattern, no poly-fill, and no idea what I was doing, so I think I did pretty well for the first time. Plus, I made them for about 60 cents instead of $5-$8. Hurray for being mildly crafty!

But, I came across this fabulous blog and I had to share: The Stitch School. I looked up how to do a Blanket Stitch for my next play food project. I have a feeling I'll be visiting often!

Here's What's Cookin': March 21st-28th

I'm trying to get back into the habit of a weekly menu. I'd forgotten how much work it is! I think the key to being frugal with food is simply to eat your leftovers and not be wasteful. If you plan out what you are going to cook and then stick to it, you will probably end up saving money, even if you spend more on the ingredients, because you won't throw out wasted food. I used a menu last week and it worked out pretty well. Here is the menu for this week:

Monday
Breakfast: 
banana pancakes, stewed plum with walnuts, grapefruit
Lunch:
Out to eat (will be out for haircut)
Snack:
hummus with carrots, olives
Dinner:
Pita pockets with roasted red peppers and avocado, salad

Tuesday
Breakfast:
yogurt, clementines, blueberries, and almonds
Lunch:
 Out to eat (more appointments!)
Snack:
avocado salad with feta, olives, and lemon
Dinner:
chicken salad over greens

Wednesday 
Breakfast:
steel-cut oatmeal with raisins, grapefruit, grapes
Lunch:
Chinese rice with peas, eggplant, and mushrooms; roasted carrots
Snack:
roasted eggplant and red pepper spread; pita crisps
Dinner:
Homemade pizza, salad

Thursday
Breakfast:
scrambled eggs, English muffin, grits, strawberries
Lunch:
Bell peppers stuffed with Chinese rice, salad
Snack:
hummus and pita crisps
Dinner:
leftovers

Friday
Breakfast:
yogurt with granola, frozen berries, grapefruit
Lunch:
veggie fajitas of zucchini, squash, mushrooms, and onions; guacamole
Snack:
cottage cheese and grapes
Dinner:
black beans, veggies, seasoned rice

Saturday
Breakfast
oatmeal with walnuts and dates   
bacon
banana
Lunch
creamy chicken and vegetable soup, salad, French Bread
Snack:
yogurt
apples
Dinner:
leftovers

Sunday
Breakfast:
fried eggs, biscuits and jelly, grapefruit
Lunch:
If you can find it, you can eat it!
Snack:
olives and cheese
Dinner:
cottage cheese and fruit 

As you can see, I try to do the largest meal at lunchtime. It is healthier to eat a large lunch and light supper: you burn more calories that way! It is much better to not consume your largest meal before you go to sleep!

Things I Love This Week

ScharffenBerger 70% Dark Chocolate Bar
I've been indulging in this artisan chocolate recently, which I can only find at my local Whole Foods. I LOVE the texture. It has that real hard texture when you first bite into it, which I love, but immediately melts smooth and creamy in your mouth. Plus, there's no bitter aftertaste, even though it's not sweet.

The Republic of Tea: Pomegranate and Vanilla Red Tea
I'm loving the soothing flavors of this red tea. Even though it's caffeine-free, I've found it's just the thing for a break on a hectic afternoon. And sip easy, because $1 from the sale of this tea will support the Susan G Koman for the Cure.

Innobaby Packin' Smart
I love these little stackable containers. I pack the girls' snacks for our trips out and about. They are perfect for raisins, cheerios, etc, but would be great for vitamins, paperclips, whatever. However, if you are using them for little ones, you can rest assured that they are BPA-free.

Homemade Vanilla Yogurt Pops
 I filled out basic popsicle molds with regular, Brown Cow Vanilla Yogurt and put them in the freezer. Then I told the girls it was ice cream. They never knew the difference!

Farm Fresh Eggs
I found egg from pastured chickens at my local farmer's market for about half the cost of the grocery store. The flavor is far superior to store-bought eggs. Plus, I love supporting the farmer's directly! Here's a tip: egg yolks are bright orange when they are fresh. Those yellow yolks from the grocery store mean they're poor quality eggs that have already had a long shelf-life.

Late-Summer Garden

I am STILL getting okra from my 8 okra seedlings. And some of it is growing so fast that I can't keep up. I never dreamed it would do so well (note to self: do not plant okra in a 4-foot raised bed next year, as it grows to be 7-feet tall. The resulting 11-foot branches were hard to reach). Also, all my eggplants are coming ripe at once, and we are finally getting substantial peppers! I found the problem to my witherings squash: little white, flat-bodied bugs crawling all over it! They seem to be (thankfully) ignoring everything else, but they were totally immune to my insecticidal soap. Here's what I picked yesterday:

 

It is by no means a huge haul, but I am incredibly proud of it. This is the first year I've actually grown enough to eat all summer. Usually I just have one tomato plant in a pot.

Cloth Diaper 101: Do Your Research!

I am trying to get back into cloth diapering again. Since potty training is in reach with both my girls, I might be tempted to just ride out baby #3 in disposables, except that baby #3 is a boy, and I feel even more passionate about cloth diapering boys than I do girls, as disposable diapers have been linked to lower fertility and infertility in men, due to overheating of the scrotum. Cloth diapers allow more air circulation, which allows the body to keep the testicles at the right temperature--several degrees cooler than the body--for proper development. Of course, certain chemicals in disposable diapers cause female problems in the workers who manufacture disposable diapers, so maybe it is not more important for one sex over the other. But there are other reasons I chose to use cloth diapers, too.

-They promote more frequent changing. Since they are not as absorbent as disposable diapers, cloth diapers guarantee frequent changing, which means that all that waste isn't held up next to your babies skin for hours.
-They are easier on baby's skin. Disposable diapers are laden with chemicals that your baby could be allergic to. Cloth diapers, especially organic ones, are free from such agitators. (for an article outlining some of the health risks of disposables, click here.)
-They are better on the environment. Our landfills are literally full of disposable diapers, which are not biodegradable. Also, read the package instructions on those disposables: you're supposed to put the poop in the toilet anyway (although nobody does), because the poop in the landfill doesn't get treated at the sewage plant. Instead, it seeps into the ground and contaminates our ground water.

and the number one reason that I love cloth diapers and chose to use them:
-they are so much cheaper, it is unbelievable.

I got sidetracked back into disposables during our move from CA to AR, when things were so crazy I wasn't able to wash diapers. Don't get me wrong: I LOVE cloth diapering! It is my diapering method of choice, but it does come with some drawbacks: it is more time consuming and takes more planning, as anything worthwhile does. However, the enormous financial benefit, as well as the health benefits that I believe to be true of cloth diapers, far outweigh any inconveniences in my mind. For my first two girls, I was a novice. I know I made a lot of cloth diaper mistakes, but as it happened, no mistake was crucial. However, the upfront cost of cloth diapering is significant. And while your savings over time (think of shelling out an extra $150-$200 per child in diapers per month for two years for disposables*) far outweighs this initial investment, it is great enough that you really need to do your homework before making a purchase. I wish, wish, wish that I had found The Diaper Pin my first time around. Although my cloth diapering experience turned out okay (I used BumGenius! bamboo diapers with a Dappi nylon cover), I wish I'd had The Diaper Pin's product reviews when making my initial selections.

Before, I purchased diapers from Cotton Babies, an online store that also has a retail location in St. Louis, MO. the customer service was excellent, the prices reasonable, the website helpful. I have nothing but good things to say about them.

This time, I ordered diapers from Green Mountain Diapers, because they carried a brand of Indian cotton pre-folds that were more highly reviewed on The Diaper Pin than the Indian cotton pre-folds sold at Cotton Babies. I placed my order at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, and it was shipped that afternoon. This website was also incredibly helpful, with lots of pictures of babies wearing the diapers so you could get a better idea of how they fit. My order was sent UPS, and should arrive next week. I also found this store to carry only what is necessary. For example, they don't sell diaper pails, because they said that you can use any container with a lid. That's the kind of "cut to the point" sales that I appreciate.

*NOTE: I recently saw an ad by a diaper company that estimated the cost of disposable diapers as much lower, about $75-$100. per month I totaled up in my head, and this estimates the cost for diapers only, and does not include the significant cost of disposable baby wipes, which are nearly as expensive as the diapers themselves, but you go through much faster. My experience the last few months in disposables has been about $300-$350 per month for two toddlers.)