Tackle it tuesday #2 Reflective Film on the patio door, electric conservation

Wow it is finished.
I have wanted to do this for several years.

Outside it is totally private now in the day time.
I can even watch the kids when they don't know I am )

Total difference.
It is so much cooler and it is not even summer yet.
This wing of the house gets warm in the heat of summer.
We will be doing the windows near the bead table and the computer corner too.
We will just have to budget for it.

I would like to do the master bedroom windows as well
Although they do have the exterior screens on them, this would still improve the installation value.

We just filled this with a week soapy solution when we ran short.
The kit will be reusable .

Worth the investment if you can.

Tackle It Tuesday

Hello, this weeks tackle was food preparation on whole chickens.
Purchased on a lead in add for $ .57 per pound

Prepping the counter tops.
cut bags for absorbency and ease of clean up.
Chicken butchering must be done with great care of sanitation.
We use the little bag bottoms for small parts during auto/appliance repair or art projects.

It is imperative to have everything set up and ready.
soup pot 1/3 full of r.o. water and fine herbs.
Sheets covered in plastic
Toweling set under cutting boards to absorb all moisture.
Bowls at the ready.
knives sharp.
Chicken must be kept very cold.
These birds are semi frozen.
Buy the largest birds, more meat per bone.

This is the job.
Carving, Boning and par-freezing the parts.

knives at the ready must be sharp
This is very important for your own safety and ease of work.

This is the knife used so far.
I de-skin and de-fat my chicken.
It I were to set it on the grill it is marinaded with a sauce containing olive or canola oils.

switch knives

use butcher knife for the weight and heft to easily cut off the back.

All breast are still ice icy cold.

use gravity ...hold the breast up by the skin as you stroke the center and the skin will remove quickly.

The cookie sheets were readied with a layer of plastic wrap.
All of this to be set before a package is ever opened
After these are frozen they will then be put in larger freezer baggies or containers.

cover trays and freeze.

Boning the split breast.
stroke the knife blade down and then inward along bone and cartilage.

It will look like this

In the pot, all backs , ribs, wing tips and wish bones.

Switch knives
Now chicken tenders
The wish bone in the pot.

chicken tenders are in a double layer with wrap in between.
Gizzards and livers to boil.
stock pot to boil for 3-4 hours then cool.

Remove all knives set in sink with hot running water.
Set anything that is contaminated with the chicken juices to hot soapy bath.

Slide towels and bags together and roll up to toss out.

Bleach all surfaces even it the look perfectly dry.
NO CHANCES!!!!!!!!

knives cleaned under VERY hot water, making sure to do the joints and handles.

2 pounds of skin and fat.

liver and gizzards
Ya I know gross
not so fast.
This is your flavor for gravey!

smash and chop
Then add two or three ladles of stock and mash against side of pan to make a patae'

This is so strong a flavor.
This is the gold for some dishes will shine with this added.
just don't tell them until after they rave about it.
A little goes a long way.
So freeze in ice cube size tray if you will use it slowly.

Add to stock pot
(strained later)
Butts of a celery stock or cabbage heal
garlic bulb a whole one just cut the end off and too it in after you break it up a bit.
onions skinned and cut in half.
These things are just for flavor.

Later when we separate the solids,
bone the meat and clarify the broth the garlic and onion skin will not matter.
Boil for 4 hours or so.
Let cool overnight.
next day is broth making time.
The perfect day to make a chicken noodle soup

This broth will be concentrated.
use for rice
boil pasta in water with some added.

freeze or can for future use.

A DAY!

apx 23 pounds

scrap....
2 pounds skin/fat
1 pound bone

20 pounds eating meat.
1-2 gallons broth.

all at 57 cents a pound.
2-3 hours labor

All I have need of....for the garden.

Now ya know...
I have a budget...
I had a desire....I asked Him.
I just did not like that feeling ya get when you see something at a store and just can not get it out of your mind.
Well when your on a budget that feeling gets annoying fast.
So Ya know...
I asked and told Him all about it.
My back is needing and He thought so too.
Came back from the store and there across the street at a friend/neighbors house.
Both! not only the wheeled can to use for the planting soil, even a little wheel barrow small enough for my little garden.

Ya know He even cares for my back.

It is said that of late much to do has been made about gardening and living simply.
Living green.
Well I have not really made a big change in who I am or in how I have always lived.
This last year I have worked hard at increasing my skill.
A change is good.
Yet even in change if it is just about showing off it is nothing.
If it is just about gaining resources or saving them It is a little more a value.
Ye t I too think as others do...

If it is about the humility of knowing that even with all the best efforts offered it is "little" more,
if it is not about Lovin'
Loving the God who created the beauty around us enough to offer it respect just because He created it.
Without Him nothing would live, or thrive.
There would be no prosperity.

So ya know...
If, I have ever left anyone with the impression that it is the "I" who is at the root of all I am,
or do... well then I speak up to correct any misconceptions.

Knowledge is a wonderful tool.
Many perish because of a lack of it.
My blog is (in part) about sharing what I have and who I am.
What I have being in part the knowledge from a life time experience.

I love to gain from all of your knowledge likewise.
I do not often think I need to explain who I am.
I know from "Whom" I come.
Without that I am nothing.

My Great Nephew has arrived!

Born 3-30-09

At 8:06 am

7lbs 12 oz

21 inches long

Everyone happy and healthy

Thank you all who have been praying for the safe arrival of this little one.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today...

Outside my window... perfect weather 70* high today, and it is clear and calm. The morning loads of laundry hang on the line. The cluck of the chickens add to the songs of the birds so longing for me to fill the feeders. The dogs lay in the cool shade and chew the new nylabones I got them with a coupon over the weekend. The occasional wine of the Lab for they have once again been banished to the terrible out doors:) One of them peed on the wood floor thus ruining several documents that were in a cloth bag near the "pool". I need a break from sweeping up fur. The patio door is opened and they enjoy my voice as I calm them.

I am thinking... Wow this lunch is spicy! I pan fried a Yukon gold potato diced with green onion from the garden, an egg from the hen steamed on top of it. To that I added a medicinal blend of turmeric and Cayenne peeper for inflammation. It is good for this hard working woman. I think it is so loving that today I stopped to see the need of my body, and tended to it naturally.

From the learning rooms... Well...several studies of late. A book on "getting stronger" I desire to regain some flexibility. The book "Passages" to reflect on my adult development as this passage of 50 is coming upon me. It is a great reference to gain understanding in relation to others as well as the self. The book of John in the Bible. There are google searches on going about trellis building and plant requirements. Having an emerging pre teen daughter there is also a need and desire to study the developmental passages that she is going through.

I am thankful for...Hanging laundry on the line this morning. My Dear FILove is in the passage of his body saying to slow himself. The humility and dignity he examples is humbling. It has left me reflective of the grateful privilege of physical labor and the joy found therein.


From the kitchen... A trip to market within the hour to gain scrap for the hens from the green grocer. At that store I will purchase 4 more whole chickens to cut up and freeze BBQ and boil down for stock. The coffee (whole bean) is needing to be ground (bi-monthly) . Dishes are almost caught up. Dishwasher has run and is air drying.

I am wearing... denim skirt, blue 3/4 sleeved top and white terry cloth slippers with rubber soles to protect and take better care of my beautiful feet. This an issue of loving myself.
Oh yes! also a swede light brown beret hat.
The buss stop this morning called for a fast disguise :)
A hair under the hat kind of day.

I am reading... above books, and recipe cards in file and the booklet to finish up the last of the state taxes. I know it has been a very very busy season. I am all but done.

I am hoping... Mercy on my new "Black Russian" Tomato plant it is struggling after transplant. Hoping for my Dove to balance well her integrety while sticking up for the underdog not to make enemies. I love that she "don't care...what they think Mom"...!!

I am creating... some pay it forward and gifts of thanksgiving. Fun fun :)
It got me to clean up the beading desk! Great motivation.


I am hearing... Birds wild and chicken. silence as the hum of the computer is the loudest sound at the moment.
A call to attend to the market and the goals therein.

Around the house...Washer stopped time to hang out that load, and to begin another before I leave.

One of my favorite things... To hold a cool cotton garment to my face as I hang the item on the line, it smells and feels to wonderful.

A few plans for the rest of the week... My desire is to stay home as much as I am able to. Tomorrow Bible study and a make up "Art Maser" presentation. On Wednesday to serve in Doves class for two hours then to go to "Moms in Touch" at 1:30.Tending to home and garden, food preparations and laundry. Making my home more pleasing. Tending to the sewing studio and doing crafts. Slowing down to care for my body and spirit. Releasing lady bugs this evening at dusk and tying out some Praying Mantis cocoons. I also have red wiggler worms to make a compost or add to the compost or soil...yet to be determined.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Oh LIFE!!!!!!!!!

Meal Plan Menu

This week I hit the recipe file.
Life can get a little mundane if the variety is lost.
At least for me.
My family could live with glee on my stand by dishes.
I however get board real easily and just have to spice it up now and again.

This file has recently been dug out of the storage boxes.
It has returned into service.
These are family recipes decades and centuries old.
Before my mother passed a way she pens some for me.
They are to old school of a palm of this or a pinch of that.
My MILove also has shared her sons old favorites and a few new ones along the road.
I have kept and treasured these.
Perhaps I will begin to pass them on.

I love to be surrounded by life!
So this week I started some Mung Bean Sprouts.
Sprouts are a very healthy part of life.
Purchased however they have lost the nutrients that fresh hold for us.

Sprouts are a living food.
So to begin...you must first sanitize them from e-coli.
1 teaspoon bleach in a half quart of water let the beans soak for 15 minutes.
Now the life in them will not harm you :)

Rinse very well.
With cheese cloth or lids made for the purpose.
Allow the sprouts to soak overnight in water 2/3 more than the height of the beans. (that's 1/4 cup bean to 1 quart water).

Now next day rinse well and keep in the dark.

I had these angel dish clothes I stitched together.

I have saved these because of the beauty of the hand work.
Now finally the perfect purpose!

It is just too cute on the counter.
They are pushed back into a dark corner.

second day rinse well two or three times a day.
In a few days you will have a nutritious addition to your menu.
Other beans and seeds can be sprouted.
Breads are created as well from them, they are great on sandwiches too.

But for this batch the plan is
EGG FOO YUNG

I have a full week
Later today I will head up to get chicken scrap that my green grocer is setting aside.
I am also going to get 4 more of the chickens that FRY" Grocery store has on special.
They are .59 cents a pound whole.
Today I will be cutting down the chickens, baking, BBQ on the grilling' and also cooking down the carcasses to put up chicken stock.

"Of that stock" I will be preparing the rice for the week
and the broth to be frozen for future uses.

A few root veggies in the pot will add color and deep flavors.

Bonn' appetite This was over the weekend
French Toast

Egg
cardamon
orange juiced
soy milk

Home made bread soaked for 30 minutes and then pan fried in olive oil.
I served it with orange juice and sage sausage patties.
Yum!!

Getting to know each other a bit more...

1. What are you hobbies?
Gardening (growing food and flowers) , beading, sewing, anything art and writing.

2. What would you say are your strengths?
Tenacity, being vivacious and my character.

3. What are you passionate about?
having compassion for one another.

4. Water...Earth...Fire...Sky????
Earth.

5. What do you treasure most in a friendship?
Character that desires loving integrity as a goal to be attained and adhered to. In this honesty is safety and trust. All things fall under the umbrella. Even when errors or offenses might occur, amends are made.

All right now how about you?
Tell me more about you and then post some questions yourself that you would like to know about your readers?
I only asked five , come on you can do it...tell me about you. I really desire to know all of you a more. I care about you. When I read your blogs and share in your lives it matters how your doing. Just opening up a bit of dialog I think this could really be fun.
Balls in your court take aim and give it a go.
:)

He has known me by name...

Your Name's Power is Perception

Your name's power is that it helps you be perceptive. Your name conveys both wholeness and wisdom. People who meet you can't help but think you are enlightened. You try to live your life with flexibility and insight.

What's Your Name's Power?

You Are The Liver

You are a very versatile, adept person. You are able to do many jobs. You seek balance at all times. You are good at adjusting yourself to keep things level. You are able to counteract bad influences. You can neutralize anything toxic. You are resilient like no one else. You can rebuild yourself completely if you need to.

What Internal Organ Are You?

What Part of Spring Are You?

You Are Blooming Flowers

You are an optimistic person by nature. In even the darkest times, you are hopeful about the future. You feel truly blessed in life and can sometimes be overwhelmed with emotions. You have an artist's eye. You are always looking for beauty in the mundane. You have a good sense of aesthetics, especially when it comes to shapes and color.

What Part of Spring Are You?

Annette is playing this little game and asked us to join in

Most used words this week

click to enlarge and make your own