Soups, soups and more soups.

Similar to the rotisserie chicken soup rant of last month it's time for the latest installment. Ham! In our family The New Year means a yummy ham. I am not the world's biggest fan of ham but I do so love the soups that it brings!

This year it was:

1. Ham and bean soup
2. Ham and corn chowder and 
3. Cheesy Potato Soup *with ham

Ham and Bean Soup

• Ham bone with some meat attached
• 4 cans of whatever beans you like (I used 2 cans of Navy, 1 cannelini and 1 Kidney)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can of petite diced tomato (with juice)
• 1 (12 ounce) can vegetable juice
• 3 cups Veggie Broth
• 2 TB Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 TB Dijon Mustard
• 3 Bay leaves
• 1 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 TB parsley
• 3 TB lemon juice
• 7 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp sea salt

1. Place all ingredients in your crock pot. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours. 
2. Remove ham bone and bay leaves. 
3. Skim your soup to pull out any pieces of fat or bone. 

*If you are canning you can at 10 psi, 80 minutes for pints and 90 min for quarts

Rotisserie chicken saves the day

In order to save time I like to take advantage of ways in which I can save steps. Things like washing and cutting veggies the day I buy them or cooking three pounds of ground turkey and freezing two are good time savers in a pinch. One of my favorite time savers is grocery store cooked rotisserie chicken. I am a member of BJ's and each time I go I buy two chickens (they have either organic chicken or purdue) for $5 a piece. I have discovered that two chickens at $10 can provide us with several meals.

When I get home from the store I immediately carve the chicken. The drumsticks go in a lunch container for Brian (he gets two lunches out of it). The breast meat gets set aside for a recipe later in the day. Then the carcass gets turned into a simple broth.

Each chicken purchase lends itself to homemade broth. Just place the chicken carcass, a stalk of celery, and onion skinned and cut in half, two long carrots and about 10 cups of water in a crock pot. Set to low and cook overnight. In the am you sift out all of the solids, strain the broth and viola... homemade stock. I usually then make chicken rice soup (in the crock pot... I will be sure to post this recipe soon). Sometimes I either freeze or can the broth to use later.

Some of the ways we use the breast meat (and an other meat we set aside) is to make one of these dishes:

• Chicken pot pie (refrigerated pic crust, a bag of microwaved mixed veggies, cut chicken, jar of gravy, salt, pepper and sliced potatoes)
• Chicken Quesadillas 
• Southwestern Soup
• Chicken Salad
• Quick chicken stir fry
• Shredded BBQ chicken

Just to name a few. So next time you are in the grocery and you see the warmer full of rotisserie chickens don't forget to grab one!

Just FYI, the nutrition info on the purdue rotisserie chicken, plain:

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size  3 oz (84.0 g)

Amount Per Serving

Calories  140 Calories from Fat  72

% Daily Value*

Total Fat  8.0g 12%

Saturated Fat  2.5g 13%

Cholesterol  70mg 23%

Sodium  330mg 14%

Protein  17.0g

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0% Calcium 0% • Iron 4%

Apples, apples and you've got it... more apples

While we were in Lancaster a couple weeks ago I picked up a half bushel of apples. This equated to a brown grocery bag full of beautiful, local apples (about 24 pounds in our case... I believe that a bushel is typically around 43 pounds). I had intentions of making applesauce and some baby food for Jack but wasn't sure how much this would yield.

First came applesauce.

There are several methods for making applesauce. This is the method that I find works for our family.

My supply list includes:

Masher, crank peeler, large knife, vegetable peeler, apples, lemon juice, water, brown sugar and vanilla.

I start by crank peeling all of the apples. This is a good place to find a helper. I find that a trusty five year old comes in quite handy. 

The next job is to core the apples. You can use a corer like the one below but I don't love this method. I find a large, sharp knife does the trick.

I cut around the core in quarters. Then I quarter each piece.

I then place the apples in the crock pot. I found that I could fit about 12 medium apples in my large crock pot. I had to do my applesauce in batches.

To the apples I added the water, brown sugar, lemon and vanilla (I will put the specifics at the bottom). I cooked the apples on low for four hours. At the end of the four hours the apples will be easy to moosh with a fork. 

The next step is to get the applesauce to your desired consistency. For Brian's liking I mash with the potato masher and stop there. For the girls and I we get out the blender and give our sauce a whirl. This is really a taste preference. 

And voila... you have applesauce. You can choose to refrigerate and eat within a few days, freeze or can. Since apples only require a hot water bath canner this is the easiest method for us. (My canning instructions will be posted soon!) 

Applesauce

• 12 medium or large apples
• Juice from 2 lemons or 4 tablespoons refrigerated lemon juice 
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 4TB Brown Sugar
• 1 cup water

**Details on how I can the applesauce to come

Well I have the domestic part down...

Just waiting on my inner diva to kick in....

I have heard about this idea of the domestic goddess or domestic diva. She cooks, she cleans, she mends clothes and all the while she looks fabulous. I just still don't see how those two things can co-exist!

I spent the better part of the day cooking and canning. I bought a half bushel of apples while in Lancaster and by God I was gonna use all 20 something pounds of them. So over the past two days I have cooked and baked and sauteed and crock potted. Then I blended and mashed and smooshed and thickened. To top it off I then canned and canned and canned. While this was going on I managed to fit in four loads of previously ignored laundry, baked a homemade chicken pot pie, ran to Walmart and the grocery store and did a little cleaning.

The problem is that I look like a hot mess. Hair is wild. Clothes are applesauce covered. Not a stitch of makeup. Bra strap all hanging out like I don't own a mirror. So now that I have fully tapped into my inner domestic self will someone tell me when the goddess will show up?

A new endeavor

Over a year ago I started thinking about maybe writing yet another blog. Blogging is something I greatly enjoy and marrying my love of writing and my love of gardening and cooking seemed like a perfect fit. I fully intended on creating an entirely new blog for this "endeavor" but thought it might be wise to just use this space that already works for me. So instead of tackling a whole new blog I am going to add a new element here!

For a while now I have been working on some recipes I have created that fit my family, myself and my lifestyle. I am cooking for a family that varies in size (depending on who is here) from 4 to 7. I have twins with pickiness about certain tastes and textures. I have one child with severe (anaphylactic) tree nut, blueberry, milk and egg allergies (plus a suspected agave allergy). I also have VERY LIMITED TIME!

In the little time we do find we manage to grow a backyard garden, can and preserve what we grow and cook delicious and healthy recipes together. In an ideal world we would love to live off of our land (including animals) but in our suburban neighborhood we make due with the little plot of land we have.

Each day we do our very best to make something out of nothing.