Chickens!

I ordered our first batch of little chicks today.  Golden Comets.  Cant wait to see their little fuzzy butts.

Potato Leek Soup Recipe

1 stick butter or margerine
1 lg onion, chopped
1 pkg. leeks, chopped (white part only)
4 sticks celery, chopped
2 tsp. fresh or dried parsley
8 potatoes, chopped into cubes
3 cups water or broth
1 quart milk, heated
salt and pepper to taste
1 green onion, chopped
Cheddar cheese, grated (optional)

Melt butter in dutch oven or large saucepan. Add onion, leeks, celery and parsley; cook til onions are transparent.  Add potatoes and water and cook until potatoes are done, about 15 minutes. Mash potatoes with potato masher and add milk, seasonings and thinly cut green onion top. Check for seasoning and add more salt if desired.  If too thick, add more milk.  Garnish with Cheddar cheese, if desired. 

I got this recipe out of Locust Grove Baptist Church Our Daily Bread Heritage Recipe Collection.  They are still selling this cookbook at Two Friends Gift Shop and Ole Hickory BBQ in New Market, AL for $20. 

I usually just make 1/2 a recipe.  It makes enough for hubby and I to have leftovers the next day.  I made the following changes to the recipe, I use whole milk, butter and dont use the cheese or green onion.  I also start using the potato masher before the potatoes are actually completely done cooking as there is not a lot of water in the pot.  I did measure the potatoes I used for half a recipe and it was approximately 3 cups of potatoes.  I usually buy the leeks ahead of time and chop them up with an onion and freeze them in a bag.  Then all I have to do is just chop the celery and potatoes.  Remember the finer the chopped veggies the less cooking time!  You also want to stir this as it will burn and there is nothing like brown potato soup yuk!

Let me know if you like this recipe!

Talk to ya later!

Denise

My cat is driving me crazy...

She keeps on looking up at me and crying and then she'll jump up on my lap to get petted and then a few moments later will get down again.  Then she starts the process all over again...grrrr.  I cant type with a cat on my lap although I am trying to show her the love really.  I think she might have spring fever.  I told her to join the club.  Didnt faze her any.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Chicken and biscuits the easy way

I made us some chicken and biscuits the other night and thought I would share my recipe for them.  I used part of a rotisserie chicken, just took the meat off and put it aside.  Then I heated up some mixed frozen veggies in the microwave (following the directions on the package) I used Green Giant steamed veggies, combined them with the chicken meat and added some chopped up red peppers and onions in a baking dish.  I then made up two batches of dried mushroom soup that I get from Watkins, cooked that for a while until it started getting thick and poured it over the veggie/chicken bits.  Then I put some frozen biscuits on top and popped it in the oven 350 degrees for 55 minutes.  

It really tasted good.  You can always substitute any cream soup for the Watkins soup.  I just dont seem to tolerate MSG and most of the canned soup is loaded with it.  I havent had a problem with the dried soup. 

This was a very easy casserole to do.  Give it a try and let me know how you liked it.

I'll be making chicken soup with the carcass this weekend as I froze it.  Dont you love the convenience of rotisserie chickens?

I'll be posting a recipe for leek potato soup next so stay tuned!

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Check this out!  So funny!

Alabama and snow

Something's just not right...woke up to snow on the ground this morning and we might get some this evening too.  Although it has melted by now.  Going out this evening with Hubby for supper.  We are going to the Indian restaurant, I cant wait!

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Not much new happening here

Different day same stuff.  I did order a new dresser for myself from West Elm.  It is out of their closet collection.  Why are dressers so expensive?  I bought two three drawer units and then attached them together.  Hubby and I now have matching dressers cause I bought him one last year and really liked it.  It of course was a kit and I really like to put things like that together.  I didnt have any trouble putting either of them together and hubby helped with his and helped me lift the one unit on top of the other for mine.  They were made in Denmark and very heavy duty and well made.  If you havent checked out their website, please do so.  They have sales and sometimes free shipping.  I signed up for their emails and got free shipping on the units.  Next...we need that matching headboard.  Already got the matching bed frame.   I am repurposing my old dresser for storing linens and little kitchen appliances out in the dining room.  Last night I moved the dining table around so I could put the dresser in the corner.  I come from a long line of women who move their own furniture, paint walls, do plumbing, etc, etc, etc.  Like Gramma would say, I's a little tussy! 

Hubby is making his waffles as we speak.  First two did all right but he just came in and told me that they really stick if they burn...burn?!  I now have olive oil all over my stove along with burned waffle mix.  Gotta love him though :)

Last week I made chicken noodle soup.  We had gotten a chicken from the deli.  We eat it while it's hot and then it gets stripped of all the meat which I put in the freezer for casseroles, etc.  I used to throw out the carcasse but thought why not make chicken soup out of it.  So I boiled the carcasse after removing the meat in some water with some cut up carrots, onion and celery.  Boiled it for an hour or two and then removed some of the broth and froze that and then added more water and boiled it for another couple of hours.  When I went to remove the carcasse it was just falling apart and all that yummy goodness was in the broth.  You would be amazed at the meat that is still on the bones that you didnt get off the first time.  I didnt have to add any meat to the soup and it was kind of like a free meal.  I just added some parsley, salt and pepper and some noodles and we had it for supper.  So I figure I got at least 3-4 meals out of that one deli chicken.  Not bad not bad at all. 

Yesterday I received my new office chair and put it together.  Can you tell I love to put things together?  I'm going to keep my old chair for my sewing chair.  I made a hat for myself.  Thought I would need one for the rest of this winter and next winter when we have our chickens.  I also made myself a cowl which I wore last Saturday when I went with my friend Jennifer down to Cullman.  She needed company while she delivered one of her puppies to her new family.  They not only took the little female but took one of her brothers as well.  We actually had 5 dogs in the car going down and three coming back.  They are sooo cute when they are small. 

Well will close for now.  Hope everyone has a very Happy Valentine's Day.  And if you have off on Monday, be safe.  Remember to lift with your legs not your back ;)

Talk to ya later,

Denise

DH got his waffle iron

The one I got him was made in China not USA and wasnt preseasoned.  It was covered in a thin layer of paraffin wax.  So....DH decided after reading the directions (which said that you could either scrub this layer off OR heat it up in the oven and melt it off) to melt it off...Our smoke detector is really loud, you know what I mean, and the stench of melting (actually cooking) paraffin and the smoke coming from our oven was not the best thing in the world to smell before going to bed.  Who could sleep after all that excitment anyway? lol.

The next morning DH got up and decided to make waffles.  Of course he waited until lunch time.  It takes a while to think about these things you know.  So he went out and I was working not paying much attention (kind of hard with earphones on) but it started getting smoky in the room where the computer is and then I heard him kind of well let's face it swearing up a blue streak.  Seems the first waffle kind of stuck and he had to dig out the parts that didnt come out of the iron.  I ignored his swearing and kept on typing cause that's just the kind of wife I am and someone has to pay for the batteries for the smoke detector...

I gave him a good amount of time to get finished I'd say about an hour and then decided to go out into the kitchen to see what kind of waffles he actually had made.  He had cleaned up everything (his mom taught him well) and so I looked in the fridge and saw a small plate covered...hmmm.  I went to ask him how it went and he said that the first one had stuck (I figured this one out ;) and the other two came out OK but it was going to take him a while to get used to it.  TWO?!!? Yes that's right all that swearing and making the batter and he only made a total of two waffles (the first one was in pieces)  Seems he didnt make enough batter...

Oh life just keep getting better doesnt it lol.

Talk to ya later!

Mention of my blog!

I was mentioned on Darling Petunia's blog yesterday!  Check it out!  It kinda dates me dont it? :)