birthday hats for the snow





Since I have tried to write this blog three time already and haven't got past a few words I will make this short and sweet. My brothers birthday was last week and a I knit him the best men's hat ever. I have knit almost every man in the family one. They're warm, easy and fit everyone I'll add the pattern another time. Well, Happy Birthday D! What better time to take a winter hat's picture then in the snow, which doesn't happen here too often. And yes we have been having our fare share of fun in the snow!



Who needs a sled.



Ready to hit the slopes!



Our palm tree in the back yard looks even more strange with snow on it.

Chicken pot pie

Comfort food here I come. I am into comfort food this fall, more then usual. It just make you feel warm and cozy, you can't help but cook more! I have been trying to cook at least one meal a week where I make two or three extra, entree sized, portions to freeze. It has been working out really well, except for our limited freezer space. With so little space it means we have to go through the frozen dinners pretty quick, which is not a problem when there is a delicious chicken pot pie in there. I made a whole chicken, chicken pot pie that was part experiment and part recipe with help from alrecipces.com, it was their highly rated Chicken Pot Pie IX recipe. I had a whole organic chicken and I guessed that would be enough for three pies, my family doesn't eat lot of meat and when you add a bunch of veggies you never notice it might be light on the chicken. The recipe called for chicken stock, actually it tells you to boil chicken and veggies and then toss out the water and add chicken stock, this didn't make any sense to me, so I boiled a whole chicken and the veggies and herbs in  a large pot and in the end had made the chicken stock while cooking the other stuff. I also added potatoes (I just couldn't see a good pot pie with out them), green beans, collards and kale. I think corn would be excellent in this too, any veggies you have handy could be thrown in and it makes it that much more filling. Next time I would add more collards and kale, they were great and added some different texture. I made the crust with whole wheat pastry flour and butter for the flavor, I didn't really care that it wouldn't be flaky (it was great!). "T" ate at least half the pie for dinner. I didn't get around to making the other two pies until the next day and you know that made it really easy to have the different parts (filling and gravy) already made and then make the crust when I was ready to put it all together. It is a bit labor intensive, but so worth it and it freezes great!

Halloween Eve

It's been a slow and puttzy (word?) kind of day today. T is out till morning and the boys and I have been enjoying a cozy afternoon inside. The rain has been coming down and the fire place has been keeping us toasty. I love fall days! I had plenty to do, but I was a slow mover today. I had a bunch of recipes to make and freeze, but needed one or two ingredients from the store and was just too lazy to get the boys in the car and head down the road a mile. Instead I made chicken stock. It really drives me crazy when I have to pay $10 for 2 32oz. containers of organic chicken stock (and that's on sale). Especially when I use it in recipes I often use two or three, that's 10 bucks I just added to the cost of that meal. It's sad really because it's stupidly easy to make stock. On days I know I'm home I throw the chicken carcass from the night before or when I buy whole organic chicken (which is the only way I buy chicken now) I cut up the chicken and freeze the pieces. I put the wings in a bag and after two or three chickens I have enough to make stock. I throw in s&p, carrots and celery (maybe those slightly sad ones is the fridge), parsley if I have it, thyme and rosemary. I let it go in a big pot all day, it goes between boiling and simmering (keep a lid on it or it will disappear). Then I strain it into freezer containers (Ziplock makes BPA free containers!). I love it because you use the pieces of chicken you would normally just throw away. All day the house smells like the most delicious soup (it reminds me of  Thanksgiving). I tried to satisfy my hunger all day but never could get it right because there was never anything to actually eat. So I snacked on yummy roasted pumpkin seeds from our jack-o-lanterns (they are full of zinc, great for a cold!). Now lets hope I can get the finishing touches on the boys Halloween costumes. Show you next time, Happy Halloween!