Recipe: Chicken Soup for the Flu

All ingredients are organic and local!!
8 boneless skinless organic chicken thighs ( any part will work but thighs have a lot of flavor)
4 cloves garlic
1 large onion
4 carrots
1 small celeriac root ( or celery)
1 cup brown rice
olive oil
4 qts water
sea salt
cracked pepper
sage
rosemary
thyme
Dice garlic and onion, coat the bottom of a soup pot with olive oli and heat, and the dices garlic and onion cook until translucent.
Dice carrots and celery ad to pot and cook until 5 minutes
Add chicken and water
bring to a simmer, add 2 tsps salt , 1 tsp cracked pepper, one talk of sage chopped fine, one sprig of Rosemary and thyme tied together .
Simmer for about an hour, remove chicken thighs to cool and dice.
add rice and cook about 20 minutes, add chicken and taste to add more seasonings as needed.
This soup is great or colds, flu and pneumonia. All organic ingredients make this soup healthier for you than anything !
Add crumbled Kale Flakes at the very end

Dear Gramma I am fine how are you?

I grab the mail and notice the distinct penmanship of my 8 year old granddaughter, I smile and put it on the table to read later, not with the hurriedness of bills and junk mail but with pure joy.
It is hand written and sent via snail mail. I did not know handwritten was an amazing feat but I learned they do not teach cursive in grade school anymore. The girls are home schooled so they will learn what they are mandated too learn and also the things their mama finds important. Writing and pen pals are important.
I learn many things in these letters, this one was sent over the holiday season. What makes it so innocent is that this is not a wish list of gimme's. I like stringing popcorn, do you like stringing popcorn? What would you like for Christmas?
I also learn about my son as a child and my son as a father. He watches the Christmas specials with his girls , the same way we watched them when he was a boy- tradition continues.
In the Grinch Dad knows every song, in Rudolf Dad knows all the songs and all the words!
So 34 years of watching Rudolf and Dad knows all the words.... I bet Addie will as well

Recipe: Kale Chips

One really big bunch of Kale, washed and patted dry.
Sea Salt
Cracked Pepper
Olive Oil
Put washed and dried Kale in a plastic bag, ( I use the grocery store ones so they get a second use)
Sprinkle in about 1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Sea Salt
1/2 Tbsp Cracked Pepper
Shake Shake Shake
Put on baking sheets sprinkle a little more salt and cracked pepper on
Dry in a low slow oven 225 for about 30 minutes, check often, stir around

Seven

The Seventh grandchild, son of Amanda-Rose and Eric Williams to be born in January 2012~

Sonograms have come such a long way~
You can see what he looks like before he is born.
Jake and I have Big Adventures, I think Seven and I will do the same :)

Bumps

The other night I put my hand on Amanda's bump and felt my grandchild kick and turn! Very cool! Grandchildren are my new delight, I am finally in a place where I can enjoy having them, spoiling them and spending time with them. Seven as he is called, my seventh grandchild AND a favorite Seinfeld episode will be the first local grandchild I will be able to spend lots of time with!

I am done with school now and choose to help them out by taking the responsibilty of taking care of him four days a week for a few hours after work. I am so looking forward to it. I already knew how important family time is , that is not new, it is however now a priority and I will choose that first over work or other obligations. Seven will be a new adventure!

Recipes : Chicken Fingers and Noodles

Amanda wanted to learn how to make chicken fingers and buttered noodles so here goes!

Chicken tenders, or chicken breast sliced into strips

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

hot sauce

cooking oil

Whisk eggs , hot sauce ( to taste or omit) and about 2 tablespoons of water in a bowl

Put flour ( add seasonings if you like cracked pepper for me) in a bowl

Bread crumbs in a third bowl.

Put about 1/2 inch of cooking oil into large skillet and start to heat slowly

Take chicken strip dip it into the egg mixture, then into the flour mixture, then back into the egg mixture , then into the breadcrumbs. Only use one hand easier to use the faucet or phone that way. Place on a plate, whatever till you get enough to fill the skillet.

Put a drop of water into the oil if it spatters the oil is hot enough.

Drop chicken fingers into oil, cook on one side about 5 minutes, flip and cook on the other till done.

if you are making a big batch turn on the oven ( 350) and put them on a cookiue sheet til they are all done.

Serve with hot sauce, blue cheese, BBQ sauce whatever you prefer

Famous Buttered Noodles

Raemen are the best but whatever kind you have.

Cook Pasta and drain

Throw in a chunk of butter , once it's melted add about 1 tsp ( or more) of Lawry's Season Salt and 1/2 tsp of oregano or basil. Poppy seeds are good as well.

Sit Down Mom

So I could not write this blog in the beginning it was to raw , to real. Now retrospectively I will tell you what I have learned this past year and more importantly about the upcoming year which I am reclaiming.

My oldest daughter was deployed to Afghanistan in the spring, not just any Afghanistan though , the mother of all Afghanistans a FOB located in Chamkani on the Pakistan border. What's a FOB you ask ? Ahhh I will fill you in on all the acronyms I have learned over the year, peppered in with a few hidden codes like "throwing things over the wire".

My middle child my only son, works for the Grid, he is the guy at the top of the pole in the blizzards restoring your power.

My youngest is having her first baby and just moved into her own home.

And yes I do identify myself through my children, they are awesome people why wouldn't I ?

Me.... just finished my masters degree in library science, work in a library , love lots of things. My goal this year is to write a cook book for my family. I need to be busy not sure why but I am not good at sitting still.

So here we go......

Wishing Away

I have wished away this year, for oh so many reasons but the main was that my oldest daughter deployed to Afghanistan. Not just any Afghanistan either, the front lines, under the wire, the most dangerous FOB out there Chamkani.

What's a FOB , you don't know ? I did not either I have learned more acronyms this year as a mom of a deployed soldier than I did working in an academic library for 11 years!

So I will update with things I have learned this last year and the beginning of a new year putting my new discoveries about my life in some sort of order!