I'm too sick to cook chicken noodle soup recipe

Wow.  This cold has smacked me down hard.  Picture a cartoon character after being hit by a hammer, or anvil... That's how I've been feeling.  It came fast too.  Usually, I can keep these colds off a little, but not this one.  Saturday, I had just enough energy to throw the remains of a rotisserie chicken and some veggies into the crockpot for some chicken soup.  My first time actually making home made chicken noodle soup.  For some reason, I had it in my head that you had to actually make the noodles from scratch in order to make chicken noodle, or I probably would have done it a long time ago.    It tasted really good.  We ate it again Sunday and probably will again today.

Just in case anyone else suffers from a misunderstanding of how easy home made chicken noodle soup is, here's my "I'm too sick to cook Chicken Noodle Soup recipe"
  

1 leftover rotisserie chicken, or some chicken stock, I suppose would work
2 chunks of frozen chicken because there really wasn't that much on the leftovers
Carrots.  I didn't even chop them
Celery -I had some frozen
Onion - chopped
Salt and Pepper
Parsley
Basil
Put all ingredients in the slow cooker.  Cover the chicken bones with water and cook on low all day.  About an hour before dinner time, during a burst of energy, I sorted out all those little bones, chopped up the chicken and carrots, added a bunch of dry noodles and turned the crockpot to high.  This was really brothy.  Add more chicken and veggies and less water if you want a chunkier soup. 

Other than the soup, I have my morning and nightly ritual of some tea and the netti pot.  Have you ever used one?  It took me a long time to actually try it.  I didn't think I would actually be able to because I have a little fear of water and a fear of things touching my nose, so pouring water up my nose seemed quite impossible.  It took a really bad head cold about a year ago to make me try it.  When I got to the point that cutting the top of my head off seemed like a nice thought, I figured the water in the nose thing couldn't be any worse.  It's really gross, and not all that pleasant, but it does give some relief.  My husband still is afraid to try it.  Chicken.

I woke up from a long Sunday nap to find dinner almost ready.  At least I'm sick on the weekend when my husband can help out so much.  The house is amazingly clean.  What a guy... a nap, dinner and a clean house?  Too bad I'm not feeling better to enjoy it.

I also woke up to some strange project in the works.  He has filled a few old 2 liter pop bottles with water.  They are sitting on the counter.   I asked why, but he was too embarrassed to tell me.  That's okay.  Usually it's him trying to figure out what on earth I'm up to with all my shenanigans and half finished projects.  I'm dying of curiosity though...

Hope you have a lovely, healthy day.

Random thoughts: Movies, Bathrooms and Scrabble

I don't feel great today.  I stupidly stayed up late watching a lame movie, but I kept waiting for some action to start.  Nope, waste of two hours.  It's one thing when you know that it'll be a slow moving movie, but when the description makes it sound like a James Bond/Jason Bourne mix, you expect a little more.  Then of course, the baby decided to wake up a little early this morning.  Little stinker.


I'm also trying to figure out why my little man cannot 1) flush the toilet and 2) close the bathroom door, especially when the toilet is not flushed!  The baby monster can somehow tell when that door is open.  She will come from the far corner of the house to gleefully splash in the toilet.  shudder...  I guess I should be happy that we can get into the bathroom at all.  I like to think I can take care of myself, but my husband had to rescue me yesterday.  He knew the secret location of the tiny screwdriver.  I have my own toolbox here in the house that I am used to using for household things.  I should have looked in his tool box I suppose, but I forgot about it.  However it was done, we are again able to go into our bathroom, for which I am thankful.

We have lately enjoyed the "re-birth" of another time wasting activity.  Just over seven years ago, my husband and I opened a wedding gift to find a board game, Scrabble to be exact.  We were not overly thrilled, and it has stayed in it's plastic in a forgotten drawer under the birthday wrapping paper ever since.  I have only played the game once before in my life when I was not quite a teenager.  It was against my wordy uncle, my English major sister, and her friend.  I won.  And I love to remind them of that fact.

I had not considered playing the game again until we were visiting family for Christmas.  While there, we were introduced to the touch phone application, Words with friends.  It's just scrabble on the phone and you can challenge others to play.  It's actually a lot of fun, especially when you win, and our evenings have become games between my husband and myself. He beats me almost every time.

Our iphone is actually an old one that was given to us.  We don't use it as a phone at all, it's mostly for games to keep the kids occupied during long trips and boring waits.

This new game, however, has cut into their game time, and they have noticed.  They want to get in on the word fun as well.  So, this morning, after several requests to play the word game, I dug the old scrabble game out, set it up and the kids and I made some words.  It was a little tough considering the four year old is still just mastering what letter is what, but with my help, we had a nice little game going.  Of course, we didn't pay much attention to points, or the double word spots.  And I let them stretch the rules a little.  Seeing how words go together is the important thing.  Adding up the points will come later.  All in all, we had us a good time.

Baking day Tuesday...on Thursday

I realize I'm late this week.  It's been that sort of week.  I did not win the sweater I wanted, which didn't really surprise me, but sometimes I fool myself into thinking I'll become one of those lucky people that win things.  But then I did win something!  I entered a giveaway over at boboloo and I won some cute little crayon rolls, which I always have thought I would make, but I never do.

Today,  someone managed to lock us out of the bathroom.  Nobody is fessing up, but I can't pick that dang lock.  Bobby pin is too short, paper clip is to flimsy and nothing else will fit in that dang little hole!  There is no key to it here and from the looks of the door knob, this has happened before to previous tenants.  There's lots of little scratches, and the hole is a bit stretched from something being forced in there.  If I don't get this figured out soon, I may be taking the entire knob off.  That, or busting through with my body.  Fine day to actually drink as much water as I'm supposed to.  So here I am, trying to take my mind off of this situation for a bit.

It was a big baking day today, not entirely on purpose either, but first, a story:

About a decade ago,  I was a college student.  Every once in a while some friends and I would go to an little cafe/ice cream shop for a change from all the fast food that college students seem to live on.  It was attached to a gas station and decked out with coca-cola paraphernalia from top to bottom.  At first, it was just an ice cream run, but then we noticed the other menu items.  It was run by a little old lady, in fact I think the name of the place was Gramma's Ice Cream, or something similar to that.  She appeared to be a sweet little grandmotherly lady, but she had quite the sharp tongue -never approving of my friend's hairstyle- and such a funny sarcastic sense of humor.  I think that's why I liked her so much.  She would make any variety of baked potato you could think of, polish dogs, with all sorts of toppings and she introduced me to something called a bier-rock.

I had never heard of it before.  Cabbage and burger, wrapped in bread dough and baked.  It's like a self contained sandwich.  I guess snowmobilers would stop to get them, wrap them in foil and put them in the engine area while riding their machines.  Then when they were hungry, their lunch would be all nice and warm for them.

When I  left school I basically forgot about them.  That is until I was perusing through a cookbook that I have, and I came across a recipe for runzas, which are the same thing as far as I can tell.  I guess it's been about a year now that I have been making them.  They are quite labor intensive, especially with small hands helping, but judging by how quickly they disappear, they are quite a hit.  I really like to make them for those long work days on the ranch because they are so contained.  We don't have to have a cooler to hold all our sandwich making supplies, which is always a mess.  And I can easily hand one to my dad when he is needing to refuel, but not yet ready to quit and get off his horse.  He can eat while he rides.

It occurred to me this past week, as I kept forgetting to find things for my husband to take to school with him to eat, that these little runzas are the perfect answer.  I can make a bunch, freeze them and then send one or two with him in the morning.  They will be defrosted by the time lunch comes around, and there is no shortage of microwaves on campus for him to warm them up with.  So, I made some.  A bunch.

I figured that two loaves worth of dough would get me through the two pounds of meat I had browned, but I was wrong.  Maybe if I had stuffed them a little more.  We have also, in a pinch, used frozen roll dough, as well as biscuits in the can for the bread part of the recipe.  All have worked, but I prefer to make my own dough.

I had not planned to get so crazy in the kitchen today, but I ran out of dough.  Originally, I planned on two loaves of bread, the runzas, and maybe some buns if I had left over dough, and some cookies.  I ran out of dough with just a bit of meat left, so I decided to whip up some more dough.  Only I forgot to half the recipe and ended up with tons more dough, hence the many buns.

The cookie recipe, I got here.  They are mostly peanut butter, and not getting my fill of my last batch of peanut butter cookies, I decided to try these.  Wow.  Even my husband admits that they are rich, and he never admits something like that.  I do like them, but I think I'll stick to the spoon method when I want that much peanut butter again.  I used to scoop out some PB and then dip it into some chocolate milk mix when I was a kid.  These reminded me of that, just a bit more sophisticated, I suppose.

Here's the runza recipe:
adapted from the centsible nutrition cookbook

1 lb sausage
1 lb hamburger
1 onion chopped
8 cups chopped cabbage
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
cheese -I used mozarella
approx. two loaves worth of dough.  I used my favorite bread recipe.
Brown meat  with chopped onion.  Add cabbage and cover for 5 minutes.  Drain liquid and add salt and pepper.
Pull off a piece of dough- egg sized is what I did- and roll it out in a sort of rectangle.  Put a bit of cheese down on one side and top with a good pile of meat mixture.  Fold the uncovered side of the dough over and seal the edges together.  The recipe I got this from suggests dabbing water on the edges before folding it over, but I found it stuck better without.  Let rise on a pan for as long as it takes you to finish making them all, or 20 minutes or so.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

I have never frozen these before,  but I'm going to give it a try today.

A sliver and putting things away

I have an onion sliver.  I had no idea it was possible to get an onion sliver, but as I was peeling the outer layers off the onion, I brushed across the root end, and came up with a painful something stuck in my finger.  I can't seem to get it out and it's hard to see.  It really hurts, so watch out.  You never know what your onion has in store for you.  All this time I thought they were after my eyes...
Anyway, on to the point of this here post...

As part of my goal this year, to have a place for everything, I have a smaller goal to help me get there.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could just spend a few days (or weeks) getting everything in order and nice and clean and be done for good?  Well, we can't.  :)  At least, I can't.

It would be a lot more fun to clean if I felt like things would actually stay that way.  Unfortunately, I live here, so things will just get messy due to that little fact.  Add on to that, I have kids, and the baby has suddenly decided that nothing can stay on any shelf anywhere.  She dutifully makes the rounds in the house, removing anything that we dare to put away.  How I wish it somehow went the other way.  It would be so lovely to have a child that finds joy in putting thing back on the shelf.  I guess I can give her a year or two to develop that attribute.

I have noticed through the past weeks, that I have a funny habit of not completely putting things away.  While cleaning my desk, for example, I will find something that belongs in the kitchen, so I walk in there and set the item on the counter and then return to the desk.  Why don't I just walk the extra three steps and open a drawer to put it completely away?  I don't know why, but it came to my attention when I noticed that my kids' idea of "away" was stacking things on top of my counters, or desk, or table, or whatever.

Putting things all the way away could make a huge difference in the feel of my home.  This is something that I can change, but it seriously takes a conscious effort.  Hopefully, as I work at this little goal, it will become natural and a habit.  We'll see.

Tonight is the perfect time to practice.  As I write, the table is still covered with the remains of our dinner, the floor is covered with toys and books.   The kitchen is a disaster with groceries needing to be put away and dinner dishes waiting to be washed.

More giveaways!

Lately, I've been on a sweater kick.  I made these slippers for the baby from a sweater.  My sister made me some cool mittens.  I'm still working on that dang hat, but I really want to make a cute little sweater dress for my girls.  I see them around and I had a silly thought about knitting one when I remembered that there are always cool sweaters sitting on the rack at the second hand store.  So, I took myself to the shop and commenced flipping through sweater after sweater.  I didn't find any that I liked.  Nothing I would dress a little girl in anyway.  I did come home with two sweaters.  But today, I found the sweater that I want.


Can't you see a cute little girl just learning to walk, stumbling around in a little dress that looks kind of like this?  And it just so happens that the person selling it is having a give away.  Resweater has tons of sweaters to choose from.   I just love the idea of reusing old wool sweaters.  She blogs about all her wool resweater projects in case anyone is interested in trying something out, but not sure what to make.

Also, Amy, over at Homestead Revival is hosting a soap giveaway.  Personally, I would pick the honey oatmeal variety if I win.

And finally, Frugal Granola is hosting a giveaway at a bed and breakfast in Washington, so if that sounds like your cup of tea, head on over there.

Lemon Dijon dressing

 Our family seems to go in salad spurts.  One week, we just can't get enough of it, so I buy a bunch of lettuce, and then, the desire goes away.  We've not had a salad for a few days, and I hate cleaning out yucky lettuce, so I decided I would do my part to use up some salad makings.  There was also a bit of avocado and some jack cheese.  I've been planning to make a dinner chicken salad out of some left over rotisserie chicken for a few days now, but my husband seems a little scared of the idea, so I made it for lunch the other day, and I ate it.  All by my self.  It's a salad, so I don't feel guilty.

The dressing is very simple.
3 Tbs lemon juice (or the juice of one lemon)
1 Tbs Dijon mustard
salt
pepper
3 Tbs olive oil

Mix it all up and throw it on whatever salad you put together.  I like this dressing because it's light and yummy and so different from everything that I have in my fridge.  I put my chicken right into the dressing to soak up the flavor, because I hate when the dressing just runs down to the bottom.  Blue cheese sprinkled on top would probably taste good if you like that sort of thing.  I never have it in the house, so I use whatever I've got.

Of course with so simple of a recipe, I had to try to ruin it.  As I tried to sprinkle in a bit of salt, I noticed that all the holes except one were clogged.  I turned it right side up and started banging on it, when suddenly, the stopper in the bottom fell out and about 1/3 cup of salt landed right in my dressing.  I thought I got it all out, but my salad was still a bit salty.  Still good enough to eat though.

I'm linking up with Homestead Revival for a recipe exchange.

Right about the time I made this, Amy over at Homestead Revival mentioned having a dressing recipe exchange, so I saved this one until that was going.  I'm so excited to see the different recipes because I'm getting a bit tired of the same old stuff around here.   Check it out and share your salad dressing recipes!

An award!

Somebody gave me an award!  I thought that was nice.  You know those people that can pick up a piece of string, a broken window, some unwanted clothing and a glue gun and make something totally beautiful and useful and amazing?  I'm not one of them.

But this lady is.  Recently, I stumbled across Roundabout.  I can't even remember how I got there.  I get clicking away and suddenly I find myself in a fun place, so I hit follow, and here we are.  Anyway, she is creative and seems to be able to make what she pictures in her head work out in real life, which is where I struggle.  (I am making myself try to fix this little wool hat that I was making for my baby.  It looks really bad, but that's why I made it for her.  She's not big enough to complain yet.)  Anyway, she passed this award to me.

The rules are:
Share 7 things about yourself
Award 15 new blogs that I'm following

Okay, so seven things about me...

1-I have a bad habit of starting projects and never finishing them.
2-I am the youngest of six kids.
3-I hate, hate, hate making phone calls, especially when you have to call to straighten something out, like insurance.
4-I really want a truck.   The minivan just doesn't light me up inside.
5-I really really like Dr. Pepper.  When we go out for ice cream, I just get a Pepper.
6-I have quit putting the books back on the shelf for my baby to pull off again.  Maybe she will decide she doesn't want them on the floor and start putting them back on the shelf.
7-I'm out of Dr. Pepper.

I find this one kind of funny because you would think that the "stylish" award would be for stylish blogs, but no, just for new blogs.  :)  I feel silly giving awards to people.  I'm just little me, you know?  Who cares what I have to say?  So, I decided to break the rules a little.  Not only am I not going to do all 15, I'm going to award them to whoever and for whatever I want.  If the blog police take me away, you will know why.

I nominate...
Mamas Minutia because she has a way of writing that makes everyday things so stinkin' entertaining.

Life on the (funny) farm  Okay, this one is new, so I guess I'm not that much of a rebel.  She's fun to read.

Life with Jack and Jill  -not a new blog, but I still like her style.

Bloom  because she has a picture of sheep on her banner.  That and I like her style of writing.

Thrillingly Thrifty  Also new to me.  I like the make something new from something old ideas.



My taco salad is gone and I need to move on in my day, so I'll leave it at that.

Have a fabulously stylish day!