Homemade noodles

Well, here it goes! Onto making the world's greatest meal for the best holiday ever..... THANKSGIVING!!!!

I acquired a recipe for homemade noodles from a FANTASTIC friend of mine in Alaska. Rachel Kahler has me addicted to these noodles! (shame on you girl lol). Here is the recipe: (hope you don't mind as there really is only one person on my blog)

1 egg

Some milk (about a cup or so)

A pinch of salt

enough flour to stiffen the dough

Lol that's the way she taught me. Add it all in one bowl, mix her up, and than flatten it out with a rolling pin and cut your noodles until you're content!! Yields about 2 cups of noodles, enough for 4-6 people.... Than just put them in some chicken stock or broth and voila!! you have your own gravy with noodles!!!!

Chicken Stock Recipe

Homemade chicken stock!!! Yummy!! Well, the time came today that I actually HAD time to make my chicken stock. Want the recipe???

1 large chicken (or 4 wings, 4 legs, 4 breasts, 4

thighs, bone in, skin on)

2 large carrots, cut into chunks

2 large stalks of celery, cut into chunks

1 medium onion, cut into chunks

10 cups of water (you're going to need a very large dutch oven pot or a stock pot)

1/4 cup of salt (yeah, I know it sounds like a lot, but this helps draw out the flavor in the bones)

1/2 tsp of black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

1 tsp basil (or 2 sprigs of fresh)

1 tsp parsley (or 2 sprigs of fresh)

Combine all ingredients in a large cooking pot. Allow to boil on medium for 2 1/2 to 3 hours (yes, I know, this sounds like a long while, but I took a nap while the baby was napping!)

After the meat is very tender on the bone, debone the chicken (aka take the meat off the bone). Place the bones and the skin of the chicken to the side on a plate or in a bowl. Don't throw this away, you're going to need it for the next hour!! The bone doesn't have to be completely cleaned off. If there is a little meat on it still, that's fine!!! Don't worry!!

After deboning the chicken, pour all the broth into a colander into a separate bowl. The vegetables and herbs should stay in the colander. After pouring the broth out, transfe

r it back into the pan, along with another 3-4 cups (or how ever much broth you may need) of water. Toss out the veggies or make some soup out of it!!

Toss the bones that you just tore all the meat off of and the skin back into the pot and let this boil for about another hour, hour and a half. If need be, you can add a little more salt if it tastes bland.

After that next hour or so, dump all ingredients back into the colander, and toss out the bones and skin. Now you should have some scrumptious chicken stock!!!!! YUMMY! I threw in a couple of bouillon cubes too, our little chicken wasn't very big (4 lbs maybe), so we needed an extra "chicken flavor" boost. Now, you can freeze this in freezer bags, or you can CAN it. Lol can can it... ugh! That's a mouthful! Enjoy and look for my recipe that a friend gave me for homemade noodles on Sunday!!!

TnChickHen

That Darn Dog!!

Well, yesterday was a frenzy!!! We lost our very first chicken, Henny, to Jack attacking her. Jack, our little beagle pain in the butt, got out of the kennel and ripped half of her feathers out. Well, as first aid was being taken care of, Sammuel, our 2 year old, decided to pull her off the table and squeeze her (more of less try to make her feel better and give her hugs) and accidentally did the job in. That's all right. We needed some chicken stock. So we are (ok, more or less myself because Josh doesn't want to butcher the chicken) are going to defeather her and make up some stock for Thanksgiving.

This year's Thanksgiving is going to be fantastic as we are going to have Josh's mom, dad, sister, and nephew down here to visit for 5 days!! We are so excited! We haven't seen them in a while, and it will be nice to have them visit us! Especially now that we are closer than we ever were! Alright, off to defeather the chicken.... Adios!

TnChickHen

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken

Well, it's chicken night, again!!!! Tonight since I don't work until 10 pm, I'm preparing a delicious recipe (something new of course) for the family. It is going to be a bacon wrapped stuffed (with cream cheese, onions, chives) chicken. Also I made a chocolate cake from scratch and I'm going to drizzle caramel over it and inside of it!!! It might be covered with the rest of the cream cheese frosting I have left. YUMMY!! Any who, here is the recipe for the 1 person that's following!

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

4 Boneless Skinless chicken breast halves

4 oz of cream cheese with rehydrated minced onions and chives (I put the onions and chives in a tea steeper and rehydrated with boiling water for about a minute. I also substituted Kraft® mexican cheese for Josh and the boys)

4-8 slices of bacon (depending on how much you really LOVE bacon)

Salt (to taste)

1 tablespoon butter or margarine.

Preheat the oven to 400•. Between 2 sheets of wax paper with a mallet (or in my case the rolling pin) flatten the chicken breasts to 1/2" thickness.

Spread the cream cheese (or mexican cheese) on each chicken breast. Place a small amount, 1/4 of the butter on each piece of chicken on top of the cheese. Season with salt. Roll the chicken up and wrap the bacon around the chicken, secure with a toothpick to hold it together.

Bake uncovered in a baking pan for 35-40 minutes. • Or until the juices run clear.

Turn on the broiler and broil chicken about 6" from the heat for about 5 minutes or until bacon is crispy.

Now, for my chocolate cake, I just used Hersey's ® Cocoa powder and followed the directions on the back of the container for the cake. My frosting I've been keeping a secret for quite some time, but I'll share the carrot cake recipe the next time I make a cake..... Be on the look out!! YUMMY!!!!

A duck! A duck!!

We have a baby duckling hatching today! Very excited about this hatch! This is our first duck to hatch. I have someone interested in getting the duck for her granddaughter which is very exciting for me. As I've found a home for the one right now. He/She will live here for a couple weeks, and than go on to it's palace. Lol. Apparently her "daddy to be" is building a palace for the duckling. At least I know it will be well taken care of. I also got a cochin egg this morning. It's about time Henny! Sheesh! We are going to incubate this one and a rhode island red egg, we want to find out what the "mutt" chicken will look like. All in all I'm very excited about all this hatching. We are also getting a Jersey giant rooster this weekend. So that little miss Cheese will have someone to rendezvous with in the future. And have huge chickens!!!! On to other things today...

TnChickHen

Little Turkey

Well, a little turkey hatched the other night! Adorable as all get out (ok, it's pretty ugly). We are hoping to raise it for meat, but the way that it goes, I'm sure it won't end up that way. He/she is pretty big compared to our one little easter egger that hatched this week as well. I'm waiting on 2 muscovy ducklings to hatch as well!! It sure is an adventure to hatch these guys. This next week, I'm going to put a rhode island red/dorking cross egg in the incubator. I just want to see how it comes out! It'll be really interesting! I'm hoping to pick up a Black Jersey Giant Rooster this weekend for my hubby. Our little Cheese is turning out to be a.... female. On to the life of a farmer....

TnChickHen

French Cooked Chicken

Here is a recipe I'm going to try tonight with a whole chicken. Don't worry, it's not one of our girls!! Or boys for that matter... but if that barred rock rooster out there continues to pick on the others, HE might make it to the dutch oven pot........ Bon Appetit!

The cooking times are for a 41/2- to 5-pound bird. A 31/2- to 41/2-pound chicken will take about an hour to cook, and a 5- to 6-pound bird will take close to 2 hours.

Use a 5- to 8-quart Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid.

French Chicken in a Pot

Start to finish: 2 hours (20 minutes active)

Servings: 4

1 whole roasting chicken (41/2 to 5 pounds), giblets removed and discarded, wings tucked under back

2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1 small celery stalk, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and trimmed

1 bay leaf

1 medium sprig fresh rosemary (optional)

1/2 to 1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Adjust an oven rack to lowest position. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

2. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.

3. In a large Dutch oven over medium, heat the oil until just smoking. Add the chicken, breast-side down. Scatter the onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf, and rosemary around chicken.

4. Cook until the breast is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Using a wooden spoon inserted into cavity of bird, flip chicken breast-side up and cook until chicken and vegetables are well browned, 6 to 8 minutes.

5. Remove the Dutch oven from the heat. Place a large sheet of foil over the pot, then cover tightly with the lid.

6. Transfer the pot to the oven and cook until an instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees when inserted in thickest part of breast and 175 degrees in thickest part of thigh, about 80 to 110 minutes.

7. Transfer the chicken to carving board, tent with foil and let rest for 20 minutes.

8. Meanwhile, strain chicken juices from the pot through fine-mesh strainer into a fat separator, pressing on solids to extract liquid. Discard the solids. You should have about 3/4 cup of juices).

9. Allow the liquid to settle 5 minutes, then pour into a saucepan and set over low heat.

10. Carve the chicken, adding any accumulated juices to the saucepan. Stir lemon juice into the saucepan to create the jus, or sauce. Serve the chicken, passing jus at table.