Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Don't Call Me Martha, I Like Paula Better!

Kjersten went back up to the farm in Idaho and brought me back a few cuts of meat, a big bag of apples and another bag of potatoes. For FREE!!!
I love free!
So we had to do something with the apples and soon!
Aren't they pretty?
Thankfully my neighbor Kiley was kind enough to lend me her apple coring machine thing. I invited Greg to help me and suddenly we were having a grand ole time in the kitchen.
Seriously, we had SO much fun! Greg would do the turning and I dipped them in pineapple juice so they wouldn't turn brown. We set some aside and made some yummy apple dessert in the crock pot for that night.
I was winning the Mother of the Year Award on this so I thought I would push the envelope and saved some apples for when Graham got home from school. He was delighted to help!
The peel was taller than he was on one!
We were able to make about 6 bags of apples for the freezer to add in muffins, etc. this winter.
(If you are wondering where Kristen went and if you are reading the wrong blog, just keep reading...it gets better. )Lauren just had fun running around eating apples. This is her modeling her garage sale outfit - $1.oo for TCP pants, $1.00 for Gymbo shirt. Which offsets the $45 for the Nordstrom shoes because she has wide feet that don't like cheap shoes. Sigh.

Continuing my domesticity that is making you question whose blog you are reading, I had recently purchased 40 POUNDS of chicken at a sale of the century. If you haven't seen that much chicken, let me tell you, it's a LOT. I borrowed my moms crock pot and had TWO going all night, all day, all night and then all day AGAIN to cook and freeze the chicken. That is not even HALF of what I froze.
I made one batch of my neighbor Natalie's Spicy Salad Chicken and it is yummmmm. The rest is only flavored with a tad bit of salt for adding to recipes.
I saved the broth, drained the fat and then froze that into ice cube trays.
Voila! Chicken broth also ready to go!
SO EASY!
Do any of you do this sort of thing? I am just getting into it - but I really had fun doing it and I love that it's an inexpensive way to prep/make food for my family. I'd love to hear of what you freeze and can!

PS. Don't forget about my pillowcase dress giveaway - that's FREE too! (Yippeeee!) Just leave a comment in yesterdays post, so simple!

12 comments:

Kitty said...

Oh, my goodness. Look at you go. I'm super impressed. I'm going to have to come visit someday and learn how to be domestic like you. Though, if I came to visit, we'd probably end up doing a whole lot of other things instead.

love love,

Kat

Kristen said...

I wish we could have a visit! Should I come visit you after Christmas? That would be so much fun!

Chris said...

Really? A "grand ole time"? That seems like a bit of an exaggeration, don't ya think? It looks like a lot of work to me! :)

Kristen said...

Not when the child is doing most of the labor! I just supervised...um, hello, haven't you taught your kids that work is fun yet? ;)

My Attempt at Cooking said...

I wish you would have called me, I love to do this kind of thing. I spent most of one of my days cutting, chopping and freezer bagging my 40 pounds of chicken. And I make apple sauce and apple pie filling every fall. Love the homemade, I never buy the store kind. Good job Kristen!

Heidi Totten said...

My cousin and I are going to attempt to bottle chicken in January after the Holidays. We saw a method of doing it online and it also creates broth and chicken in quart jars that apparently has a shelf life of up to five years! You cube the chicken so it is perfect for a variety of things. You definitely made good use of all of this! Bravo!

Anonymous said...

Geese Wonder woman!! That's a lot of work. I would have made an apple dessert, saved the potatoes in the garage and frozen the chicken and called it good. But you went all out AND you let your kids help! My kids are not allowed within a five foot radius of the kitchen when I have "projects".

Heidi said...

That's awesome - where did you get such a good deal on chicken?

Emily said...

Dang girl look at you go. I have always had good intentions about cooking and freezing things but let's be honest. It just hasn't happened. I did buy 40Ibs of chicken but I was to lazy to cook it. I just divided it up and used my nifty food saver and stuck them in the freezer. Maybe I should hire you to cook all my chicken. I love the idea of having it already cooked and ready.

Nae said...

You go girl, that is awesome!!! Yeah where did you get the chicken at that price? Whenever I make lasagna, homeade tortillas, or bread, I always double it and freeze. It is fab to be able to put it in the fridge to thaw, and voila! I also just took a class about beans and rice, she said you can cook beans, (homeade refried, or beans for soups) and freeze them. She would then pull them out and make chili etc. Whew, I think I've had a long enough post. Please post other things you do like this, I need some ideas too! :-)

kjtroxel said...

hello you domestic diva!!!
I really loved the spicy chicken on the salad...thanks for sharing!
maybe post the recipe? I am sure we all want it ;)

NatRat said...

Check you out! You are one domestic girl! My kids love those apple core things, I borrowed my moms to dry some apples and they loved to help me out...