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Today was a sick day. I was running a fever last night and woke up with a sore throat. Birdie is a little hoarse, and Bunny is sneezing. We’re all washing our hands A LOT.
The first thing I always do on a sick day is make a roast chicken. Really. First thing in the morning. I nearly always have the ingredients in the refrigerator, and it’s an important part of chicken stock, which also has to be made on a sick day. I feel like I’ve probably posted my recipes for both of those things here before, but I’m too tired to go looking for them, so I’ll approximate some recipes here. They’re both variable, and I have them both memorized.
The girls know that roasting a chicken means going out to pick thyme (that’s what’s in that little basket, there). It’s sweet to see them, barefoot and in their pajamas, running out to the garden first thing in the morning.
Does everyone have a favorite roast chicken recipe? We have quite a bit of roast chicken here, at least once a week. We have amazing local chickens here, and it really does make a difference. Try and get one if you can. Here’s our favorite way to roast:
Everyday Roast Chicken
Preheat oven to 425 F. Slice two onions into four thick slices, place on bottom of big ovenproof pot. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Liberally salt and pepper cavity of chicken. Slice a lemon and a head of garlic in half crosswise, stuff into cavity with a large handful of fresh thyme. Brush outside of chicken with approximately two tablespoons of melted butter (or if you have reserved bacon fat, I HIGHLY recommend using that, because it’s delicious). Liberally salt and pepper outside of chicken. Pop it in the oven for 90 minutes. When it comes out, let it rest for at least 15 minutes before you carve- 25 is better. Juicy and yum.
Then carve up your chicken, take the bones, and make chicken stock.
I really prefer to make this with at least three chicken carcasses, but thanks to our roast chicken love, I usually have a few in the freezer (which is where your roast chicken bones should go if you’re not making stock right away). Today all I had was one, but I also had some bone-in chicken thighs sitting in the fridge, so I broiled those, pulled the meat off, and put those bones in too.
You can also keep your veg ends in the freezer, like the tops and tails of your carrots, and use those for stock. Anyway, here’s how we do it:
Chicken Stock
Place in your biggest stockpot:
Three chicken carcasses
Six carrots, chopped in thirds
Four celery ribs, chopped in thirds
Head of garlic cut in half crosswise
Large handful dill
Large handful thyme
Three onions, cut in fourths
Two tablespoons kosher salt
Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Fill pot with water to within an inch of top, bring to a boil, turn all the way down to the lowest simmer. Allow to simmer at least four hours (I like to let it go overnight). Don’t stir. When it’s done, strain out the solids and discard. DON’T do what I did the first time I made stock, which is strain into a colander in the sink and let your stock go literally down the drain. Do yourself a favor and remember to put a POT under your colander. Hehehe. You have a couple of options at this point. One, you can use it right away after skimming the fat off the top. Two, if you don’t want to use it right away, put it in the fridge overnight and then the fat will solidify on the surface and you’ll be able to take it off a lot easier.
You’ll notice that this stock, when refrigerated, will gel. You want this! This is good! It means that the gelatin from the bones has leached out into your stock, and natural gelatin is so good for you, especially if you have any sort of intestinal upset. When we’re sick we drink this like tea. It’s liquid gold, I tell you. My gorgeous, delicious, nutritious cure-all. Here’s hoping it works this time and we’re all better within a day or two.
We always bake on Mondays. Usually bread and muffins. But today- oh, today was grey and rainy and I stayed up too late last night, so today? Today we made chocolate cake. And utilized the rest of the strawberries as an accompaniment.
I adapted a recipe from the super fabulous cookbook, Feeding the Whole Family: Recipes for Babies, Young Children, and Their Parents, by Cynthia Lair. If you don’t own this, you should.
Even if you do own it, do you own the most recent incarnation? Because you should buy it again. The additions that come with the revision (and new illustrations by Nikki McClure, who is wonderful in every way) are worth it.
Um, yes. In case you were wondering, we made this in our pajamas.
And we added chocolate chips on the top. Just because.
Now really, what else were we supposed to do with the rest of these strawberries? Use them to top spinach salads? I think not.
Add a cup of milky coffee for the mama, and we were set.
Mary’s Buttermilk Chocolate Cake, adapted to be gluten and dairy free, from Feeding the Whole Family
I especially like this recipe because it uses maple syrup as its only sweetener, and there isn’t too much. Plus, it’s easy, quick, and GOOD. I’ve halved the recipe here to make a snacking cake- in the book it makes a two-layer 8″ round cake. Also- this could easily be made vegan!
1 1/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour (+ 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum)
If you are not gluten free, use 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/8 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup almond milk + juice from half a lemon
If you can have it, just use 1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup maple syrup (I like grade B)
2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly oil an 8″ square baking pan. Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients, then stir into flour mixture. Pour batter into pan. If you’re like us, sprinkle the top with dark chocolate chips. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a tooothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Serve with sliced strawberries!
- Maribeth of Lovely World
- Kyndale of Earthy Crunchy
- Hester (no blog…yet!)
- Annie of Sensible Living
- Melody of Little Home Blessings
- and a bonus, because I didn’t finish out the series the way I intended to…Kelly, of The Misadventures of Kelly and Kelly.
Girls, email me (find my email address in the sidebar) your mailing addresses along with a note about which photograph you’d like and I’ll get some frameable prints in the mail for you! Thanks, Random Number Generator.
Again, thanks so much, everyone, for playing along. You make this blogging thing worthwhile. :)
Brainstorming for a mermaid birthday at the end of next month for a certain small person who is about to be FOUR years old. She’s requested a tail, edible shells, fish for supper, and a mermaid dress.
Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
- we’ll be spending the night at the beach condo
- depending on the weather, going to the beach all day or to the aquarium and science center
- mermaid tails for her and sister- I have an idea to make them kind of like wrap skirts. This may take some figuring out.
- mermaid tails for their dollies?
- her favorite fabric made into the Flower Girl Dress from Weekend Sewing- guess I’d better put another hold on that book at the library!
- maybe I could make chocolate shells- check out these candy molds
- beach treasure bags? Like these but little person sized. Open weave so the sand (mostly) falls out.
Help me out, friends! Any good ideas?
Today was the second weekend of our Saturday’s Farmers’ Market being open. We LOVE Farmers’ Market day, and always try to be there within 30 minutes of it opening so we don’t miss out on anything!
Bunny has been craving chicken soup, so we got a chicken from our favorite farmer- he trained with Joel Salatin! He and his wife are young, hip, charming- I could go on. The farm’s pretty awesome too.
I love how they set their stand up. Really beautiful.
The girls got these baskets at Easter, for exactly this purpose (I have a larger one that I’ve always used for marketing)- they take them to the co-op too. I think at this point Birdie is carrying blueberry jam, hazelnuts, and carrots in hers. Bunny has strawberry jam and apples. It’s really nice for them to be able to snack away as we’re shopping the market. That’s my sister’s crazy cute pair of boots on the right.
I secretly want to be this girl. She is so awesome. This all looks so awesome. ACK! Someday I aspire to this level of cool. And having a farmers’ market stand of my own.
We got here 30 minutes after they opened and they were already out of strawberries! Wow. We got several different kinds of raab instead- kale, cabbage, collard- so delicious.
Is anything more gorgeous than tulips and ranunculus? Oh, maybe cherry blossoms. Apple blossoms. Old fashioned double petalled roses. PEONIES. Okay, I’m running away from myself here. The fish market is conveniently located behind this stall- they had really fresh halibut today, so we brought some home. After taking a look at the crab tank, which is always part of the fun.
The mama basket, after we got home. Hello, rhubarb.
And now for the best part: some of that turned into this:
Gluten-free, dairy free rhubarb cobbler, cooling down and waiting to become dessert.
A favorite of all of ours, sauteed cabbage raab.
Amazing, THICK, heavenly halibut. That’s a 9″ cast iron pan.
Some steamed carrots with butter and sea salt. Top-and-tailed and peeled by Bunny, of course. Our resident carrot expert.
Full bellies, full day, full hearts.
I’m sorry that circumstances didn’t allow for us to finish Five Senses Fridays- oh, wait, who am I kidding? I got to meet Bee early, and that was so worth it! But I wanted to make good on the giveaway offer, and wrap things up, so to speak.
I’m giving away FIVE prints- the five winners will be able to choose of any of the photographs from my Five Senses series, or any photograph from happy minutiae (which I’m still having trouble catching up on, but there are plenty to choose from, don’t worry). If you missed Five Senses Fridays altogether and still want to play, here’s how to get in on the game: just comment below, and link to your favorite photo on your blog (if you don’t have a blog, you can just mention your favorite photo in your comment). If you want to enter again, I’ll put your name in another time, giving you an extra chance to win.
I’ll pull five names out of a hat on Monday morning and announce the winners here!
Here’s where to look for those photos, again: in the Five Senses series and over at happy minutiae (be sure to look through the archives).
Thank you for playing along!
Yesterday when I was juggling a baby and the needs of two toddlers and thinking that I really needed to make lunch, I came up with this soup. And was feeling Very Clever about the name I gave said soup. And everyone liked it. And so I’m sharing it with you.
(also, after eating this soup, all three girls went down for a peaceful, long nap. Maybe I should have called it Nap-estrone.)
Miso-strone Soup
Carrots
Peas
Corn
Noodles
Beans of your choice
Chicken stock
Noodles (we use Tinkyada, for those other gluten-free eaters out there)
White miso
First, run a sink full of warm, soapy water for your two-year old to play in. Give her a scrub brush and some stainless steel measuring cups. You can hold the baby while doing this- she will be soothed by the sound of running water. You can then place the baby ever-so-gently into her bassinet, hoping she stays asleep long enough to let you chop carrots.
Give the carrots a quick scrub under running water. Get the three-year old the vegetable peeler and let her go to town on the carrots while you start the chicken stock to boil. Chop up carrots as three-year old finishes peeling them, before they have been peeled to mere matchsticks. Plop them in the pot.
Take peas and corn out of freezer, eyeball some into a bowl to partially thaw. When the stock comes to a boil, put noodles in.
While they are boiling away, open can of beans, letting two- and three- year old take turns turning the knob thingy. Rinse beans in a colander, trying to keep two-year old from soaping them up. Suggest to two-year old that she may be done with her “bubble factory”. Regret decision to mention being finished with bubbles. Take stuff out of other side of sink to make bubble factory for three-year old, who now wants a turn.
Pick up baby, who apparently has something going on with her tummy. Or maybe she’s hungry. Try nursing, be amused at look of distaste on her face, try burping. When burping succeeds all over your back, change shirt.
When you come back to the kitchen, your two- and three- year old should be thoroughly wet, and your noodles should be al dente. Baby should be happy again and in bassinet. Turn off pot.
Plop in frozen vegetables. Stir around. Take wet clothes off two- and three- year old. Tell them it’s ok to eat lunch naked, it’s good to eat lunch naked, lunch is almost ready now, mmmm, doesn’t it smell lovely?
Add in a tablespoon or so of miso. Stir it around. Hope that the frozen vegetables have cooled the soup to exactly the right state of warmness so that you do not have to hover over each bowl, blowing, until your eyes are crossed.
Remember that you were going to add beans to this, look around for beans, find them, vaguely soapy, next to sink. Rinse with cold water, hope for best. Pick up baby, who is now hungry for her own lunch. Plop beans into soup, ladle into bowls with one hand. Ask three-year old to please get spoons for everyone. Napkins too. Fill water pitcher, get fresh glasses. Light candle, sing blessing. Eat with non-dominant hand while holding baby with dominant hand and nursing.
Laugh. Enjoy the company of your babes. Feel blessed.
Serves two toddlers, one mama, and a nursing babe.
First, thank you for all your thoughtful comments on my last post. I’m still mulling it over- there’s lots to think about there.
Tuesday is Library Day at our house, and I thought I’d share some highlights from this week’s visit. For the little ones, this book:
Sea Story, by Jill Barklem. Such a dear little story, about mice who take a boat downstream to the sea to get salt from their friends who live in a sand dune.
The illustrations are amazing, full of wonderful details- check out the patchwork curtain inside this boat! And the dishtowels!
Or the shells above this little doorway. Precious. The book itself is small for a picture book, the same size as the Beatrix Potter books (which my girls find a bit too scary). It appears that the Brambly Hedge series is, sadly, out of print, though there were plenty of them published. Hopefully we’ll be able to get them all through the library. Honestly, though, this one is so sweet I’m hoping to add it to our home collection. It’s already a favorite.
On the grown-up front, we checked out the first season of Big Love on DVD and I am hooked. Enough so that during the two episodes we watched after all the girls were asleep, I only completed four rows on my February Baby Sweater. Ha!
Yesterday was hot, for here, for this time of year. The girls wore their new swimsuits. We got out the kiddie pool. I hung our sheets out to dry on the line and the first ones were nearly ready to be put back on the bed by the time I finished hanging the last.
We planted geraniums by the front door with Aunty T and ran around in the sunshine (that’s my sister in the doorway, there, the famous Aunty T).
Yesterday, I read this article and saw myself a little too clearly. I’ve gone back and forth with myself about keeping a blog, why I do it, all the struggles and arguments that bloggers have with themselves. I think we all have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with blogging. It pulls you out of the isolation that can be motherhood, but all the time spent online also prevents you from doing so many other things, like making connections with other people in your day-to-day life. I’m terribly, terribly socially anxious in my real life. I find it so difficult to connect with others, and I think blogging has allowed me to feel that I am connecting, without the inherent risk that comes with trying to create friendships.
I’m not sure how to articulate all of this.
I’m not sure I should be allowed to spend so much time online, for any reason.
Something to think about.
Today, we had sweet brown rice cereal for breakfast, with hard boiled eggs. I served two hungry little girls, one hurried husband, myself, and an imaginary bear. Today, we are expected to have record heat. Today is library day for us. Today I will savor my babies and try and figure out my next knitting project. Today I will call a friend, and make plans to get together with them. Today is a new day.
(Also, on Friday? I will be back. To talk about Five Senses Friday.)
Have been something like this:
Lots of time spent outdoors
And snuggling Bee (she’s so little!)
Baking – if I can keep this one from eating all the butter
Who, me?
Mmm, gluten free banana oat chocolate chip mini muffins.
Watching the sweetness
And decorating Easter eggs
With what we had on hand
Namely, beeswax crayons
And Stockmar watercolor paint
Actually, I think they turned out pretty
And the girls had so much fun.
And no time: updating here, or at happy minutiae, or getting back to emails. I’m sorry. Soon.
