Five Dollar Friday: Chicken Noodle Soup (and How to Make Your Own Chicken Stock)

This is the first soup I ever make for our family, and it's still a favorite. Pair it with a green or fruit salad and it's a complete meal. The amount of soup below will feed my family two times, especially when I serve it with sides.

When I see whole chickens on sale for a great price ($.50 - $.60 a lb) I'll buy five or more (depending on freezer space) to make this recipe, tortilla soup, chicken and dumplings, roast chicken with roasted veggies or just tons of stock and chicken to freeze for later meals. :) If you have never made your own stock from scratch you will never want to go back to the store-bought stuff. Homemade is so much more flavorful and it freezes wonderfully. Consider freezing it in three sizes: quart, pint and cup. That way you can defrost just the amount you need with little to no waste. :)

Ingredients:

4 lb chicken

Whole wheat egg noodles

3 lg garlic cloves, smashed with flat side of knife (no need to peel)

4 celery stalks, cut into chunks

4-5 carrots, peeled and cut in chunks

10-12 peppercorns

1 lg onion (I prefer sweet), peeled and quartered

Bunch of fresh parsley (or 1 tablespoon dried)

1 tablespoon dried thyme

2 bay leaves

2 T salt (start with 1 T and check flavoring to be sure it's not too salty for your taste, you can add more when you add bones to stock).

Directions:

1. Remove any extra pieces from cavity and rinse chicken well with cool water.

2. Place in large stock pot with all vegetables and seasonings.

3. Add cool water to cover chicken by an inch.

4. Turn pot to medium until you see a bubbles rising to the top. Then turn pot to med-low/low (see notes below).

5. Skim any impurities that rise to the surface during cooking.

6. Cook for 90 minutes to 2 hrs until chicken is cooked through and extremely tender. If you try to pull the chicken by the legs they will just fall off!

7. Remove chicken and allow to cool. Remove meat from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces. Drizzle a little olive oil over chicken along with a little stock from the pot to keep moist.

8. Add bones back into broth and simmer for another 30-60 minutes. Add more salt at this point if needed.

9. Strain broth to remove all veggies, spices and bones. Rinse out stock pot.

10. Place broth back into pot. If time allows place in fridge for a few hours or overnight and fat will rise to the top and solidify making it very easy to remove. If not, just let broth sit for a time and you will be able to skim most the fat that rises to the top.

11. Bring to a boil and add egg noodles. I usually use about 2/3 of the package but you can use more or less depending on how you like your soup.

12. Once noodles are tender, turn off heat and add desired amount of chicken.

Thoughts on this recipe:

The trick to making really tender, juicy chicken is to never let your pot get to a boil. This will toughen your chicken. At step four you just want to start seeing gentle bubbles rising to top, one every second or so and then turn your heat down. When your heat is turned down you should be seeing a bubble rise to the top every few seconds. Also if you don't cook your chicken long enough it will not be tender enough either. Most of the time I cook mine closer to two hours but your cooking time will depend on the exact size of your chicken and the heat you use to cook/how hot your stove gets.

You can vary the spices/seasonings you use to make your stock. Add/delete/change any of the spices to fit your family's tastes. Also, I typically don't need all the stock this process provides for my soup. I can typically freeze at least a quart of stock. It will just depend on the broth to filling ratio you prefer in your soups. Finally, my boys don't like veggies in their final soup, but if I was making a pot just for me I'd add some carrot slices and finely chopped celery in to cook when I added the egg noodles.

If you are only interested in making stock and not the soup simply use the chicken for another meal or freeze it. The stock can be refrigerated for a week or frozen up to three months.

Cost Breakdown: $5.07

$ 2.00 - chicken (on sale for $.48 a lb)

$ .79 - ww egg noodles (on sale, regular price is $1.89)

$ . 12 - garlic cloves

$ . 50 - celery stalks (I got organic for this price)

$ . 50 - carrots (again, organic)

$ . 01 - peppercorns

$ . 50 - lg onion

$ .50 - fresh parsley - about half a bunch (less $ if you use dried)

$ . 04 - dried thyme

$ . 03 - bay leaves

$ . 08 - sea salt

1000 Gifts: A New Year

I recently discovered Ann Voskamp's blog, A Holy Experience, and have been immensely blessed. I read a post describing her journey of gratitude that's ultimate expression has been her book soon to be released (on my reading list for 2010). I am a little late in joining the community of gratitude but am expectantly looking forward to all God will do through my journaling of 1000 gifts He has graciously bestowed.

And so it begins:

1. A new year full of hope and promise.

2. Three boys whom I absolutely adore.

3. A husband who loves me despite my many, many faults.

4. Being part of an amazing body of believers who bless me and spur me on.

5. Friends who know me, the good and bad, and still bless me with their friendship.

6. A warm and safe home.

7. An abundance of healthy food to eat.

8. Clothes to wear.

9. Clean water to drink.

10. The sweetest dog who ever loved three boys.

11. An invitation to lunch on our first day of the new semester.

12. Two new puppies that have brought our neighborhood out to fellowship.

13. A playdate with amazing friends.

14. The chance to redo things not done correctly the first time. Big things.

15. A hand me down treadmill I never could have purchased.

16. A hand me down Wii Fit I am enjoying to help get back in some kind of shape.

17. A fantastic start to our new semester.

18. Art online so this art-phobic mommy doesn't have to teach it.

19. A warm bowl of spaghetti and meatballs after playing outside in the cold.

20. Boys saying, "I'm sorry," and really meaning it.

* Photos were taken today on our first day back of the new semester. Thatch is showing off his art from his Mark Kistler art lesson. Haddon is working on phonics and Beckett is playing with wedgits.

Happy New Year

I love new beginnings! It is so nice to wrap up a year and begin anew. This year is no different. I am excited to start 2011 and discover all the next twelve months hold. A few special things about 2010:

• Dh published his first book. It has been so fun to see him fulfill a dream and to see the book welcomed with enthusiasm by many whom we deeply respect.
• Dh began work on his doctorate.
• We started a new small group that has been a blessing to us.
• Haddon started Kindergarten.
• We had our first broken bone (Beckett).
• We enjoyed a year of exceptional health with only a few colds here and there and are so very grateful.

And a few upcoming milestones in 2011:

• This year my oldest will turn 10. Double digits. Oh my! It is hard to believe that tiny baby is now such a big, handsome, kind-hearted boy.
• This year my youngest will begin Kindergarten, and we will have no more preschoolers in our home. Everyone can now feed, bathe, dress and toilet themselves. ;) I sleep through the night the majority of the time and we are enjoying the flexibility of not being tied to nap schedules. Still one more baby sure would be nice. :)
• This year dh will turn 40.(And I am not far behind). Yikes!
• This year we will wrap up our first four year cycle following the Classical Model. Thatcher will complete the Grammar Stage and will begin the Dialectic Stage.
• Dh and I will celebrate 15 years of marriage.

And being such a task-oriented, box-checking kinda gal, I cannot help but set some goals for the new year. Here are a few of my goals for 2011:

• Dh and I are planning two date nights out and two date nights in (kids to bed early and a movie on Netflix, a chess game, a Wii match or just time to talk) a month in 2011. We have had a hard time getting away in years past but this year we have committed to making time together alone even more of a priority.
• Early to bed and early to rise. Ol' Ben had something! For me too often it's been late to bed and early to rise (makes a Mommy grouchy, impatient and caffeine-addicted). No more - or at least a lot less ;)
• Memorize the book of Philippians.
• Exercise more.
• Read more (see booklist below)
• Scrapbook more.
• Laugh more.
• Eat less.

And last, here is my booklist for 2011:

Education related books:

For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

Spiritual Books:

Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller

One Thousand Gifts: Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp

Parenting Books:

The Home at Greylock by Elizabeth Prentiss

Instructing a Child's Heart by Tedd & Margy Tripp

Raising Godly Tomatoes by L. Elizabeth Kreuger

Self-Education (Following Recommendations from The Well Educated Mind):

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Home Manager:

Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenrider

Marriage:

War of Words by Paul David Tripp (not a marriage book per se but communication is a weak link for me in our marriage. Dh is excellent at this and I want to be better.)

Happy new year to you all!

My Verse for 2011

I am guessing all of you can relate. I have been in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Add that on top of regular life and things are certainly a bit crazy around here. In the first ten days of December alone we have had two end of season soccer parties, three Christmas parties, and two church events. All that on top of trying to finish the semester strong and being sick in the middle of it all. Phew!

Yet in the midst of preparing for the holidays, I am also thinking about starting off 2011 strong. Every ending also means that a beginning is near, right? As I am trying to enjoy the holidays and keep the true meaning of it all in front of my kids I am also thinking about 2011 and a new year.

This morning I read a verse I have read many times. But like it so often happens I saw something I had never seen before:

One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

~ Psalm 27:4-5

This is my heart's cry - I want 2011 to be about my seeking after the beauty of the Lord. I am praying about how to make that ever more a reality in the middle of the busyness of everyday life. How to do center on His beauty in the commonness of dishes, laundry, cooking, cleaning, and teaching my boys? How do I focus on structuring my days so that there is room to, "inquire (meditate) in his temple"?

David wrote these words while Saul was seeking to take his life. He was sleeping in caves and worrying if each day might be his last. His prayer was that he would seek God above all. That is encouraging to me. David's prayer from so many years gone by is mine as well.

Five Dollar Friday: How to Make it Happen: Couponing

Sometimes things go all out of order. ;) This Friday I wanted to write a post that backtracks a bit and tells more about how to make $5 meals a more regular occurence for your family. Most of my "Five Dollar Fridays" are meals that you can make for that price only if you are getting some of your items on sale...and often with coupons as well.

One of the first tricks to making $5 meals a reality is having a well-stocked pantry. When you find something on sale for a great price, stock up! I have extra shelves in my laundry room and an extra refrigerator outside to store my surpluses. One of the best ways to get your pantry stocked is often (but not always) through couponing.

The rest of this post will focus on couponing. I have used coupons on and off for about 15 years. Sometimes effectively, sometimes not so much. It wasn't until about four years ago that I really learned that there is an art to using coupons and it is basically this - save your coupon until the item goes on sale (hopefully for its "rock bottom price") and you maximize your savings, especially if you shop at a store that doubles and triple coupons. My store triples coupons that are $.35 or less and doubles coupons that are $.50 or less. This really helps rack up the savings even more quickly.

I wanted to share two things about couponing before beginning... First, you can coupon and keep to healthy items. It is definitely more challenging and you typically won't have the stories that some have of walking out of a store with $100 in merchandise for $6 (or something similar ;) but you can get big benefits from couponing and still feed your family healthfully. Second is that, like with many things, you will get out what you put in. Those women who do have the amazing stories of feeding their family of 6 on $20 a week are typically women who spend many, many hours doing this and often shop multiple stores. I don't have that kind of time. You can still coupon without spending hours and hours a week. I spend about 10 minutes a week cutting out coupons and an extra 30-45 minutes a week at the store looking for my best deals. Now how to get started...

First you need to obtain coupons. If your store accepts computer-printed versions then you won't have to spend a dime to get yours. The coupons that come in the weekly newspapers can be printed right at home and redeemed at your local store. (Smart Source, Red Plum and coupon.com are just a few to get you started. There are literally 100's more!) None of my local stores accept these anymore, so if you are like me you'll have to get coupons somewhere else. I get the Sunday paper delivered to my house for $1 a week; it's $2 at the store. This is well worth the cost for me because if I average just a $1 savings per week then I've broken even. The reality is I save far, far more than that. :)

After cutting my coupons each week I also swap what's left with a friend who coupons but we tend to use very different items. I also used to go by Starbucks each Sunday night and pull coupons out of their newspaper share bin. Many people read the Sunday paper but have no interest in the coupons. They drop the whole stack in the newspaper bin to share with another patron - or for someone like me to get their coupons. ;) I don't do this much anymore just due to time restraints. You can be creative though. Maybe see if you have a neighbor or family member who takes the paper but doesn't coupon. :) Getting multiple copies of the same coupons is not only okay but is desired. I read recently on a site where a mom had 6 copies of the paper delivered to her house each week. Wow!

Next you need a place to organize your coupons. I use a simple file box designed for index cards. I have it divided into these categories: personal (products for mom), personal (shampoo, shaving, soap, deodorant), sweet snacks, savory snacks, cans/boxes, condiments, breakfast, baking isle, meat, dairy/eggs, frozen, medications/vitamins, refrigerated section/produce. You may need to add a section for baby, cleaning, laundry or even more. My box looks just like the one in this post about organizing coupons except I do mine by the categories and not alphabetically like theirs. The linked post shows other ideas for how you can organize your stash. :)

Now it's time to coupon. When I started really getting into coupons I used the Grocery Game website. You pay for their services but at the time it was a great investment. You can get a four week trial for free if, after reading this, you are interested. You pay for each list you want from each store. That list will tell you what is on sale, if there is a coupon to pair with that sale, which flyer it came from (ex: SmartSource, Red Plum, P & G) as well as which week it was in the paper. They will also indicate if this is a regular sale or an item's "rock bottom" price (meaning stock up if you can because it won't be this cheap for awhile again).

GG was invaluable to me and I used it for a solid year. It taught me what those sales trends in my store were (not that they come out and tell you; it's just something you pick up on as you do this) and really helped me master the art of couponing while holding my hand a bit. Now I can do it on my own now that I know my preferred store's sale trends. :) Coupon Mom is another site like GG but it's free. You have to sign up but there is no cost. And her videos are wonderful to help learn how to use her lists and the coupon database. It's not quite as user-friendly in my experience, but the fact that you don't pay can quickly make up for that.

If you choose not to use one of these list sites you can still be an effective "couponer"! Plan on having your grocery trips take you up to twice as long while you are figuring out this coupon thing. Go to an isle (for example the soap/shampoo isle) and peek at what coupons you have. Walk the isle and see if any sale items match a coupon you have. If so, great. If not, keep looking.

Buy some items at a grocery warehouse if possible: I have a membership to a wholesale warehouse through dh's work, and I shop there once a month. The prices I get for first cold pressed olive oil, raw almonds, five pound blocks of cheese and frozen fruit beat even my store's sale prices and there are rarely coupons for those anyway. I also get dh's contact solution, maple syrup, a few healthy snacks and laundry detergent.

Other Tips: Don't worry as much about about brand loyalty. If you typically buy Gillette razors but you can get Shick for a deep discount, go for it! Also don't worry about whether or not you need an item. If it's on sale for 50% or more of its typical price, stock up big. My store only allows you to use three similar coupons per week and they will double/triple only the first one. Be aware of this because it will affect your final cost. Also keep an eye out for "catalinas" - those coupons they print off at the register. And watch for manufacturer's coupons attatched to some of the items you buy that can be redeemed that day at checkout.

A few examples from my recent grocery list: Pillsbury pie crusts are usually $3.09 at my store. Last week they were on sale for $2.49 each. Plus there was a special bonus advertised that if you got any four items from a specific Pillsbury list then you got an additional $4 off your grocery order bringing each pie crust down to $1.49 each. Then, attached to the pie crust boxes were different manufacturer's coupons for assorted Pillsbury products. I made sure to get the boxes that had pie crust coupons that were for $1 off 2 pie crusts. That brought each pie crust to $.99 each. Then at the register a catalina printed for $1 off my next grocery order. That means I basically got each box of pie crust for $.66 each. Pretty good and I can freeze the extras and pop them out each time I want to make a chicken pot pie to take to a new mommy!

Another example is Muir Glen oganic spaghetti sauce. It is normally $5.79 a jar. The past few weeks it has been on sale "2/$6.00". On the jars there were coupons for $1 off two Muir Glen products. That brings the final cost down to $2.50 a jar for organic sauce. I know you can buy other sauces for $1.00 but I really try to stay with organic and/or healthier options still avoiding hfcs, additive, preservatives and dyes (the above pie crust examply being a detour because pie crust is my cooking nemesis!).

I haven't paid more than $.20 for deodorant in years. I prefer Suave but will use any brand. The small size is $1.19. This week it was on sale for $.88 and I had a $.50 off coupon. That coupon was doubled meaning I got the product for free. Similarly I haven't paid for hand soap in years either. I save Dial and Softsoap coupons that are for $.50 off one item. When they go on sale a few times a year for 10/$10 I stock up and don't buy it the rest of the year.

There are tons and tons of websites that do a better job of explaining this than me. Here are helpful links where you can learn more:

Perfect Art of Couponing

How to organize your coupons:

5 Unique Ways to Organize Coupons

How to Organize Coupons (Binder)

Making a Coupon Organizer System

Day Runner Coupon Organizer

Places to find more inexpensive meals for your family:

$5 Dinners blog and her best-selling cookbook

More with Less Cookbook

A funny story about Erin's site ($5 Dinners): When I came up with the idea for Five Dollar Fridays I thought I was so creative! A week or two into this new concept (or so I thought) of mine, a friend emailed to tell me that there was a mom out there who had been doing this for a very long time...and doing it very well I might add. ;)

I hope this post encourages you to try out couponing. I love that I am stretching every penny we have to make the most of every cent God gives us. I choose to see it like a game and see how much I can save each week. It can be really fun and truly addictive.

Getting Started Homeschooling - Part Two - Deciding Your Philosophy

This is the second post in this series. You can read Part One: Deciding if it's Right for Your Family first if it would be helpful for you.

Once a family has made the decision to homeschool most assume the next step in the journey is deciding what materials they will use to educate their children. This is important to be sure but there is yet something that precedes this. First you need to determine your educational approach - the philosophy/methodology by which you will filter all other decisions. This first step and the next (this is when you choose what materials you will use) are typically the most time consuming of all.

Before you decide the "What?" (curriculum choices) of your school you should decide the "Why?" and that "Why?" will largely determine the "How?" Will you follow a Classical approach? Charlotte Mason? Unschooling? Textbook/Traditional Method? Eclectic? Unit studies? Waldorf? Montessori? Will you use an online school? An umbrella school? There are other options as well.

Skipping this step can be a bit like preparing for a long trip not exactly sure where you are going and no map to guide your way. You probably have a pretty good notion of where you would like to go? Do you like hiking in the mountains or laying on the beach? A busy trip to an historic city or a more peaceful time browsing art museums? And if you are not exactly sure where you want to go, what do you pack? How do you prepare? How do you get the most out of your time if you spend much of each day planning the next? And with no map, you don't know the specifics of HOW you will even get there. You may get to your final destination...or not. And if you do, it won't be because you were efficient in the journey, unless you are insanely lucky. ;) No one would ever plan a trip like that. And no one should start (or get very far) on a homeschool journey without deciding where they want to go and the best vehicle (educational method) to get them there.

What you decide about which educational approach you will adopt is influenced by many factors which can include (but is not limited to):

• how you feel children best learn
• how you feel about the education you received
• your ultimate goals for homeschooling
• your personality: type A or laid back?
• your child's learning style and personality
• what you can commit as a teacher: Will you work while homeschooling? Do you have any health issues that may limit your role? Any mental health concerns?
• other family factors: large family? small family? special needs child(ren) who will require large amounts of time and/or attention?
• budget

Now let me pause here and say that I have an education degree and I never, ever learned about different educational methodologies. Kids learn one way in most public schools - textbooks/traditional. There was no need to teach us about other ideologies we wouldn't be able to implement anyway. When I made the decision to homeschool and started hearing all these terms I was completely overwhelmed. It was akin to learning another language. And the more I read, the more words were thrown at me. If you are already feeling like I was, just breathe. Seriously, it will get better soon. :)

So, where do you go from here? It depends on your level of overwhelmedness (*giggle*) at this moment and how much time you have before starting to homeschool. You can read this short article (or just google "homeschool methods" for tons of other links) for a quick overview. Then I would recommend Homeschooling Methods: Seasoned Advice on Learning Styles by Paul and Gena Suarez. This book shares about each method by first giving an introduction and then following up with articles from experts in that particular area. Very readable, very informative and very well done.

Next I would offer Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. This book also gives a brief overview of different methods but is not nearly as in depth as the prior book in this. It also begins to cross over into what the third post in this series will cover dealing with choosing your curriculum but has much that will help you get to that point. Her first five chapters are: (1) How on Earth Do I Figure Out What Curriculum to Use? (2) "Drill and Kill", "Real Books", "Delight-Directed Studies"...What's Best? (3) Putting Together Your Philosophy of Education (4) Learning Styles: How Does My Child Learn Best? (5) Who Should Learn What and When? These two books together I feel compliment each other well. If you only had time/desire to read one, I would go with 100 Top Picks.

I hope you are feeling a bit empowered. You can do this. It is overwhelming for just about everyone in the beginning. Really it is. You will look back on this someday and smile. Really!

Decorating: I'm Trying! ;)

Recently I referred to my old "Confessions" post. Confession #6 was about how I cannot buy my own clothes (now I can organize a closet full of clothes, but the buying of them - ICK!) and I certainly can't accessorize. This applies to my home as well. Decorating is not my cuppa. Yet recently I have been so inspired by different decorating blogs out there.

I think it has something to do with the fact that I no longer have babies in the house. I have a tiny bit more time to devote to actually thinking about what I want my home to look like. I love going to Mt. Hope Chronicles and looking through her "Project Hedi" posts (and lately I want to visit just to see all those adorable pictures of little Lola Collette, too!) And I just adore the Nester. When I grow up I want my house to look just like theirs. ;)

In the meantime I have taken a baby step (and yes, it is truly a baby step) towards decorating. I decided that for one year I would keep a centerpiece on my island that I would change with the seasons. I got the idea of using these candles from Heidi at Mt. Hope years ago. I bought the candles and they sat in a cabinet until a few months ago. Here is what is currently sitting on my island. (I cheated and already changed it out for Christmas since we leave town in the morning and won't come back until the weekend. I wanted to come back and already have the house decorated for Christmas so I was a busy beaver this weekend).

Here is what it looked like before when I had it decorated for Thanksgiving.

I wish I would have taken a picture of what it looked like in October; it was precious. I had Halloween ribbon and candy corn filled the bottom of the plate. Just wanted to share something silly and fun.