sometimes the zulily deals are hit or miss.
i thought this was a good one.
(and svan highchairs are on there today too!).
map prints on zulily.
turkey stock + soup. yum.
so, if you recall our thanksgiving, i had a 23-lb. turkey from a local farm ordered. there was turkey, turkey, and more turkey off that baby. i saved the carcass and my mom patiently walked me through the stock steps (it was my first time! homemade stock virgin here!). so, the other day i got the bird (well, its carcass) out of the freezer and began thawing it.
let the stock begin!
i have been super excited about making my own broth after reading all about ‘perpetual bone broth’ on the nourished kitchen blog. amino acids! glucosamin chondroitin! i wanted me some bone broth real bad, dern right! i mean, health benefits out the wazoo people! nutrients galore! i covered the meaty bones with water, threw in some onions, celery (leaves and all), garlic cloves, peppercorns, salt, and fresh thyme. put that baby on the lowest heat, and let ‘er heat! i turned it off overnight, then started it again the next day. all in all, i’d say it was simmering for like 15 hours or so? maybe a little more (i read in nourishing traditions that you can do it up to 24 and keep reapin’ the nutritional benefits!).
first of all, the house smelled downright glorious while all this was taking place. the kids walked in the door from school saying, “WHAT IS THAT?” (i love when your house smells good as people enter it). slow-cooking turkey broth and veggies filled the air. yum. then came the semi-labor intensive part. i had me a lot of turkey / bones. so i removed all the big hunks and bit by bit pulled off the turkey and reserved it to the side (and pulled it apart in manageable chunks for the soup). the meat fell right off the bone. and i could not believe how much meat there was! this 23-lb. turkey was a thanksgiving feast for many, leftovers afterwards, and now was gonna be many, many bowls of turkey soup. that’s getting your money’s worth, people! so, i had all the turkey set aside. but then there was some more stuff at the bottom i couldn’t see (and your people won’t love you as much if you choke them with a missed bone). oh! and i skimmed some of the fat off the top before all this though there wasn’t much of it. free-range, baby! as i was saying, all the stuff at the bottom i pored through a sieve catching the peppercorns, garlic cloves, a few more chunks, celery, etc. all the veggies get thrown away as well as the skin, the seasonings, etc. so you’ve just got your broth and your meat.
now, cut the veggies up that will go in your soup. carrots! onions! garlic! celery! i went all organic for this soup cause i wanted it to really pack a nutritional punch this winter (and we have leftovers for days!). sauteed those, added them to the broth with the meat. seasoned it up with some sea salt and pepper. cooked up some thin egg noodles and added that… chopped up some parsley, garlic, added that, and bam! turkey soup was made! a loaf of crusty italian bread and butter and dinner was on the table. it was delicious and i was all, “i’m the best ever.” now i think i’m going to go have another bowl.
i realize i have no actual measurements here but it so depends on the size of your turkey, the amount of broth you make, etc. i actually had too much broth for the amount of “stuff” i had: veggies and meat, so i put some of the broth in the freezer for another day / soup (better yet, get yourself a mug ‘o broth and just drink it plain to fight those winter blues!). variations: add some kale! spinach! barley! quinoa! peas! corn! i wanted the real basic turkey soup for my first time. next time, i may change it up!
make it and love it! tell me how it goes!
kids! they do the darndest things!
kids! doing the darndest things! ain’t it the truth?! the cast of characters here at the hunt abode has been dishing out material ripe for the blog world. ripe for the blog world, people! i mean seriously! just keep reading!
and these are only two of ’em! only two hunt hooligans!
william comes home the other day from school and hands steve a $20.
we ask where it came from.
“i brought our fruit leathers to school and sold them. so-and-so bought 12 of them for $1.75 each.”
what??
there are so many things wrong with this.
fruit leathers. i’m talking non-sweet, non-fluorescent snacks from the kid (william) who’s most likely labeled “the kid who brings the crappy, tree-bark snacks to school.” how did he pull this one over on said boy?
and what is said boy doing with $20 when clearly he’s an idiot?
and, perhaps i should be impressed here, when did my william become such a saavy salesman?
william and jordan. they’re always going at it. the latest below.
jordan smacks william in the face with his sock (what?).
william steals some of jordan’s ritz crackers.
jordan puts his hands on william’s cheese and crackers.
william says, “i’m not eating it now that you touched it!”
jordan says (happily), “fine,” and throws it away.
i yell, “GO TO YOUR ROOM, EVERYBODYS! EVERYBODYS! GET OUTTA HEEERE NOOOWWW!”
(my verbage doesn’t have to make sense all the time.).
you got some crazy kid stories? share ’em! we’ve got to stick together!
let’s go to the farmer’s market after class!
you’ve all seen the sh*t girls say at this point, yes?
if you haven’t, well, you’re under a rock and i can’t help you.
my sister just showed me this gem.
hilarious.
(and i want to be friends with this girl. she’s awesome.)
our weekend.
it was a low-key weekend.
it got cold here in boston.
us fools went to a big bonfire on saturday.
wind chill had to have made it in the teens!
parker was a trooper (and was ridiculously bundled up).
we read together.
we drank tea together.
we took goofy pictures.
we napped.
we went to whole foods.
blah blah blah.
the end.
the loss of the classics.
i don’t hear much about the long-standing classics anymore. books like a tale of two cities, crime and punishment, david copperfield, anna karenina… and the one pictured, of course, pride and prejudice. i tend to skip right over them and go for what’s on the new york times best sellers list, what people are bringing up in book clubs, what’s featured on the big table in the front of barnes and noble, popping up on the homepage of amazon. you know… the hunger games trilogy (and twilight, who could forget the twilight series?), the help, the other boleyn girl. these books have brought me great entertainment. still, i feel like i’m missing out. outside of a 19th century british lit. class, i haven’t read any of these books that i should be reading. why do i say should? well, they’re of a simpler time (i think we all want things that remind us of a simpler time. am i right?). add to that, they’re beautifully written–i mean, they have stood the test of time. not to mention, so often, they’re beautiful. i mean, just the book itself (if they’re an old edition, anyway). steve’s over my shoulder pulling one off the shelf right now–leather!–and he’s adding: the character development in them! (his three all-time favorites are pride and prejudice, les miserables, and brothers karamazov). why don’t i (or we, if you’re guilty too) read these more? i know there are a handful of you who do read these classics… who pick up hemingway for fun, and peruse the shelves of used book stores as a hobby. good for you, and i really mean that. the rest of us? pathetic!
i’m going to start. beginning with pride and prejudice. i am seriously ashamed to say i haven’t yet read it. steve’s ashamed of me too! and i’m reading it from a book. a book that you can hold. not a screen! look at me go! what’s next? some dickens perhaps! or a little thomas hardy! bronte even!
it’s gonna be good.
what classics have you read for fun? none of that i-had-to-for-class stuff!
a hand-print do-it-yourself.
since parker was born, i’ve been half excited to see his milestones come and go and half totally weepy over it all. i was looking through his hospital stuff when he was about a month old and realized i didn’t have his hand and foot print from birth. i didn’t have his hand and foot print?! the hormonal mother i was freaked out and made steve call the hospital right away to see why it wasn’t with the file and where was it and how can we get it and it won’t be the same now because he’s older and his hands and feet have gotten a bit bigger and oh my gosh i’m going to cry. they told us that it’s for their records. why?! i’m not sure. but at least it wasn’t lost… i guess. so, since then, i’ve wanted a clever way to record his ridiculously cute, pudgy, knuckle-dimpled hands. i came up with it the other day just shy of him being six months old. i got some fabric out, traced his hand (the hardest part of the task, to be sure), cut it out, and mod-podged it onto these wooden canvases i got. i think i’m going to hang it on the wall in his room and maybe do it again when he’s two or something. it’s cute and sweet and i like it quite a bit.
and that’s that.
a breakfast date. oh! and you’ll probably notice i got instagram too.
i love breakfast out. it might be my favorite meal to eat out. particularly with a baby in tow. parker is a happy guy but he’s definitely most predictably happy in the mornings. plus, it’s not usually too crowded, and sometimes, in the winter, if you time it just right, you can sit near a window and have the sun pouring in on your face while you drink your coffee. i’m like a cat that way. i love sun coming through winter windows and warming me up despite the outside chill. finally, what meal is less expensive to eat out than breakfast, i ask? thus, breakfast is the best meal to eat out.
since steve is a professor, we get a long winter break to spend together. it’s been especially nice this year since he’s an extra set of hands for parker when i want to take a long shower or sleep in a bit. now that the kids have gone back to school, most days it’s the three of us and it’s pretty leisurely around these parts. the other morning, parker was up quite a few times in the night and this mama was exhausted. steve took him out of the room to let me sleep another hour or so (and i slept hard. it’s amazing the sleep you get without a baby-in-the-bed.) and returned a while later with coffee and pancakes. what?! (he was totally paying attention to that foreplay bit in my vlog.). needless to say, this quiet break has been really nice.
anyway, enough bragging about steve as you all roll your eyes at me. we went out to breakfast to one of our favorite spots… a super kitschy, retro-themed breakfast place with the best menu ever. last time we went, i got pancakes with fuji apples and granola baked in and fresh whipped cream on top. shut your mouth! they were amazing but i felt like i had to be rolled out of the restaurant so this time, it was an egg, cheese, and bacon sandwich on a croissant. my go-to. steve copied and got the same. meanwhile, parker stared out one of the many wall-coverings wondering why on earth it wouldn’t look back at him. how rude!
we ate and enjoyed and then walked around a bit, did a little window-shopping… you know the drill. it was sunny and lovely–but a bit cold. parker was bundled to the max (i always think of the little boy in a christmas story yelling for everyone to wait up because he’s so bundled) and i daresay he was warm. oh, and you’ve probably noticed by now, but i gots the instagram! needless to say, i am loving it. since when does a phone take such good pictures?! i’m itsahuntlife there if you wanna follow along. i’ll try not to bore you too much (but i probably will). so, that’s it. our breakfast date.
sponsor giveaway: the little illustrator!
jennifer over at the little illustrator makes the sweetest prints you ever did see.
ones about love… family… appreciating the small things…
the list goes on.
just looking at the shop will get you feeling all hug-somebody-like.
today’s giveaway is for
two prints
of your choice!
| to enter: |
+ leave a comment below (include your e-mail!)
| additional entries: |
separate comments please!
+ favorite little illustrator on etsy
+ favorite them on FB
+ follow them on twitter
+ tweet / blog / FB about the giveaway and provide URL
giveaway closed.
renee is the winner!
a really easy chicken parm.
i’ve made this at least three times in the last three weeks. so, ya know, once a week.
steve declares, “this is restaurant good” when i make it. what does that say of my other dinners?
we don’t go there. but what i do know–it’s yummy. and really easy. i skip the breading that chicken parm can sometimes have and that cuts the time a lot. give it a try.
| ingredients |
serves 4
4-6 thin sliced chicken breasts
italian seasonings (i have a mix, but a mixture of salt, pepper, oregano, basil would be fine)
tomato sauce (i loove the three cheese from TJ’s)
1 lb. of pasta, any kind
mozzarella cheese
pecorino romano cheese (or parm but i like the first better)
| directions |
sauté your chicken on medium heat in olive oil. as it browns, keep turning it and seasoning both sides. this is where it’s good if you have thin chicken breasts because you can trust that they’re cooked all the way through without cutting them up. otherwise, cut them up and have chicken pieces instead.
once cooked through, add the tomato sauce right over the chicken and let that simmer on low heat for 10 minutes or so. then add the mozzarella cheese, and the pecorino romano to the top of that and put the whole pan in the oven (we use all-clad so we can but make sure that it’s ok for your entire pan to be in the oven). broil it for 10 minutes or so till your cheese is golden brown. serve over pasta!
