We love kefir ice cream in this house! I’m always looking for good, nutritional ways to use my kefir. I came across the recipe for kefir ice cream on Tammy’s Recipes website (one of my favorites!) It’s so good that when we run out, I make more. And the combinations are endless! I hope to keep adding kefir recipes for you guys. Check out the smoothie recipe here in case you missed it. I love giving Annie something that is a treat, and yet good for her. The probiotics are great and it’s a good way to get in your calcium for the day. Okay, so who am I fooling? I don’t make this for Annie. I make it for me. There – I confessed. [Read more…] |
Stacy’s Adventures in Lemonade!
I keep seeing all these pictures and posts about making homemade lemonade. I always pass over them because, well……I hate lemonade. Barry loves it though. BUT, I do like the strawberry limeade from Sonic. Then I was in Food City and something came over me and I decided to pick up four lemons since they were on sale. I could tell you it was the Holy Spirit…..but this wasn’t a spiritual experience AT ALL. I mean, it’s just lemonade. How hard could it be? Surely I, Stacy of the Kitchen, could conqueror lemonade. Well lemonade is stupid. |
This is what I started out with. I was so tickled with myself. You should have seen me bee-bopping around the kitchen. I thought I was really something. I pulled out the lemons, some strawberries, stevia, and lime juice. Oh yeah, I thought I was really going places. I really should have consulted y’all on Facebook first. [Read more…] |
Homemade Chicken Stock
Okay, so we’ve conquered cooking a whole chicken without looking directly at it and pretending not to see his legs. And then we’ve used two of the four cups of leftover meat. What should you do now? Make homemade chicken stock of course!
When you make a roast or baked chicken, don’t throw anything away……anything! We’re going to use it all to make some amazing rich-tasting and healthy homemade chicken stock. Oh, and in case you were wondering, you can also use this same method with beef bones, any poultry bones, or pork bones.
Want a tip that you may not have heard before?
We’re going to get out our big stop pot and use up all the leftover bones and the innards to make homemade chicken stock. AND ARE YOU READY FOR MY SECRET TIP? We are going to add two tablespoons of cider vinegar to the pot!! Crazy, right? What does the vinegar do? It breaks down the bones and draws out the calcium into the broth. Let your pot sit for 45 minutes or so to help the vinegar do it’s thang before you start boiling it. Once the bones and water to a boil, I reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for a long time – we’re talking 12-24 hours!
About an hour before it’s done, you can add some veggies for flavor.
It will give the broth extra vitamins and minerals, plus, it’s very tasty. And guess what? You don’t have to peel anything if you don’t want too! Just wash and chop because we’re not going to eat them. They’ll be skimmed out.
You need a really big bowl and a colander to strain out the veggies and bones from the broth. Remember, you have 16 cups of liquid, so don’t underestimate your bowl size! Pour everything slowly and let the colander catch all the bones and veggies.
Never put hot stuff in your fridge.
Let the broth cool to room temperature. Never put hot stuff in the fridge Did I mention that? 😉 If you learn nothing else today, don’t put hot stuff in your fridge. It changes the temperature and can do weird things to the stuff you already have in there. When it’s cool, put it in the refrigerator for a couple hours.
If your chicken has a lot of fat, after a quick chill in the fridge, the fat will rise to the top. Some chickens have little or none others have more – just skim it off the cooled broth if you’d like. To store, I like to freeze in individual 1 or 2 cup-sized containers so that you have homemade chicken stock ready to go whenever you need it for a recipe.
How easy was that?
And in case I forgot to mention… not only is homemade chicken stock affordable and delicious – it’s also VERY GOOD for you – full of vitamins and minerals. I hope you’ll give this recipe a try and let me know what you think!
Homemade Chicken Stock
- Chicken bones and innards from a 2-4 pound chicken
- 16 cups cold water
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- Place bones and other goop in a large stock pot.
- Add water and vinegar. Let stand for 45 minutes.
- Bring to a boil on the stove. Skim any yuckiness that rises to the top.
- Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 4 hours.
- One hour before it’s done, add the veggies.
- Remove from heat when done and let cool for 20 minutes.
- Strain and throw away bones and veggies. Let cool to room temperature.
- Refrigerate until chilled. You may skim the fat off if you like.
- Put into containers for freezing or use in the next few days.
Natural Sweeteners
Annie has caused us to take a good long look at how we eat and what we eat. That’s why we’re on this new path to healthy eating. One of the major changes we’ve made recently is to completely stop buying white sugar. For some reason, Annie’s body reacts to white sugar….and it’s evident when I wash her bottom. She gets yeast infections if she eats just a small amount of the stuff. Yes, I realize that one day when she’s older she’s going to be totally embarrassed that I posted for the whole world to read that she gets butt yeast infections. But, we know this is change we need to make for her and for us.If you do just a little bit of research, you’ll find that the dangers of white sugar are HUGE. I realize that I cannot completely cut it out, because we do live in this world and we do eat out……and visit other people. But, we can cut it out at home.I don’t want to do without sweets. I love them…..really. We’re close friends. And guess what? God doesn’t want us to do without sweets either! Why else would He have given us a taste bud for tasting sweet things? So, don’t worry….this post isn’t going to tell you to give up cake. Life without cake is like Dottie without a fleece blanket. So, I’m going to tell you which sweeteners we use now and give you a little info on each of them. [Read more…] |
Why Full Fat Dairy
If you would have asked me last year if I would switch my family to all full fat dairy, I would have laughed at you. Me? Ha! That’s crazy talk…….full fat means I’ll get fat, right? Uh, well not exactly. Actually, not at all. I did avoid fat free cheese because the rubbery texture gave me the heebie jeebies. But, I always bought skim milk, fat free sour cream, and reduced fat cream cheese. Always. But not anymore….in fact, now if I have to pour skim milk, my first thought is “Oh my gosh! Something is wrong with this milk!” I am not a doctor…..but that would be cool huh? Doctor Stacy. HAHAHAHAHA! Anyway, this is why our family has switched to full fat dairy. You must make the choice for yourself.Research has shown that people who eat full fat dairy products are less likely to die from heart disease or stroke. Yes, milk has saturated fat but God created it really cool…..He made it so that the other stuff in milk balances that saturated fat. Think about it for a minute……we feed our young children whole milk. Shouldn’t we all be eating like a small child? They drink whole milk, eat half a sandwich and then go play for 2 hours. [Read more…] |
Healthy Eating Resources
If you missed it, you can go back and read this post about our baby steps toward healthy eating. I thought it might benefit you all to know what exactly it is that we are reading and learning about. You might want to read it yourself…..and I encourage you to do so. If you’re too busy to read it all, you’ll probably hear most of it here at Humorous Homemaking anyway – sorta like Cliff’s Notes with no test. I wasn’t a Cliff’s Notes user…..I actually read the books. Astonishing, right? You’ll notice that some of my recipes are starting to change. I don’t plan on taking off my old recipes because I like seeing where I’ve come from. Plus, almost any recipe can be adapted to a whole foods diet. We’re still working on getting rid of some of the stuff that I accumulated, but like I mentioned before we are not replacing it with the same stuff – we’re replacing it with whole foods. Let’s learn! (I’m such a dweeb…..do people still say dweeb?) [Read more…] |
Baby Steps Toward Healthy Eating
You might recall at that the end of Stacy Goes Storeless I told you all that Barry and I had made a decision to cut out a majority of our processed foods. I was ready to move toward a more Whole Foods diet. We were eating entirely too much crap because I was able to get it cheap. I had never seen that before…..in fact, if you would have asked me, I would have said I didn’t buy many processed foods – I thought I didn’t….I was cooking most of our meals, so I thought I was getting a free pass. However, a month of Toaster Strudels will change anyone’s mind about what they should be eating. It all sounded great in my head. Whole Foods diet. Whole Foods diet. Yep, but was I really ready for that?I’ve made the switch to making all our bread at home, but I still have tons of stuff to get rid of. So, we’re slowly chipping away at that stock. I do not replace it with processed foods. I replace it with healthy stuff. Healthy meaning good for us, not fat free. Heavens to Betsy! Fat free stuff tastes TERRIBLE. Be serious with yourself. That fat free cheese you melted turns into rubber when it cools down….probably because it’s MADE with rubber. BLECH! [Read more…] |
Buying Farm Fresh Eggs
Farm fresh eggs cost more than eggs at the store. It’s true. Most farm fresh eggs will cost you $2 and up per dozen. Ya know, I’m not often the person who will tell you to go with the more expensive route…….but I’m telling you that today. If you have the chance to switch to farm fresh eggs instead of store bought, you really should. I made the change and I haven’t looked back. They are delicious AND I don’t worry about all the crap that could be associated with them – pun intended. During our Storeless month we switched to buying farm fresh eggs from my friend Leslie at NLV Farms. It shouldn’t be a big surprise to you that I am a supporter of local business – and fresh eggs are about as local as you can get. If you haven’t thought about buying farm fresh eggs, you might change your mind after this. [Read more…] |
Using Kefir
So, today we learn how to use kefir. If you missed yesterday’s explanation of what kefir is, you can go HERE to read it. Oh, and if you’re wondering how to pronounce it, say it like this – key-fur. Yeah, I know you were puzzling over that. We’re really loving kefir in the Myers house. I am thankful that my good friend introduced me to it. I love the health benefits and the fact that it’s so much cheaper than sour cream and buttermilk. Buttermilk is so stinking expensive……must come from some kind of golden cow. Sorta like gasoline comes from some kind of golden…….uh, pump? [Read more…] |
What is Kefir?
I’m sure most of you are like “huh?” You’ve never heard of kefir…..and I hadn’t either, until two of my friends told me about it. They were both using it and hailed the benefits of it. I shook it off myself, thinking, “nah, this is not for me.” I was wrong! I was sick a little last year, and I had to take antibiotics. If you know anything about antibiotics, you know that they are hard on your stomach. I had problems with them, and my friend told me that I needed to eat lots of probiotics – she was right. Once I upped my probiotics, I got better fast. Now I’m making kefir every day…….do I have your attention now?What is kefir? Basically, it’s fermented milk. That sounds pretty nasty, right? When I was told what it was, my first thought was “Ew!” Kefir tastes somewhat like buttermilk. It can be used as a substitute for buttermilk, plain yogurt, or sour cream. It’s chocked full of probiotics – it’s really, really good for you. It’s full of vitamins, minerals, and it is very easy to digest since it’s already partially broken down. It will keep yeast infections at bay…..sorry guys. Pretend you didn’t hear that. Some people who are lactose intolerant are able to drink kefir without a problem. There are TONS and TONS of health benefits. Go here to Dom’s Kefir Site to read them all. You can buy kefir at the store, usually in the health food section, or you can make your own. I am making my own, so let me show you how. It is very cheap to make once you get started. [Read more…] |
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