Pinterest Fail ... Not

At least in the taste dept. Last week I made one of the many chicken dishes featured on Pinterest these days ... Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast Wrapped in Bacon.

It doesn't look too purty ..

But boy did it taste good! Here's the money shot ...

It was very good. Going to have the last of it for tomorrows lunch. The rest of the week consisted of meatloaf & mashed potatoes.

I still haven't had a full week of retirement due to the Labor Day Weekend & my Dad having to get another Heart Cath last Tuesday, where they did one more stint. He's on the way to recovery though with back surgery scheduled in the near future. He says he only has 5 or 6 things wrong w/his back. Only! But he's wanting to get it done so he isn't in any more pain from that.

Continuing to deal w/aging parents & trying to get into a routine. 

Did filing today so only have to make new files for what I brought home from work. 

Got my dining table cleared for a small baby quilt project for a girl at work for the following week. Will post pics if it turns out good.

Easy peasy dinner of store bought chicken pot pies tonight. Greg has been feeling a bit under the weather so have to curb my desire to try other new recipes until he feels better.

Watering & Persimmons

Went to the country house over Labor Day weekend. All of the trees are still alive although I think I might lose the Sycamore & one of the Maples. It is just too dry. Even when it rains it doesn't do it consistently enough so it dries out to brittle conditions. Each day while there, we got about 30 sprinkles & one very very quick soaker, maybe 1/25th of an inch? We have got to get a rain gauge, but I don't even think it was enough to be measured.

The pond is as low as we've seen it in years. Took the opportunity to mow grasses that are normally in the edge of the water line. Again, no pics I'll do better in the future.

I watered twice while there. Here's my watering 'system'.

A friend gave me a 55 gallon rain barrel complete with spigot. Greg cut me a water hose about 6' long. A full 25 feet didn't work, too hard to handle & it took forever for the water to come out. I fill the barrel with about 45 - 50 gallons which is just enough to water the 25 or so trees. Good exercise too as I have to get off & on the mule at each tree. It takes a little less than an hour to water, not counting the time to fill the barrel.

We also cleared out some of the driveway in the branch area. Beautiful weather all weekend long, could even almost, but not quite, feel a very slight touch of Fall in the air. Leaves were beginning to fall off pecan trees along the fence line but that is most likely due to the drought. We have a clump of pine trees near the gate that we also got cleared. I plan on putting a dogwood tree & some azaleas around them.

While driving back to the house I noticed some red fruit on a tree. Stopped & picked them, persimmons!

My Dad said he remembered that tree but only remembers them puckering him up when he ate them as a child. He must have picked them way under ripe because even though they are tiny they are very sweet.

The passion fruit still isn't ripe.

Trying to get into a retirement routine. I have been walking a mile or 2 most days but don't have a house routine yet. Still trying to get the boxes unpacked & some drawers organized.

Going to get dinner prepared for tonight. I've been wanting to make the cream cheese stuffed chicken, wrapped in bacon that I've been seeing all over Pinterest. My niece made it & said it was wonderful. The pounding of the breast is the hardest part. I'll update on how it turns out.

No Hay, How about Moss?

It was a lovely weekend that almost felt like a real fall day here in the humid south. I'm having a jewelry party next weekend & wanted to dress up my front porch for the occasion. Especially since having company over for a special occasion is about the only time anyone uses our front porch. We are "come on in through the garage" kind of people. Anyway, I went to a pumpkin patch last weekend & got a few pumpkins for a donation to the church & child development center.

Found a few last minute mums on sale, plus a few other plants. But, once I put it all together it looked a little harsh. I don't have access to straw or haw here in the city. I could have raked up some pine straw but that seems like too much work this late in the day. As I was walking back & forth from the driveway to the porch I noticed a few limbs that had fallen in the yard with Spanish Moss on them. Eureka! So I gather some, plus a few pine cones & that did the trick!

I'm not a talented decorator but I really like how this turned out. I thought about making a scare crow for that corner where the faucet is but would be kind of difficult w/o straw. If I happen to see any of the nurseries with corn stalks I may purchase a few to tie together to fill that void.

Also while wondering around in the yard I happened upon this fellow.

That's a canning jar ring. He was about 3" long & as big around as a nickel. He reminded me of a tobacco worm but no one around here is growing tobacco, that I know of anyway. I picked him up with a stick & tossed him in the woods next door.

Why did I have a canning ring handy? We picked up 80 lbs of Zaycon chicken breasts. We purchased 40 lbs last year & went through it pretty fast so decided to double our order this year. We froze about 50 pounds & I canned the rest. Got 14 pints & 7 quarts put up. Well, 1 pint jar didn't seal so we'll have that next week. Maybe make some enchiladas or quesadillas?

Zaycon started out in the Northwest selling seafood. Until recently the fish wasn't offered east of the Mississippi. We are going to try the Wild caught Cod, due to be delivered in January. The good news there, it is flash frozen & put in individual servings so we won't have to process it. Yeah!

Oh well, I'm tired & ready to call it a day. Will be preparing for the party all next week.

This and That (picture heavy)

Not too much going on lately. Greg & I had the crud back to back but are now on the upside & feeling better. Garage fridge went on the outs (making a whole bunch of noise) so we decided to replace it with another used model. The old one was over 30 years old so I guess it stood the test of time. The new one looks like someone didn't like it very much but it works well (so far, knock on wood). And, it was only $250 & the same size as the old one so it fit in the same space.

We decided not to head to the Country House this weekend since not much has happened on the Driveway & no real projects to work on there. The last time we were there we did get the rest of the blocks somewhat straightened out & straw put on all of them. Not the best picture but there are 2 asparagus beds on the left & nine regular beds done. What a workout!

Got the tomatoes & peppers planted here at the City House, gave a bunch away & still have a few left over. Gave some to a friend near the Country House & he in return gave me some lettuce plants & some hybrid tomato plants. He also told me I could raid his compost pile anytime I want! I need to work on the asparagus beds so the next time I'm there I will get a load & top them off.

Several varieties of tomatoes in assorted pots.

Lettuce from a friend (there are actually 2 of these containers)

My herbs are doing well in the whiskey barrels.

Sage

More sage, oregano &  I think a butternut squash rescued from the compost pile.

On the food front I found a recipe for Baked Avacado Fries from Baked In. Her picture are much better than mine. Still need to take that food photography course. Regardless, they were delicious! And they were even good warmed up the next day.

I also got around to baking The Canned Quilters Cinnamon Flop recipe. I don't have an 8" round cast iron pan (only have a 6, 10, 12 & 14 rounds), so I made it in the 9" square pan. It was a little thinner than hers but still very very good. This is something that will definitely stay on the keeper list. It's easy to make & not too sweet.

Made roasted carrots, brussel sprouts & parsnips recently. In addition to being pretty, they were very tasty as well.

Also, bought a box of tomatoes from a farm down south & finally got to use my Roma Food Mill. It worked great & is definitely a keeper. Much easier than a plain old sieve. Almost as messy though.

18 quarts of sauce which reduced to 9 - frozen for now.

Also bought 40 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts from Zaycon Foods. If you haven't heard of this company, they sell directly from farmers to consumers out of trucks usually in Church parking lots. You order ahead of time & they schedule delivery on a certain day & time. They just started delivering to our area. The breasts are fresh, not frozen & were delicious. I decided to can the majority.

7 qts, 16 pints & 3 1/2 pints for tasting.

We had one meal from the fresh ones & decided to try one jar of the canned We made chicken enchiladas, which were very good as well.

As you can see, even though we were sick, we still ate like kings & queens. Got to keep up your strength you know!

Greg saw this at Gander Mountain recently & thought I would like it. If you can't tell, it's a Lodge pot holder/trivet. Yes, those are teeny tiny cast iron pans on it. Love it!

Lastly, we found some food grade 55 gallon barrels on Craig's list for $25 & picked them up yesterday afternoon. They are dark colored (will hold water well) & have screw on tops. We may go back to get a couple more.

It's raining here which will make for a lovely lazy Sunday afternoon. Hope everyone has a great weekend & still crossing fingers for spring to finally show up for our Northern friends.

Chicken Processing (new for me)

DISCLAIMER ... This post is a fairly graphic post comment wise, not too many pics though. Regardless, consider yourself forewarned if you decide to continue reading......

A couple of weeks ago I received an invitation to help process chickens.

Turns out the land where the chickens are raised & the home where they are processed are only a couple of miles from my City House! The guy (we'll call him KC) that sent the invitation is a firefighter who actually lives even more 'in town' that we do. But, he has a firefighter buddy that lives on the property where the chickens are raised. The buddy (we'll call him Jack) has 3 jobs so he just mainly provides the residence for the birds. The chickens are raised in a paddock/coop, that is moved daily so they have fresh grass/bugs as well as fresh water & supplemental feed available.

When KC got them as chicks it turns out that he had gotten a few too many roosters & needed to thin them out a bit. I think they were 16 weeks old & looked to me, in my uneducated mind, to be "good sized" birds.

Eeek, what have I gotten myself into? I have trouble handling a store bought raw chicken w/o feeling squeamish. What was I gonna do with live, running around, then caught & put in a cage, then killed, then defeathered & then properly gutted chickens???!!!

Well, I took the day off work & drove over to meet KC by 8:00a. Another couple & their Mom showed up, as well as another lady (EM) that I had met at a gardening class earlier in the summer, with her 11 yo grandson. There were 12 birds to be processed & the couple had brought 6 additional ones they wanted to process. We gathered the birds & put them in a big dog cage that was in the back of KC's truck & drove them to the processing facility which was right across the road at Jack's parent's house.

KC had set everything up for processing. There were the cones on a rack to put the birds in upside down w/their heads through the bottom of the cone, w/buckets underneath to catch the blood, after they had been killed. Then there was the hot water to 'dunk' them up & down in until their feathers released easily. Then the 'plucker', which is a 1/2 barrell w/ rubber nibs in the side & on the bottom are more nibs on a stainless electric 'turntable'. Then a stainless table to 'de-gut' (not sure of the proper term here).

We started w/one of the larger birds. KC showed us what to do at each step. Take bird from cage, put in upside down, properly slit their throat, hold their legs until they die, hold them by their legs & dunk them in & out of the hot water until feathers released easily (maybe 8-10 times), turn plucker on & put bird in until all feathers are plucked, rinse, take to table, cut off head & feet, run fingers around to loosen skin at neck to make insides easier to pull out, cut out/off glands at butt, cut hole above butt, widen skin with hands to loosen everything & pull all innards out, keep liver (handle carefully cutting away the bile duct), gizzard & heart. We tossed the intestines for KC to use in his compost pile. Then reach inside bird to remove lungs, rinse bird & put in in ice water bath until ready to wrap/bag. Here is the only pic that would cooperate. This is the cone killing station.

I took several pics with my new stupid phone. Even though they all look fine once I transferred & adjusted on my PC, when I add them to the blog they are all upside down, except for this one. Oh well.

All morning long I helped w/various things like putting ice in the coolers, then filling them w/water. Running the water hose for rinsing & the plucker. I then stepped in and carried a few birds to the cones. Next, I stepped up & killed a few chickens by slitting their throats & holding their legs until dead.  Then I moved on to the dunking booth, what a great workout! We got to where we were doing 2 at a time & those things were heavy, at least 15 lbs. Dunking all the way in/under water, then out, then back in ... at least 10 -15 dunks each time .. until the feathers were easy to pull out. I then ran the plucker & watched very closely as all in attendance learned how to de-gut them.

I just couldn't bring myself to do the de-gutting part. I listened & learned but didn't want to touch them. All I could think about was what those store bought birds feel like, all slippery & slimey. Blulch - that's my gagging, almost throwing up sound. Yet, strangely enough, watching very closely while the others did it, didn't gross me out.

The grandson of EM was very interested & had helped in all the steps that I had. He then wanted to de-gut. His grandmother gave the approval for him to handle the knives & with close instruction from KC ... he DID IT!!  Remember, this is a city kid that had never killed anything in his life. He was also proud of himself, as we were of him.

Everyone had to leave but there were still 2 chickens left to process. So, I asked KC if I could help with the last 2. I went home & got my knives that I am used to. With only KC & myself left, I processed 1 of the birds from start to finish. When I got to the de-gutting part, the part that I was dreading most, I found that the bird wasn't slimy AT ALL & very easy to handle. I even got the bile duct cut away without ruining the other inner parts. The only scare I got was when I was holding the bird to cut the hole by the butt hole, the thing made a duck call kind of noise & sounded like it was still alive! Although I knew that couldn't be the case, it was just weird to hear. Turns out I had left too much of the neck attached & it was just releasing air while I was holding tight while cutting the back end.

I helped KC clean up & then helped him wrap up each of the birds. They weighed from 3.5 - 4.5 pounds after processing. KC then gave me one for my 'labor'. The bird is in my freezer & I will soon make chicken & rice plus chicken stock. Maybe even can some chicken soup from bone broth. Those posts will be coming soon.

Anyway, it was a very productive day & I'm glad I got to know KC. It turns out his wife makes bread from scratch & is willing to show me how she does it. They own a Country Grain Mill & are willing to let me 'try before I buy'. He recently sent me another email that he was having trouble w/about 5 or 6 other roosters & wondered if we want to come help. Heck yes! Greg doesn't believe I had my hand up a chicken's butt & I don't have pictures to prove it. So, when KC is ready, we will hopefully be in town to help.

Note: As a bonus, it turns out that EM is a Thrive consultant & is willing to come to my house for a Thrive party, which I hope to host in December. If  anyone wants to come, send me an email. I've been wanting to try some of the freeze dried meats & other hard to preserve items they offer for long term food storage. Yet another post in the future.