Carrots and Greens

I had a craving for carrots today so I just made this up as I went along.

What you need:
3 carrots
2 celery
greens:  collards, mustard, spinach, or a mixture
1/4 onion
2 cloves garlic
dulse/seaweed
chicken broth

Slice everything up in the desired chunky thickness, and put in a pot with the chicken broth.  I use just enough broth to steam with until the carrots are tender.  Maybe a 1/2 cup or more.

When the carrots are tender, pour into a bowl and add just butter and sea salt to taste.  Mmmmmm.  I love butter and sea salt on my veggies, especially carrots.
Enjoy!

A Healing Chicken Broth for Colds and Flu

When was the last time you had home made broth?  I mean the rich stuff--boiling the bones down all day to get that rich dark yellow broth.   Never had it?  Or has it been so long ago you don't remember when?

Here's how to make your own chicken broth and you can store it in the freezer and use it as you need it.

You need chicken bones.  These could be the bones you save from other dishes, like roasted chicken, fried chicken... just put them in a freezer baggie and freeze til you're ready to make the broth.  Now put all the bones in a big pot and fill with water.  Bring to a boil, cover and then put on simmer to medium heat.  Keep it on the stove all day while you do your other house chores.  Just keep checking it and refill with water when needed.  Also, you can skim off the gunk and foam at the beginning.

By late afternoon you should have a deep golden broth.  Just strain off the bones and store the broth in containers in the freezer.  Keep some in the refrigerator too, to add to a quick 20 minute soup during the week. 

Chicken soup has many healing properties, especially for colds and flu.  So make sure to keep it on hand.

Butter

Did you know you can make your own butter? 

Just take 1-2 cups of cream and pour it into a glass quart jar.  Shake it for about 15 minutes or more.  The agitation is what brings about 2 phases:  the first one is whipped cream, the 2nd is the butter.

The whipped cream is light and fluffy and delicious.  Keep shaking past this phase until you see the butter granules.  Then pour the buttermilk into a cup and put that in the refrigerator. 

Now you can rinse the butter granules with cool water and press with a wooden spoon.  You want to repeat this process several times until the water runs clear.  Then work in about 1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt into the butter and store in the refrigerator or freezer.

Use the buttermilk to make pancakes or biscuits.  Both the butter and buttermilk are full of nutrients so enjoy!