FIrst Camping Trip For The Grandblessings

Skippy and I were blessed to have taken our grandblessings on their first camping trip. We had such a great time. 

We are already looking forward to our next one trip! 💓

Chicken Crack Soup

It was only a high of 68* here yesterday so I took advantage of the cooler temps and made a pot of Chicken Crack Soup. It definitely lives up to its name because it is ADDICTING!

I found this recipe on DietHood while searching on pinterest. This recipe takes about half an hour if you use pre-cooked shredded chicken. I chose to use raw chicken breast so it took me longer because I cooked the chicken when I made this soup.

This recipe is low carb and keto approved!

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon, diced
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 to 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chives
• salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cups cooked shredded chicken
• 1 package (8 ounces) softened cream cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 3 to 4 cups baby spinach
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• sliced green scallions, for garnish

Direcctions

1. Cook diced bacon to a crisp in a Dutch Oven or soup pot.

2. Remove bacon from pot with a slotted spoon, leaving bacon grease in the pot.
3. Add butter to the pot and melt over medium-high heat.
4. Stir in onions and cook for 3 minutes.
5. Stir in garlic and cook for 20 seconds.
6. Add chicken broth and scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
7. Season with garlic powder, onion powder, dill weed, chives, salt, and pepper.
8. Add bay leaf and bring to a boil; lower heat to medium low and cook for 5 minutes.
9. Stir in shredded chicken; cook for 5 minutes.
10. Add cream cheese and whisk in until completely melted and combined.
11. Stir in shredded cheese; whisk until melted and thoroughly combined.
12. Add baby spinach; cook for 2 minutes.
13. Stir in heavy cream and cook for 1 minute.

14. Taste for seasonings (salt and pepper) and adjust accordingly. Remove bay leaf.

15. Remove soup from heat; top with scallions and previously prepared bacon.

16. Serve.

On The Road Again

Rona is cleaned, packed and ready to roll for our first trip with just the grandblessings. They are all excited and can't wait to hit the road!

 

Winter's Coming

After a few days of having to switch gears in a direction no one ever wants to go, we were able to get back to some of the things on our To Do list, one of which is splitting wood.  My Skippy Man still insists on not letting me help with any of the outside chores so I check on him from time to time and make sure he has water or whatever else he needs.

Wood is our only source of heat so we have to make sure we have a huge supply of it to make it through the winter months.  This is just a small portion of what we will need.  I am so very thankful we were able to purchase a log splitter last year.  Before we purchased it, Skippy would spend at least three hours each evening after working all day, doing it all by hand.....cutting down dead trees in the field with the chain saw, hauling it up to the house and then splitting it all with an ax.  It was very time consuming and very physically demanding.  

Over the next two months, it will more than likely be an everyday occurrence to make sure we fill the shed and have an extra stockpile on the ready in case of extremely bad weather.

How do you heat your home during the winter months?

How do you heat your home during the winter months?

Zucchini Lasagna

I used up some of our abundance of zucchini and made individual pans of lasagna to freeze.  I sliced the zucchini thin using a mandolin so they would all be the same thickness. I then cooked up some Italian sausage and a little bit of ground turkey.   In a separate bowl I mixed together ricotta cheese, a beaten egg, Italian seasoning, ❤garlic❤, s&p, shredded mozzarella and grated parmesan - set aside.

After laying out my pans, I put 2 tablespoons of marinara sauce in each one spreading out to cover the bottom. I then layered zucchini, ricotta mixture, meat mixture then sauce.  Repeat till you have three layers, ending with sauce. I put sliced provolone on the top to get some extra flavor since I already had mozzarella and parmesan inside the lasagna. 

I covered each with foil and before putting them in the freezer  I wrapped with plastic wrap. When we are ready have these for dinner, I will take them out and thaw in the fridge overnight. REMIVE PLASTIC WRAP BEFORE BAKING. I will bake them at 350* for approximately 30 minutes with just foil and then remove and continue baking for another 15-20 and zucchini is fork tender or until cheese is melted and golden brown and sauce is bubbling.  This is the perfect size for one but if you add garlic bread and salad, it can feed two. 

As with any recipe, you can always tweak it to fit your family's tastes. ENJOY!

Sand Play and Wood Splitting

All three of our grandchildren were over yesterday and they were happy as clams to play in/with the sand in the driveway. They had so much fun they asked to come back on Friday and of course Nana said YES!! While the kids played the adults split and stacked wood, a must when your only source of heat for the winter is a wood stove.

I also was able to can another 5 pint jars of relish thanks to our very giving cucumber plants!