How to Skin a Chicken

***WARNING***

Graphic Photos are following.  If you are not able to view them, please don't.  This is a pictorial on how to skin a chicken.  

We have been raising our own meat this year.  We wanted to have our own control over how our chickens (ducks, geese and goats) were raised, what feed they were getting, how they were treated, and how they were housed.

We knew going in that our animals are not pets.  They are respected, treated well, but ultimately they feed us.

My friend stated the other day as she was standing under her apple tree:

"I stood under an apple tree this morning that I planted and tended for about 15 years now. It's hard to explain, but I felt a wave of gratitude, kinship and history with this tree as I picked it's fruit and munched on the occasional one ( a mutual giving and receiving relationship). I felt I knew it and it knew me."  

Isn't that beautiful?!  It sums up my feelings so well.

I have been feeling a great connection to my food for a couple years now, and as a result this has been our next step into becoming more connected and responsible to/for our food.

We do not glory in the death of the animal (or veggie, etc) that has given it's life to feed us, we glory in the fact that we could care for it, raise it, and later use it in such a way to give us life.

We also have taught our children to be involved, having some beautiful teaching opportunities about the sanctity and beauty of life.

Because we got into raising our own chickens for meat, we knew this day was coming.  We knew we would be harvesting our own chicken, but three roosters just came a little faster than we were planning.  They were so vicious they couldn't wait till the normal 20 weeks for a chicken.

I searched and searched all over the internet for a pictorial on how to skin a chicken.

I didn't want to pluck because it stinks and it takes FOR.EV.ER!!  I also can't eat chicken for a couple weeks after because of the smell.

I heard that skinning is easier, quicker, and less stinky.  I am all for easy so I wanted to try it out.

Because I couldn't find a decent tutorial, or pictorial on skinning, I had my son take some snaps as we did ours.  Here it is if you find yourself needing a guide to harvesting your chickens.

Get your space ready.  We don't have a beautiful stainless steel sink and worktable like some, and we are still old school with a chopping block, but it all works great.

Some essential things we have found you need:
A super good axe you can handle with one hand.  MUST have a super sharp edge.
Bucket for after you remove the head.
Plastic to keep your area clean.
Gloves (optional, but nice to keep your hands clean, they are easier to change than washing your hands each time they get dirty)
Garbage bag for feathers and skin.

Super sharp skinning knife.

I didn't post removing the head, but if you want to know how to do that, contact me and I will tell you.  I was trying to spare some people's sensitivities.

After your bird has been dispatched, remove the feathers from anal to rib cage.  This is so you can access the gut area.

Carefully cut into the skin.  You will cut through a layer of skin, then fat.  Stop there.  Your guts are right under that and you don't want to pierce any of them.

 Separate your skin by easing your finger in between the meat and skin.  It comes off really easy.

Get some legs out, and the breast, cutting skin where needed to access the meat.

Place your hand into the cavity and work your fingers around the insides.

Remove them all.

It should be totally empty when finished.  If you didn't grab all of them, go in and get the rest.  Carefully so as not to puncture the organs.

The easiest way to remove wings and legs are to break at the joint.  This will also remove all the skin and feathers.  It just slides right off when you have the breast and up to the joints exposed.  Just slide it all off and dispose of it.

When you are done it will look like this.  You may have a few feathers on your skin, but we just wash them off as they were just strays, not actually attached.

All done.

Finished weight will depend on the breed and age of your chicken.  These three averaged about 6lbs.  They were Cochin roosters (which are supposed to be incredibly docile, but these three were not) at almost 17 weeks.  The feathers were a pain to take off, and I am so glad we skinned instead of plucked as these little men had WAAAAY lots of feathers!!

There you have it.  I am kind of in love with skinning as it only takes us about 7 min start to finish for one bird.  Plucking takes us about 20-30 min per bird.  I am all about time saving so skinning seems to me to be the better option!

Cheers

Felted Laundry Balls

Have you ever felted anything?  I have been playing with felting since a couple years ago, (I am sure you may have inadvertantly felted by shrinking a sweater) and have since become rather addicted! 

A few weekends ago, dh and I went to a craft sale for date night.  That's how I know he loves me, he goes to craft shows with me for date night!

Anyway, we bought some cool stuff.  My favorite thing of all was a set of  felted dryer balls.  They are balls you can stick in your dryer to cut down on drying time, and they also work as static reducers.  I was very interested in these as I dislike having the extra chemicals on my clothing. 

I used them and they really worked!  So thrilled.  They cut down the time my clothes dried (jeans that took 90 min took a little less than 70 min with these balls).

So, I was looking at them and figured I could make some more for me, and for Christmas presents.  If you are on my list, pretend you don't see these!

First, you need some wool.  You want it to be as close to 100% wool as you can. 

Wrap around your fingers until you have quite a ball going on.

See, this is a great start.

Take it off your fingers and wrap around the middle now.  Until it is almost all the way covered.

Begin wrapping all directions now.  You are trying to make it round.

Pretty soon it will be all round and a tiny little ball.

Keep wrapping until you have about a tennis ball sized ball.

When you are finished, take a crochet hook (the only way I can actually USE a crochet hook...dh is the crocheter around here!) and pull the end through several of the layers of wool, this way you don't have to tie a knot.

Your balls will  be mostly done now.

Take an old pair of nylons (or new ones if you can find them at the dollar store) and place them in the legs of the nylons, tying off between balls.  If you want to save the nylons for later, use a piece of string you can untie, if not, just tie knots and cut them out.

Now, you need to wash them with HOT water (separately in a load all on their own).  Dry on HOT as well (this can be with other clothes if you actually dry with hot air).  This is how you felt them.  They will look a little matted and will hold together.

When you have them all felted, wrap with another layer of wool.  I made my last layer nice and neat, but you could make it however you want.  I made them a little larger than tennis balls.  Wash and dry a few more times.  They should be nice and felted now and the last layer matted together enough that they will be rather solid. 

Now they are ready for use in your laundry.  Toss them in the dryer to use them with each load.  The more you use them, the more felted they become.

Enjoy.  Let me know if you make them and how you like them.  I love mine and hope they work for you as well.

Cheers

Food Storage Friday - Making Cheese

It is so easy to just walk into a store and pick up some cheese, but making it is so much fun!

I love to make it when I have time.  It does take the majority of the day, but so worth it.  (IMHO)  I make mine from powdered milk, so it qualifies as food storage!  :)
I thought I might do a small pictorial for you.

Basic American Mozzarella

Collect your Equipment:

5 Quart (or bigger) Stainless Steel Pot with heavy bottom
Pyrex measuring cup
Thermometer

Sterile thin material (I used a pillowcase)
Strainer
Receiving container

Wooden spoon

Ingredients:

1 Rennet Tablet dissolved in 1/4 Cup cool water

1 1/4 tsp Citric Acid dissolved in 1/2 Cup cool water

1 Gallon (4 Liters) Milk  (I made mine from milk powder.  I find this actually works better than store bought cows milk.  I know people who have their own cow though and their cheese is amazing, so if you have a cow...use that!)

Warm milk over gentle heat to 88F (31C).

Add your citric acid that has been dissolved in water.  Stir well.
Add your rennet tablet that has been dissolved in water.  Stir well.

Let sit undisturbed for 1-2 hours (I let mine sit for 2 hours...makes more curds).  Your milk will look like this when you are done:

Cut your curds into 1/2 inch curds (if you used cow milk, if you used powder they are not very solid)

Warm curds and whey (the yellow part) over low heat, stirring gently to warm evenly and keep the curds separated until heat reaches 108F (42C).

Hold at 108F for 35 min.  Stir every 5 min or so to keep curds off bottom.

Collect your curds by pouring them into your cloth. (my big bowl has the strainer inside with the cloth lining it.)

Gather ends of your material and let drain for a few min.

Gently press more of the whey out with your hands.  (you don't want it to come through though)

See the yellow stuff in the bowl below? 
That is the whey...save to make ricotta later if you wish (recipe below)...if not, just throw away.

Your curds will be nice and solid in your cloth.  Remove to a glass microwave safe bowl.

Add 1 tsp of salt to your curds.  Mix well.

Microwave your curds for 30 seconds on high.  Press with spoon (or your hands if you are an adult) to get more of the whey out.  Mix to distribute your heat evenly.

Microwave for 20 seconds more.  Mix your curds.  If they are sticking and nice and pliable, they are done.  (if not microwave for 20 more seconds.  If you are using powdered milk I find it needs all 3 times, cow milk seems to only need 2 of them)

Kneed your mozza on the counter until nice and smooth and forms an elastic ball.

Store in your refrigerator in salted water.

Enjoy!

Crepes 'N Gravy

That's what we are going to call these.  :)

When we first got married, dh really didn't enjoy watching me cook in the kitchen.  I don't measure or follow a recipe per sey, but things end up being pretty good.  (biased opinion, but I think truthful!  :D)

Fast forward many years, and dh is making crepes.  I figure I better get "his recipe" to include with "my sauce" so I ask him...

...here in his words are his recipe:

"Um, just like a basic pancake batter with more liquid, more eggs and more fat (oil/margarine)"

"Ok, but I am putting it on my blog, can you give me an actual amount?"

"Ummmm....I can try."

I taught him well!

Here are the Crepes that dh and I team make once in a while:

Crepe batter:

13/4 C Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 C Sugar

Mix together

4 Eggs

1/2 C Butter (melted)

Water till it is nice and runny.  (like a crepe batter)

Mix well. 

Butter a skillet (frying pan) well.  With a 1/3 C measuring cup pour the batter onto hot skillet.  Tilt the skillet quickly to cover the bottom.  (you may need more or less depending on the size of your skillet)  Cook until lightly browned on one side.  (see the bottom skillet)  Flip and cook other side.

Meanwhile make some sauce.  Here is how we made ours last night:

I had some leftover mushrooms and zucchini and chopped them up nice and fine  (about 3 cups total).  I also added a sliced and diced onion to the mix.  I fried them all up and removed them to a bowl.

Next I scrambled a nice bit of pork sausage.  Dh likes this kind best, but you can use whatever meat you want.  (we started out using hamburger and found that we liked sausage best)

Add a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup,
about 11/2C Sour Cream
and about 1 Can of Milk

Mix well and cook until nice and bubbly.

We like to season it a bit more, I have my favorites, but often dh beats me to it and adds something to the crepe batter before so I have to follow suit!  :)  Here is his favorite.  It is a nice blend in a grinder so your are grinding it fresh every time.

I am lazy and really hate rolling and folding crepes, so we just fold them in fourths and pour the sauce on top.

et Voila!  Yummy crepes that are great for dinner or breakfast. 

Cheers

We Shall Make Music to Brighten the Day...

...Music will help us to lighten the way...

In an effort to help my boys appreciate music we try a wide variety of things.  One of the newest things we have done is to make some shakers.  When I take Mr. M to story time there is a part with singing and stuff.  There sometimes are shakers.  He loves the shakers.  So I have been on a lookout for some stuff to make our own version of them.  I also wanted them to be safe (read big) enough for my young niece (who is here often) to also enjoy.  They worked so great I thought I would share.

The dollar store has lots of little egg things to fill with candy.  I picked these ones up because they were pretty darn funny.  (and a dollar?  I bought two!)

I had some really old Orzo that I forgot I had (and found while moving) to fill half of the eggs.  I wanted them to have enough to make a noise, but also have enough room to shake well.

I love Krazy Glue.  I just glued around the top edge (the one without the stuff inside) and put the two together.  Don't get on your hands!  :)

Seriously?  The faces kill me! 

Don't let the lack of big boys in the picture fool you...they like them too.  :)  We have had a bunch of fun with them.  We like to shake along to our favorite songs, sing along to the shaking noise and just carry them in our pockets to hear them as we walk!  :)

Cheers

Kitchen "Arts"

As a Mom to boys, sometimes I forget that they need to learn the "girly" skills in life.  This generally includes the kitchen domain.   For several years I have been working with my two oldest in the kitchen trying to get the skills into them that they will need as men.  One day my youngest asked me, "Mom, when is it MY turn to help you in the kitchen?"  Talk about out of mouths of babes!

We have been working in the kitchen together this year as part of his kindergarten. 

My dear son told me that HE should show you how to make something in the kitchen!  So, demonstrating how a 5 year old can totally make some yummy stuff in the kitchen, here is my son. 

Fruity Oat Bars

First you need to pre-heat your oven to 400F. 

Get out your blender.  Place one full cup of dried apricots and 2 Tbsp water into it.  Blend until the apricots are smooth.  Set aside.

In a bowl mix 2 1/3Cups of flour with 1 Cup Oats and 1/2 tsp Salt.  Set aside.

With parental supervision, get out a medium saucepan.  Place 3/4 C Unsalted butter (or hard margarine), 3/4 C Brown Sugar and 2 Tbsp corn syrup into it.  Melt over medium heat, stirring once in a while.

Add to your dry flour mixture and mix it all up.  (my son got tired of stirring after a while and I had to finish this step for him)

Press half of your mixture into a 7 inch square pan.

Smooth your fruit over top, and top with the remaining oat/flour mixture.  My son told me we were making "sandwiches" in a pan!

Bake for 20-25 min until nicely golden on the top.  Cut into squares.  (we found that 16 was about perfect serving size)

Let cool and enjoy the "fruits" of your labor!

We think it would also be yummy with other fruit like strawberries, apples, blueberries and any other dried fruit you enjoy.

These were super fun for my son to make and he could do almost the whole thing by himself, making him feel pretty efficient in the kitchen.

Have fun!

Cheers