My absolutely insane life

  I have been reading so much lately about the benefits of bone broth.  Supposedly it is supposed to help with inflammation so with that in mind I decided it was time to try something new.  I brought home the turkey carcass from Breanna’s house (Thanksgiving) and got it cooking.  I had to use two slow cookers because there were so many bones.  They cooked for well over 48 hrs and then came the straining.  First I pulled out all the larger bones and set them aside.  While I did that Brad started pulling bits of meat out of the pot and putting it on the side.  Apparently he made dog treats out of it.  Then I strained it and it went into the refrigerator to sit so it could get cold and the fat could congeal.  Today I took them out and skimmed the fat off the top and put them in pint sized canning jars.  Some went into the refrigerator (those I will use in the next few days) and then others i put into the freezer.  Next time I think I might can them.   Next I worked on apples and applesauc

 This past week I spent a good amount of time making yummy foods and treats for my kiddos.  Everyone seems to love dehydrated apples, so when I found myself with tons of them I dehydrated some and made homemade applesauce out of the others.   I also found myself with tons of bell peppers and wasn’t sure what I should do with them, so while my freeze dryer was busy with other foods and my dehydrator was busy making apples, I tossed these in the oven on a very low temperature and dehydrated them in there.  Not really sure what I am going to do with them now that they are done, but will probably add them to soups or stews or other recipes.   Oh my goodness are freeze dried oranges good.  I also found myself with tons of oranges, so into the freeze dryer they went.  My plan is to dip them in chocolate for a treat at my daughter’s house for Thanksgiving.  I am always trying to find “different” things to make.   I also currently have some orange slices (with the peels still on them) in the d

  It is cold outside so that means staying indoors and finding something to do.  I decided to work on food storage prep.  I have lots of peppers in the freeze dryer.  Unfortunately I screwed something up and my screen froze on the machine so I had to unplug it and restart it.  Had that not happened it would have been done this morning when I work up.   Brad and I checked out he Flashfood app this morning and found several produce boxes listed.  We went in and got three of them.  This gave us a bunch of apples, oranges, and bell peppers.  I  decided to cut up apples and put some of those in the dehydrator.  I also cut up some to make homemade applesauce which I am going to can when done.   I cut up all most of the bell peppers, and am dehydrating those in the oven.  While I was cutting them up Penny kept coming by me and waiting for me to drop a pepper.  When she got them she quickly ran off with it.  Of course, very quickly Lola and Lilly realized what was going on, and they joined in

 Recently I bought a book to create freeze dried meals in jars.  What you do is you freeze dry the separate ingredients and then you combine the ingredients in a quart canning jar.  Then when you are ready to make the food you open the jar, dump it in a pan, add water, boil and then simmer until it is done.  Kind of reminds of something similar to hamburger helper, but healthier because all ingredients are ones I freeze dried myself.   Today I did the hamburger for some of the recipes…..tomorrow I am going to freeze dry cheese, and then each day will keep going until I have all the ingredients for each recipe.  Once I do I will put them together and put them in my pantry.  I am so excited about this.  Easy and healthy meals.   I also just purchased supplies for doing canning.  My plan is to keep an eye on the foods that are in the clearance section and can them when I find good deals.  Meijer s participates in a program where they discount foods that are going to go bad soon….something

  After several months of saying we were going to get a mother/son tattoo we finally did it.  A few weeks ago when I got the tattoo on my foot….. We started talking about it again.  Aaron came up with the idea of me getting a camera tattoo and he would get the words “no pictures.”  The reason we opted for this one is because when he was little I wanted to take a lot of photos.  The second Aaron saw the camera coming out he would cover his face with his hand(s) and would scream “no pictures, no pictures.”  It was always so cute.   My left calf I really love how they turned out.  I know some will think it is silly, but to me it is very meaningful.