(For the Love of)... Chicken Soup

I love chicken soup. It's always there at times of need, or need of comfort. My hubby was sick yesterday. Often, he complains about how sick he feels, buy yesterday, he was sick. So, he deserved some extra attention, and some feeling of comfort, so I made him soup. Funny how soup is always the answer when someone needs a quick pick me up. Happy soup. Here's how I make mine:

I grab some veggies. I always have celery, onion, and carrots on hand about a cup of each. They are the base for all of my soup broths, but I add these after I boil the chicken to start the broth. The celery leaves in the bowl, I'll add towards the end to give a nice 'parsley' effect. Now, I buy a couple of fryer or roaster chickens and cut them myself to save some extra cash ($0.88/lb, compared to $2 or $3/lb). I save the backs and sometimes the top of the breast portion and cook them first in a large pot of water, and I simmer them for about an hour.

This might look kind of gross, but the end result is quite the payoff. Boiling the chicken and bones gives great flavor to the broth, and the chicken is so tender! Remove it to a bowl, to let cool, and remove the meat from the bones. Strain the broth and you are ready to make soup!

This is what I got after removing the bones~ a full plate of very tender chicken. I cook the veggies first in the broth until they 'sink' into the pot, and add 2 boullion cubes, the chicken pieces and some more coarsely chopped carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, corn~whatever I have on hand. I add some herbs: basil, parsley, oregeno, thyme, and garlic. Add enough to suit your taste. That's the beauty of soup~ using what you already have.
I also add rice, about one cup to the mix, or noodles. For this soup, it was the rice, a wild and brown rice mix. It's beautiful to look at, and healthier than the white version. It gives a slighty more 'nutty' taste. And it's so pretty! Simmer the soup until the rice is cooked, and it's ready to go.
Now, whether it's coincidence or not, the hubby felt better today...ahhhh the love of soup!

The Story of the Terrible Towel...

Once upon a time, there was a tiny little man with a squeaky voice who somehow landed a job in radio. His name was Myron Cope. He had the looks for radio, but certainly not the voice, but he loved sports, he loved the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he knew the game, which earned him respect in a town that demanded a good work ethic. Somehow, even with his radio looks, he landed the TV broadcast post for the WTAE broadcast games too. In this town, he is a legend. Everyone knows who Myron was. He did alot outside of the broadcast booth too. He loved this town, and did alot of charity work, especially with Autism research. Now, a little about the Terrible Towel, as I remember it.

It started out in the mid 1970's during a playoff year for the Steelers, when Myron was asked to try to involve the fans a bit more with the broadcast. He came up with a crazy idea to wave a yellow or black towel to encourage the team, and fire up the fans. He asked people to bring a towel to the game. It worked. Eventually the towels were marketed as Myron Cope's Original Terrible Towels. Now back in the day when they first came about, they were just towels. I remember my Mom buying some yellow and white kitchen towels, and we drew our own Steeler emblems and wrote "Terrible Towel" on them with marker...long live the simple days! We'd run around the house waving our own version of the towel. My homemade version, I'm sure soon became dusting cloths for my Mom, but my hubby has managed to save two towels: one black, one gold, which are tucked away safely in his sports box. Now once playoff season starts, the towels can't be touched until the season is over. No exceptions! (My kitty, Emma, came dangerously close to touching the towels in this post, lucky for the cute kitty, she kept her paws off! We can't have a cat jinxing the team now, can we?) We didn't get them out by playoff season this year, so they can't be touched until next year. Steeler fans are pretty superstitious, and we can't afford to be the ones to jinx the team, that would be bad.



Now, all superstitions aside, it's only good sportsmanship to wish for a good competitive game on Sunday against the Packers. It should be a good game. Two old school, tough nosed teams duking it out for all the marbles. Now only if I could watch the entire game. My husband thinks I'm a jinx! Wishing a good, tough, safe game on Sunday. I'm happy for Green Bay to be at the Superbowl, but I'll be chanting "GO STEELERS!!!"

Backyard birds outside today

The winter in the backyard woods. This pine tree in our back yard is huge, about 50 ft. high, and might be the main reason we're lucky enough to have such a variety of birds visit. It's like a bird hotel.

I was trying to get a nice perching shot of this male cardinal and snapped just as he started to fly to the ground to feed. This isn't the best shot, but I'm keeping it because now I'm determined to catch one in flight! It's going to take me bundling up and sit outside for a couple of hours and to be patient, but I'm determined now! (This shot was taken from my bathroom window of all places!)

The male northern cardinal is always so easy to find because of their bright red plumage. That would be the reason you see so many shots here, plus the fact that we're lucky enough to have about 8 pairs of cardinals this year as regular visitors!

This sweet little Carolina wren hangs out mainly in the fall and winter. It might be around in the summer, but I don't notice it as much. We have two visit the yard, and one or both has flown into the house twice! Thank goodness they are friendly little birds that don't panic easily, the happy go lucky bird of the backyard. It was easy to direct them outside. So cute, and this one looks great against the brick pile we planned to use for our firepit. It's turned out to be a great winter feeding station so it's a good thing my hubby decided to go with stone for the firepit!

Ok, this gorgeous summer green may be out of place, but look below and it will make sense...

This is the same tree as above, a huge silver maple, but this is it's winter look. A squirrel was able to get this apple my hubby put out for the deer up to the nook in the tree shown above, about 15 ft. up. I'm sure it was a tasty little snack.

And here is the gorgeous female northern cardinal. They aren't as easy to find to photograph since they blend in so well to the trees. She is quite pretty. Towards the end of February, she'll be amost entirely olive, just in time to lay eggs for springtime. I can't wait to get a shot of her in her glory.



After a bit, I heard a woodpecker in the woods, and I spied where they had been feeding on the trunk of a huge tree. I didn't expect to actually be able to spot them, but this was my lucky day.

This red headed woodpecker appeared pretty quickly and it moves so fast, it's hard to get a good clear shot, but I thought it was worth trying (and keeping) since I don't often catch them with the camera away from the feeders. It's extra special catching them doing their thing, eating bugs under the tree bark.

This little white breasted nuthatch was doing the same thing. So cute, and so quick.

How NOT to Grill a Christmas Turkey!

This year was the closest to "The Christmas Story" dinner we've ever been! This is how not to grill a turkey. It shouldn't look like this. It should be a pretty dark brown and juicy! What we ended up with was charred and dry. It was a 'series of unfortunate events'. First, my hubby filled the entire grill with charcoal, instead of the usual placing of the pan to catch drippings, and building coals around that. It was a rather large turkey, so maybe he thought he needed the extra coals. I then, had the bright idea to place the bird in a roasting pan to try to make a buffer between the coals and the heat. That proved to be a bad idea. It caught on fire. After about an hour of grilling, our turkey looked something like this, although not quite as bad. (This is the look after trying to save an unsavable bird!)
I made the frantic call to my mother in law to ask if she just happened to have a spare bird. Luckily she did. I left in a flash to pick up the back up bird to roast in the oven~ by now, we figured we had to play it safe. The third of our series of unfortunate events came to light as I realized that I now couldn't make the cookies and desserts I planned since I now had a 15 lb. turkey in the oven! Again, I jumped in the car to desperately attempt to find an open convienence store~ hurray for Get-Go! Get-Go was opened for business and packed with holiday shoppers. Did they all burn a bird, or was it just me? Probably just me. I was able to pick up some chips, pop, and goodies for fill my dessert trays, and I was relieved to know that they also sold subs, just in case my back up bird didn't cook in time. I devised a plan then, that if by 4 pm., I didn't have a cooked bird, I would head out again to Get-Go, to buy holiday sub sandwiches! Good eating! Meanwhile, the hubby tried to save the burned bird.

He tried, but there wasn't much left to save. What he did 'save' was DRY! At this point, I thought the only thing worse that could happen would be the pack of hungry dogs running through the house, and devouring what was left of our bird. They didn't come and we're making turkey rueben's tonight with the grilled, dry bird! We were able somehow, to find humor in this day of near disasters. Everything somehow came together. We didn't have to eat at Get-Go. I've never prepared side dishes so fast as I did this Christmas. I was a chopping, slicing, shredding, mixing and baking maniac! I felt kind of like a ninja.

This is how the day ended. Nice. Cozy. Happy. The way every day should be! And, we have a story to tell for years to come. And I was tired...very tired.

Cold day for the birds...

It's COLD here in PA today! The 24 degree F temps outside with lots of strong wind gusts have kept some of the birds hiding in cover this morning, but some are hungry enough to brave the wind to scoop up some food from the backyard. Enjoy!The cardinals~ especially the males look so majestic perched in the trees.This little tufted titmouse came around for some sunflower seeds. I was waiting for a bluejay to swoop down for some of the nuts, but this little guy happened along first. It kind of surprised me. I took the picture as soon as it landed because the jay's are so quick to eat and run!

Even this bluejay looks cold today, darn those northwestern winds!

So, this female cardinal will continue to get lighter throughout the winter to look almost entirely olive color with that stunning black face mask in February. She's a gorgeous bird.

This one might be Christmas card worthy.


I need to make a point of getting a good pair of gloves, a warm scarf, boots, and coat ready for my next birding date...it's way to cold to sit out (or hang out the window) without them!

The Thankful List

What do you think of when you thing of Thanksgiving? Oven roasted turkey with potatoes and dressing, hot buttered corn, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie?

We all think of the dinner, and everything that goes into it, but not just this day, but everyday, there are so many things to be thankful for.

Here's some of my list. This list will continue to grow. What are you thankful for?

1. My three pretty girls~ I have no idea what I did in life before you girls came along, life is complete with you. I love you more than you'll ever know.

2. My husband~ You tolerate my need to be a country girl, you don't fuss (too much) about my planting sunflowers all over the yard for the birds and critters, and you know family is the most important thing in life.

3. My brothers, my sisters, my family~ We've been through so much together, I love you all, always.

4. My pets~ Megan, Sadie (RIP), Nikki, Emma, Hermit Crab, Finny, and all those before, thanks for loving me unconditionally.

5. The sunshine, the warm gentle winds of summer~ you make me feel alive.

6. The changing seasons of Pennsylvania~ an everchanging landscape is good for the mind and soul. Even the snow. But maybe not the ice.

7. My God and my faith. It's important to know that there is always guidance from above, and someone to answer to if I choose the wrong path. Or words.

8. My Country. We may not always agree on how things should be done, or who should lead, but this Country is unique, we have so much and so many rights that others can only imagine, it cannot be taken for granted.

9. My ablility to bake a mean apple pie. Even if I don't like apple pie.

10. Chocolate Chip cookies.

11. Soccer and Hockey. It is the love of my girls, so it is a love of mine too. It has provided new and lasting friendships, confidence, discipline and the skill to work as a team. Good qualities to have in life.

12. Peace and Quiet. It doesn't happen too often, so I'm thankful for every second!

13. And Noise~ it's funny when all is quiet, I miss the laughter (not the yelling) of the girls in the house. I'm thankful I have healthy girls who can be best friends and worst enemies without any advance notice!

14. Health. I am blessed to have healthy children, I thank God everyday, and pray for those who don't.

I will continue to add my gratitudes, check back, and add some yourself.

Peggy's Porcupine Balls (Meatloaf balls)

These porcupine balls turned out great. They were easy to make and start to finish in less than an hour. I started out with really fresh ingredients: fresh zucchini, green peppers, onion, all from my garden and carrots, ground beef, and arborio rice from the grocery store.

And an egg. This one was a double yoker. I have always considered double yokers good luck!
These ingredients looked so pretty in the mixing bowl, especially with the afternoon sun shining in through the window.

I love my Pampered Chef chopper and veggie spatula, and my hand grater. I use these almost every day.

Peggy's Porcupine Balls

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1/2 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 chopped carrot

1 medium onion-chopped

1 1/2 cups cooked arborio rice

1 egg

2 packages turkey or brown gravy mix (enough to make 3 or 4

cups)

Dash of paprika to add to the gravy mix.

Add all ingredients in mixing bowl and gently mix and form into

3 inch balls. Place in baking dish (I use my cast iron skillet) and

bake 30 minutes until fully cooked, no longer pink in the middle.

Make gravy according to package directions and pour over

cooked porcupine balls. Serve with bread or noodles. Makes

about 18 porcupine balls.

There's no added salt in this recipe, the gravy mix adds enough to give this dish alot of taste.

I mixed this easy side dish up and baked it in the oven with the porcupine balls. It is simply 3 cups of chopped cauliflower, 1/2 cup fat free sour cream, 2 tsp. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix, 6 thinly sliced pats of butter and about 2 tsp. freshly chopped chives. Again, just mix everything together toss in the oven, stirring occasionally.