When I was about 8 or 9 my dad moved us out to a farming city where his dream was to have a horse ranch of some sort. We rented a little old house on a tiny plot of land and started our "country" life with chickens. He came home with 50 eggs and an incubator. There they sat as I eagerly awaited the Chickie's arrival. One by one they hatched except one that was having a terrible time at it. So I gently pulled the she'll away helping her out. She was little, yet lived through the whole ordeal. I was given the job as the chicken keeper...My duties were to clean out the coop and make sure they were watered and fed. I ended up spending much of my time with them...They became sort of friends to me. Time wore on as they grew in their feathers, it was time for them to venture out into the pens outside. The one little runt with a crooked little neck...The one I helped out of the egg was abused by the group...she ended up running into my arms from then I adopted her as my very own pet...Later my dad built her own home so she could live in peace... Poor dear ended up in a tragic death several years later. I miss her to this day.
Read here to learn more about my special chicken.
Little did I know after all the love and attention I gave to all those chickens that their little lives were just about to come to an end. I had no clue that the plan was to use them for meat! Sadly the day came where my dad and a couple other fellow's were over setting up the scene...and every chicken I hand raised died that day...except for my sweet little red hen of course. I was devastated, I weeped for days and decided then...i would never eat chicken again! And so I did not eat chicken for a very long time.
I don't know how long it took, but somewhere along the line I must have eaten it again.That didn't keep me from having a tender spot for the little creatures. I have fond memories of having many chickens when I was young. We had my sweet dusty and started to raise layers later on. It was always my job to keep the coop. I remember enjoying it immensely. With that... I have yearned to have chickens again... Freckles and i have a whole list of names we picked out for future girlies. Ahhh..Maybe someday! For now I can periodically visit our friends girls... Which they have also gifted us with beautiful eggs to use in my kitchen on many occasions.
Then there are the few I have in my kitchen...Nothing fancy...Just little doo dads I thought I would share with you. I also wanted to share the yummy recipe I put together on a whim the other night!
Chicken Noodle & Dumpling Soup
3 large carrots
2 celery stocks
4 green onions
1 large white onion
10 cups of water
10 tsp. chicken bouillon...We used Maggi which you can find in the Mexican section..
(Love the flavor verses Knorr bouillon...Personal opinion, Grin)
1 bag ABC noodles or egg noodles or perhaps 1 1/2 Cups. rice...it's up to you.
Bisquick for making the dumplings ( follow package directions or make them from scratch)
a couple dashes of pepper to taste.
~~~~~~~~
First I started to boil my water while cutting all the veggies...You can add whatever you want veggie wise...I made it pretty simple. Add your bouillon to the boiling water, then add all your cut up veggies, then add your uncooked chicken breasts to the water and boil low until veggies are tender and chicken is cooked through. I then took the chicken pieces out and cut them up into bits adding it back to the water along with my noodles. Let that boil low for the next 10 minutes. Make your dumpling mixture as directed...Place balls of dough on top of soup... Cover 10 minutes then take lid off put on simmer and cook for 10 more minutes. Your done! It's easy as that..It's flavorful and the whole family is going to love it! Mine did!
It made enough to have leftovers for dinner the next
night plus lunch the following day after that!
So enjoy!
thanks for going down memory lane once again...
Hope y'all have a great remainder of this week!!!
LINKING TO:
Raising Homemakers
Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
