White Chicken Chili

This is the best white chicken chili recipe.  Ever.  One time I made it for a chili cook-off in the 'non-traditional' category and won first place.  Granted, there usually aren't many entries in the 'non-traditional' category, but whatever, it's still the best!

3  16oz cans of Great Northern White beans

5 cups  cooked chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes

1 tbs  olive oil

2  medium onions, chopped

4  garlic cloves, minced

2  4oz cans of chopped mild green chilies

1 ½ tsps  dried oregano, crumbled

2 tsps  ground cumin

¼ tsp  black pepper

4 cups  chicken broth or stock (have more on hand in case you want it thinner)

3 cups  grated Monterrey Jack cheese (about 12oz)

Sour cream for garnish

How to make if you are immediately serving:

Place chicken in heavy, very large saucepan.  Add cold water to cover and bring to a simmer.  Cook until just tender, about 15 minutes.  Drain and cool.  (If your chicken has skin on it, remove it.)  Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes.

Heat olive oil in same pot over medium – high heat.  Add onions and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes.  Stir in garlic, chilies, cumin, oregano and pepper and saute 2 minutes.  Add undrained beans and broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and add chicken and cheese and stir until cheese melts.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with sour cream, if desired.

Crock-pot version:

Cut raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes.  Throw into the crock-pot.

Throw all of your other ingredients into the crock-pot, excluding the olive oil, sour cream, and Monterrey Jack cheese.

Cook in crock-pot for about 8 hours on high.  Add the cheese 1+ hour before serving so it has a chance to melt.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with sour cream, if desired.

40 mile difference

Last Friday I took the afternoon off from work so I could drive to a moderate-sized city about 40 miles away to a) take my van to the dealer for some work, b) shop at stores other than The Wal-Marts, c) eat lunch out, d) get errands done that I've been meaning to do for about a year, e) go to the nail salon for some girl time.

I had a great day, although I did still end up at a Wal-Mart.  But at least it was a full-blown, regular-sized Wal-Mart... versus the one in my town of 1600 people that is tiny and notably missing an auto center and a bakery.

The one thing that pulls at my heart-strings about moving to the very rural country is my choice of shopping establishments.  But, that's for another post.

While I was hopping from errand to errand, the sky started to look dark and ominous.  I briefly thought, "Oh great, another storm!".  But since we've been having storms for the past 3 months straight, I wasn't too concerned.  It rained for a bit and then cleared up.  Yay... more shopping!

Around 7pm, I started my drive home and arrived around 8pm.  As I pulled off of the main road onto our gravel road, I could tell the weather down this'a'way had been more than the few drops I saw earlier.  Leaves and small limbs littered the road.  As I pulled down our driveway, the tan truck had so many leaves stuck to it, it would have made a perfect camouflaged vehicle for hunting.  As soon as I walked into the house I asked Dan, "Did it storm bad down here?" and he proceeded to fill me in on the day's wrath, including hail, which we hardly ever get.

I quickly forgot about this until I was downloading pictures today and discovered Dan had taken a few pictures of the hail.

It must have been flowing over the gutters because the majority of it is around the perimeter of the house and downspouts.

If I didn't know any better, I would have guessed this photo was of snow taken in January.  Well, except for the obvious hail you can see on the porch.



And the moral of this story?  I'm tired of rain.  I'm tired of storms and wind.  I'm tired of mud.  I'm tired of not being able to put a garden in because the ground is a sloppy mess.  I'm tired of taking care of animals in drizzle morning, noon and night.  I'm tired of everything being wet.

I'm sure if we have a drought later in the summer, I'll be tired of that too, but for now, a drought looks more like the Promised Land.

Church sign

Last week I saw the following message on a church's street sign:

"To whoever is praying for rain - PLEASE STOP!"



And to that I say, "AMEN!"

First haircut

We've been joking about Samuel's hair for the past month or two.  It was so long  that the hair on the top of his head just stood straight up, it was over his ears and the front was almost down to his eyebrows.  I recently started calling him Einstein.  Dan however, thought he looked cute and thought we should wait until his first birthday.  But with that still being 4 months away, I knew there was no way he was going to make it.  One morning, we both finally agreed that it was time.

We decided to cut it ourselves with our trusty 'ole clippers.  First we had to get his hair cutting station setup.

He really wasn't very concerned with what he was doing there.  After he was in the chair Dan turned the clippers on so he could hear it.  Then Dan touched it to his feet and hands so he wouldn't be scared.  And he wasn't... he just sat there waiting to see what happened next.  And, here's the first swipe!

There was something much more interesting going on anyway.  To his delight, there was a black cord dangling in front of him that he decided he wanted to catch.

That kept him entertained long enough to finish.  We went straight from the hair cutting chair to the bath to get all the little hairs off him. 

And without further adieu...

4x4's ≠ invincibility

Last week, Dan was backing up our new-to-us 4x4 truck to the trailer so he could go to the spring pig auction. However, since it rained non-stop for 3 weeks prior, the ground was a little soggy. Okay, a lot soggy. As he tried to maneuver around a stump (have we mentioned lately that we hate stumps?) the truck got buried up to it's front axle. I'm not joking...

Told ya I wasn't joking. Fortunately, we still have our other GMC pickup, so he got it ready to go and dashed off to get our piggies (without the trailer). He made it home without incident, but since it started raining again and didn't stop for a couple of days, the truck sat here until a break in the weather. Our first attempt was to back the 'ole Ford 4x4 up to it, hook up a chain and have Dan pull while I was in the GMC trying go in reverse...

That got us nowhere; still too slippery. And I learned the GMC doesn't have posi-something-or-another which didn't prevent the truck from getting stuck, nor help in getting it unstuck. We took a lunch break so Dan could think of an alternate plan. The alternate plan, which I didn't get pictures of, was to dig a space under the frame rails, lay a piece of wood down, put the floor jack on the wood and jack the front wheels up off the ground, one at a time. Then he scooped up a load of gravel with the tractor and brought it over. He shoveled gravel in the ruts under the front tires until they were level with the ground again, and VOILA... he backed right out. I thought that was a pretty clever idea. Not to mention a lot cheaper than calling in a tow truck and a lot easier than rigging up a winch. Yankees sure are resourceful!

Stretchin' out

Last night, I went into Samuel's room to feed him his bedtime bottle and this is how I found him...

Chicks on pasture

After 2 weeks in the brooder house, it's time for our chicks to go on pasture.  Here they're being transferred into crates for their short drive out to the pasture.

This move is a little confusing to the chicks, so we move them very slowly and in small batches to minimize their stress.

They'll live out the rest of their 8 week life running around and eating fresh grass each day.  It's always so fun to watch chicks when you put them on the grass - the way they carefully walk on it trying to figure out what it is and how quickly they figure out that it's edible.  This step from brooder to pasture always confirms for me that this is the way they are supposed to live.

And, they're in!  This is their new home for the next 6 weeks.

Here are the birds that feed America.  Now, if we could just get the country to stop eating birds that are raised in commercial facilities that are treated horribly and injected with so much growth hormones and antibiotics that are making us ill.



A lot of people say, at $3+ per pound, we can't afford to eat organic, pastured foods.  We say, HOGWASH!  The money is being spent in the long run.  It's being spent in medicines, doctor visits and hospital bills.  So, one has to decided: 1) spend more money upfront on good natural food and have little or no medical bills or 2) continue to eat chemical laden industrial meat that's cheap, but continue to have to see a doctor for all your ailments.

In our family, since switching to organic, pastured foods a few years ago, we have yet to see a doctor.  Yep, you heard right.  We have had no ailments what-so-ever, beyond a common cold or a pulled muscle.  That is proof enough to us that what we do has a huge impact on our well being.

You need to decide for your family.  Would you rather eat from a commercial chicken facility where they're so cramped and so ill from joint and respiratory problems, they can't take more than a few steps...

Or from here; with sunshine, fresh grass, non-medicated grains and treated as an animal versus a dollar sign...

Ewes & Lambs

The delivery of our sheep went great. Three ewes had 2 babies each a little over a week ago.  The 4th ewe had her babies just the day before they arrived.  Since these lambs are so tiny, we have them and mama in the barn in a stall to keep them out of the direct weather and for some added protection. They'll join the rest of the gang pretty soon.

The others are out on the front pasture in a temporary enclosure.  Dan has electric netting on the way so he can give them a permanent home.

 Everyone seems to be adjusting to their new home well so far.  We ran to the feed store to get them some grains as a treat and a mineral block for them to lick on.  They devoured their treats.  Maybe this will make them more comfortable around us sooner?

All of the mama's are very protective of their babies.  When we come a little closer than they'd like, they start pushing their babies behind them.  It's amazing that mama's of all species have this same instinct.

Sheep coming.......

We have a small flock of sheep being delivered in about an hour.  Four mama's and 8 babies, 2 of which were just born yesterday!

Pictures to come.........

First mow

Dan was outside enjoying the nice weather and tackling the first mow of the season.  Good thing he likes mowing because we have a lot of yard and a long season to go.

Sock monkeys are funny

Samuel's favorite crib toy is a giant sock monkey.  After his naps, he'll lay in his crib for up to an hour sometimes happily playing with sock monkey.  After this particular nap, he was in an exceptionally good mood - chewing on sock monkey's tail and playing with the slats of his crib with his feet.  Life is good.

Burnin'

A good portion of Dan's time is spent tending to pasture. Fixing fences in pastures, mowing pastures, removing logs, rocks and stumps from pastures. The previous owners only had a couple of horses and didn't use most of the pasture for grazing, so it needs an extreme cleanup. Dan has been removing rocks and stumps so he doesn't have any obstacles while brush-hogging the gazillion red cedars and thorn bushes (mostly blackberry and multi-flora rose). And he's been cutting scrappy trees and making large burn piles - about 40 of them all over the property. The problem is that we had such a wet winter, the wood is just now dry enough to burn. Which is what we did Saturday morning. Here you can see a couple piles burning and many more in the background ready to be lit.

Dan lit about 8 piles on fire and with a hoe managed the edges so our whole pasture didn't catch fire. Ideally you want it to spread a little... burning off the old growth is a great way to let spring grasses come in. You just have to be careful that you don't start more than you can handle in the event the wind picks up.



This shot was taken from the pasture looking up towards the house. It's not really as close to the house as it looks.




Here's one of our pastures that is finally greening up. It doesn't have anything to do with burnin' at all. Isn't it pretty though?




One hot stump. If you look close, you can see flames deep in the stump and some cool looking smoke rolling out.

Burnin'

A good portion of Dan's time is spent tending to pasture.  Fixing fences in pastures, mowing pastures, removing logs, rocks and stumps from pastures.  The previous owners only had a couple of horses and didn't use most of the pasture for grazing, so it needs to be tidied up.  Dan has been removing rocks and stumps so he doesn't have any obstacles while brush-hogging.  And he's been cutting scrappy trees and making large burn piles - about 40 of them all over the property.  The problem is that we had such a wet winter, the wood is just now dry enough to burn. Which is what we did Saturday morning. 



Dan lit about 8 piles on fire and with a hoe managed the edges so our whole pasture won't catch fire.  Ideally you want it to spread a little... burning off the old grow is a great way to let spring grasses come in.  You just have to be carefully that you don't start more than you can handle in the even the wind picks up. 

Homemade ranch dressing/dip

Ranch Dressing / Dip

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon dried chives 1 teaspoon dried parsley 1 teaspoon dried dill weed

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.  It will look thin right after making, but will thicken up in refrigerator.

***For a thick dip, simply leave out the ½ cup of buttermilk***

TIP: If you don’t have buttermilk, put 1 ½ teaspoons of white vinegar in ½ cup of milk, stir and let sit for 5 minutes.  Viola… you have buttermilk.  If you don’t have vinegar to make buttermilk, you can make the dressing with plain milk.  It will be good, but will be missing its familiar tang.

Crib video

From the living room I could hear Samuel playing with the camera on his crib again. I grabbed my camera and shot this quick video of him in action...

4 and 1000 blackbirds sitting in a tree

I had WAY too many blackbirds to bake in a pie, so I had to rename the nursery rhyme.  This morning the weather started to get dark, clouds started rolling in and the wind picked up.  Right about that time, about a thousand blackbirds landed in the back yard.  Samuel was eating breakfast and stopped mid-bite to stare at the birds fluttering around outside.  After dining from our bird feeder, they all swarmed up into the trees like a giant school of fish......

First teething biscuit

Hmm, what is this?  I'll just give it a taste.

Oh yeah, I like it all right!

Hey, where'd my cookie go?!?

Do I have something on my face?

Uh, Mama, can I have another cookie, please?

Spring chicks

We just received our first batch of spring chicks - 150 of them to be exact. On Thursday Dan got the brooder house ready for them... put in a fresh layer of sawdust, got their warming hovers in place, and food and water ready. Friday morning the post office called bright an early to say they had arrived. After Samuel and I picked them up, I got them settled into their new home. Here are some pictures of their arrival...

This is how 150 chicks are packaged to go through the US Postal Service.

Here we are!  75 chicks per box.

Awe... aint I cute?

In our new home.  Learning to eat and drink in only a few minutes.

Chillaxin'

That's chilling and relaxing for you non-slang talkers.  I am, in general, not fond of slang, but I kind of like this one.  Samuel decided to take a break from playing to lean back and chillax.

Workin' hard

First of all, excuse my sloppy appearance.  And my sloppy desk.  Working from home does that to you sometimes.  Notice the coffee mug though... that is very important to my day.

Samuel likes to sit with me and play while I work.  And reach for whatever he can get his little hands on.  And type gibberish instant messages to my co-workers and press 'enter' before I can stop him.  He hardly ever just lays his head down to rest... he's constantly scanning his surroundings like an eagle.  But every once in a while he snuggles up out of the blue and decides a nap sounds really good...

Daddy was also working from home this day, so he was able to catch this rare event.