New Recipe from the Farm

Last night I tried a new recipe, but altered it a bunch!  So I thought I would share with you what came out. 

We have a lot of squash right now, and a lot of frozen old hens...  If you haven't had old hen, it can be dry, tough and just not pleasant to eat. 

So step 1 was to juice up and tenderize the hen.  I slow cooked the chicken with some Kickin' Chicken (one of our favorite spices) some garlic powder, pepper and filled the crock pot about 1/3 with water. 

Since I let the squash get a tad bit big, I de-seeded it, and then diced up (1/2" cubes) a crocked neck.  Diced up an onion (this didn't come from our garden as ours aren't quite big enough yet).
Added 2 cans of Cream of Mushroom soup along with a little of the chicken broth.

We still have some left over canned carrots from last years garden, so in a quart of carrots.

After cooking all day on low, I let the chicken cool a little, then picked it off the bone and shredded it a tad bit more.  It was still dry so I added some broth and let it soak up the juices!  (A must if using old hen!)  Everything got thrown into a casserole dish along with some more pepper, garlic powder, and about 2tsp (or more...) oregano.  I didn't add any salt, it ended up there was enough in the Cream of Mushroom soup. 

Stirred it all together and threw it in the oven at 350 for 45 mins. The original recipe called for croutons, but not having any on hand, I topped it with French Fried Onions and let them warm for a tad. 

It ended up being very yummy!!!  Even my husband who doesn't like squash and could go with out chicken, especially old hen, liked it! 

1 old hen (cooked in crockpot with Kickin' Chicken, garlic, pepper and water) cooled and shredded
1 squash (de-seeded if needed and cubed)
1 onion (diced)
quart of carrots
2 cream of mushroom soup
2+ tsp. oregano
pepper
garlic powder
French fried onions

The hubby did add Cholula to the mix, but he adds that to everything, so if you want a little spice in it, shake it on!  He also served his over some left over seasoned Orzo we had from the night before. 

Well, hope you enjoy and hopefully I will remember to take some pictures next time!

Have a happy Thursday!

"Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything."

Genesis 9:3 ESV

Coffee and Jesus

This was posted on https://www.facebook.com/womenlivingwell this am! 

So true, especially for this Monday morning!

Male? Female? I am confused...

The farm has been growing lately. 

Newest additions include a beautiful male crested duck, a goose (still don't know if it is male or female), 2 Americana roosters, a new bee hive for Jacob, 2 chicks our Muscovy duck just hatched (she was broody so we took a risk and gave her some chicken eggs... dogs got 6 of them, 2 hatched and 1... well we are still waiting!) and a black and red silkie hen.

Or at least we thought she was a hen.  We were told she was a hen, she acted like a hen... until this morning when she crowed like rooster!  We love silkies, but we already have 2 silkie roosters and only 1 silkie hen (Snowball, Chloe's pride and joy).  So we are just waiting to see if this is just a confused hen, or a small rooster!

Now this isn't the first chicken that we currently have that has some confusing sexual orientation. We have this little banty hen who has laid eggs and just all of a sudden started crowing like a rooster. 

I don't know if it is something in the water or what, but this is just throwing me off!

And then to add to that confusion, our black barn cat, Bomb who we were told was a fixed male (yes I never checked, but should have!) is a female... and not only is she a female but she is a pregnant female!  So, soon we will have some barn kittens for you all!  And then it is off to WeSnip or someone to get these cats under control. 

Jacob's guineas are growing like crazy and getting louder by the day.  Pretty soon he is going to have to start finding some homes for some of them. 

The goose, named Goose for now, is really something fun to watch!  It is friendly with the kids, and really runs the roost with the ducks.  Hopefully it will be a female and we can have eggs and babies next spring.  (Yeah, I am going to have to talk bee-keeper Greg into another goose!)

Our pigs are growing beautifully. Bullet, the male, is shorter and stockier; while Petunia, our female, is longer and leaner... Should be a beautiful sow! 

We are knee high in squash, peas and I guess now beans!  The garden for the first time ever is feeling under control.  And now the busy time starts preserving all this beautiful produce.

One thing I prayed for when we started up our little homesteading farm, was that it would be used as a ministry.  I was thinking we would have plenty of eggs, meat, produce, and such to share with those in need.  Well of course my plans are not always what God has in store for us.  I am seeing more and more, the ministry is with the fellow farmers that we are coming in contact with.  Whether it is helping them out, receiving help or just chatting and exchanging knowledge (or what we think is knowledge) it is the contact with our fellow farmers.  And it has been great!  We just live out our lives, give God all the credit and share Him through our actions and words.  We have been blessed by our fellow farmers, and in turn can bless others.  It has just been another reminder of God's will being done, not mine.