Chicken Broth

We are all sick here.  On top of this cold Elli has been teething.  Homemade chicken broth was exactly what we needed.

I used this recipe from a cousin of a cousin

Here's what it looked like when I first put everything in my slow cooker.

The way it works is you put the whole chicken in with the onions, celery, etc.  After 24 hours you can take the chicken and half of the liquid out.  The first night I got 4 cups of broth out and enough chicken for dinner and some leftovers.  Every 12 hours you add more water to it.  Tonight I got a few more cups.  I think I will do it for one more night.

The broth is very good, and it's amazing to see how watered down the kind you buy at the store is.  When my sense of taste is completely restored it will be interesting to see how much better it tastes.

The only downside to this is that the house smells like chicken.  My clothes smell like chicken.  Since none of us can really smell it isn't too bad, but I became very self conscious of it when I went to work last night.  Then again, it probably isn't as strong as the smell of roast so I shouldn't be too concerned right?

I know why most people read this blog, it's to see cute pictures of my kids doing weird things.  So here you go...

Whenever he sees the hat he insists on wearing it, even when he only has a diaper on

He got in a fight with my purse and I think the purse won

My Crunchy Side

I am still crunchy.  Very crunchy.  Lately I haven't acted on it as much.  Probably because I live in a tiny apartment and my cloth diapers still don't absorb anything.  So to most of the world I appear normal, but I know I'm not.

One of my dreams is to own a hobby farm and grow all of my food.  I want a few cows to milk, chickens to lay eggs, a few pigs, even a sheep would be fun if I learn anything about spinning wool.  I want to learn to make my own cheese.  I already know how to make butter from milk, I just haven't done it yet.  Yes, I know this is a crazy dream.  Most people dream of moving to Hawaii or Europe (even though I will always dream of visiting Europe, I wouldn't live there).  I guess I'm just different.

While I still feel too busy to be as crunchy as I would like I'm going to start doing a few more things to get back to my crunchy ways.  This week I'm making my own chicken broth.  I already bought a whole chicken and plan on starting that maybe tomorrow.  I'm also going to start using more homemade cleaners.  For now it will probably just be vinegar for general cleaning until we use up a few of our other cleaners.

I'll let you know how it goes!  Don't worry, I'll post some cute pictures of the kids soon.

Am I crunchy?

Is this me??? Okay, obviously this is a guy, but besides that! 

I read quite a few blogs on babycenter.  Last week I came across one titled Are You Crunchy?  At first I thought it would be funny to see what the questions were like.  When the first question was about making homemade cleaners I got a little scared.  For the time being I don't make homemade cleaners, but I've definitely wanted to.  I continued on cautiously, thinking I might discover something about myself that was possibly life changing.

At the end of the quiz I took a deep breath when I only scored a three (as in not crunchy at all, but not against those that are).  A second wave of fear washed over me, no I don't do most of the things on the list, but how many did I want to at least try?  My score would have been an 8!!! (as in you're crunchy, no doubt about it)

Am I really crunchy?  Is it possible?  I wasn't raised that way at all.  I enjoy McDonalds and Tide, and that isn't about to change....or is it? 

It wasn't too crazy for me to get a three, all it took was cloth diapering (which is going great!), recycling, and making baby food (which I still do on occasion).  But when it came to what I want to do, then it became crazy.  Yes, I have a desire to eat organic (I tried this when we moved back to Salt Lake but Josh really wasn't into it).  I wouldn't mind being vegetarian, but I think I'm more of a meat once a week person.  I would gladly make homemade cleaners, I just haven't done it yet. I would easily compost (this is something I've wanted to do for a while but I'm not willing to pay for a composter).  An extra point came from using cloth wipes which is something I've already decided to try when I get a diaper sprayer, for now it is just a possibility.

I never thought of myself as being a crunchy.  It never seemed like a lifestyle change I could make so quickly.  I've been married barely longer than two years, doesn't something so drastic take a decade at least??  At this rate I could be full on crunchy in the next three years.  Should I be scared?  Amazed?  confused?  Or some combination of all three.  It's identity crisis time!