Making fresh bread everyday.

I know some of you read this title and got nervous and sweaty. Being a mom of two little ones I would normally be right there with you. Making fresh bread everyday sounds wonderful... for someone else that has lots of time and maybe for me when my kids are grown and I have nothing better to do than bake lots of stuff for the grandkids (Can't wait for those fun days too). But wait, this is something you can do! I promise!

And guess what.... you don't need a breadmachine and you don't have to knead anything! I'll give you a little background first before I give my secret away. Since moving to Macon a mommy group has formed out of people I have met through different circumstances and I have been so blessed by them in so many different ways I can't even describe. They were my saving grace especially when Chad was working non-stop. One of the ladies is a beautiful Italian girl with a grandmothers heart. She is always baking things and bringing them to the group. Everything she cooks is soooo good. One day she told us about this great book called "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day." I was a little skeptical at first but she let me borrow the book and I gave it a try. I had thought many times about getting a bread machine because there is nothing like fresh bread and it is way more cost effective to make your own.

So I gave it a try. Now my first boule loaf was not pretty needless to say, but it was sooo yummy and after a few tries I was getting beautiful loaves and it was so easy. Since then every time I have guests I bake them fresh bread. It takes no time and I can use the dough for boule bread, pizza, stromboli, flat bread etc etc. It's wonderful dipped in spinach dip! When my girl friends came down to visit we put away a whole loaf with some spinach dip.... YUMMMMM!

There's a couple tricks that make it so easy but mainly it's because you mix it ahead of time and then store it in your fridge for up to two weeks. Everytime you need a fresh loaf, you just cut off a chunk, let it sit while you make dinner and then throw it in the oven. Beautiful bread everytime! You can find the recipe for the basic bread online HERE. Give it a try! If you like it, get the book - there are so many wonderful recipes you can make. You will impress your guests everytime!

Who needs a bread machine and who has time to knead??? NOT ME!!

How-to Mondays: One bird, three meals

Welcome back to How-to Monday!
I thought I would devote today's blog to one of my favorite things to do... save time and money! This is a little explanation of how I take a whole chicken and turn it into three separate meals and then some!

First I defrost a whole chicken which you can get from the store for about .99 a pound on average... unless you get it on sale like this week I got two at .58 a pound woohoo! I fill one of my large pots 1/2 to 3/4 full of water. Add some salt, pepper, parsley and any other seasonings that you like and put the bird in to soak in the hot tub a few hours. While the bird is cooking I will cut up several celery sticks and pick off all the leaves to go in because they have soooo much flavor. Don't throw those puppies away! Add in some Chopped carrots and a whole onion. Let all this come together for a few hours.

Once the chicken is cooked thoroughly, I take it out and put it in a seperate bowl. I let the broth cool and skim the top of the fat. Then I dip out two quart bags full of chicken broth and throw them in the freezer to use with other recipes. I usually add some extra water back into the pot because the broth is so concentrated. Then I skim off the dark meat to put back in the soup. I put each chicken breast in freezer bags and freeze. I usually take one out a few days later and use it for chicken pot pie along with some of the frozen chicken broth. The other breast you can use for chicken burritos, chicken salad etc. Now that my soup has the meat added back in, I put three handfuls of egg noodles in and let cook for another ten to fifteen minutes. Then your homemade chicken noodle soup is ready. I usually take half of it and freeze it because it makes sooooo much! So in reality you can probably get a weeks worth of meals out of this. Pretty amazing and great on the pocketbook.

That concludes how-to Monday!