This week

This week I have been working on a quilt I started last week. We had a baby shower here last weekend so I had to put everything away. Out of sight if you will. The dining room is my sewing room. I had also borrowed a cutting mat and gave it back to the person I borrowed it from so I really took my time getting my sewing things back out. I really wasn't in to this quilt you see so I was in no hurry. I didn't like the way it was going. Didn't like the way it looked no longer appreciated the colors. *Sigh* not a good place to be. You see, I don't like to start a new project without finishing the one I am on. So, that is how my week has been.

Until yesterday.

I went to Wal-mart and bought myself a new cutting mat and ruler. Next I got out the sewing machine. Today I actually got the fabric back out. I started sewing. Next thing I knew I actually had a kind of vision. Then things started to look ok. The fabrics were meshing. I held them up and laid them out; turned them around and all of a sudden, I liked them. I could actually 'see' where I was going with this.

Maybe it was because I didn't have a pattern when I started (never do). Mostly I watch tutorials on You Tube. I really should take lessons I think, but for now I can't afford it and will just wing it. The quilts I am making are for me and my family and they won't mind if they aren't perfect.

This is the finished top. It measures 52" square. :)

I just have to drop it to the quilters house and wait for it to be done. :) I am also going to have her do 2 baby quilt tops. :)

Roasted Chicken

Yumm! I love cooking a roasted anything really. Whole chickens are pretty inexpensive too. Not to mention all the meals you can get out of one whole chicken!


1 whole chicken
1 or 2 celery stalks, cut up 2-3" pieces
1 med onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 Tbsp garlic granules (or 3-4 fresh cloves minced)
1 Tbsp Thyme
1 Tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Parsley
1 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp Pepper
olive or vegetable oil


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Rinse the chicken and throw the innards into your freezer to add to homemade chicken broth. Loosen the skin on the breasts, being careful not to tear it. Chop up your veggies and place in the bottom of a roasting pan with a rack. Mix the next 6 ingredients together to make a 'rub'. Take about one or two tablespoons of the spice rub and push it up & under the skin of the chicken, rub it around under there. Drizzle the oil all over the chicken and the remaining spices over the outside of the chicken. Place chicken in a roasting pan on top of the rack, breast side up & cover. Roast the chicken for an hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes (depending on size) or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh reads 165°F. Don't poke too many holes with the thermometer, you don't want the juices to leak out.
Remove the roasting pan from the oven, carefully lift out the rack with the roasted chicken on it and transfer the bird to a clean cutting board. Let it rest, covered with foil, for about 10 minutes before carving.

Here is a picture of mine going into the oven. Sorry its blurry, lol.

I don't have any "after" pictures because it was so tender it fell off the bones, lol. As of today the bones are picked clean & are resting in the freezer. I am going to take most of the chicken that is left & make some chicken pot pies for future dinners. I hope the freezer is up for it.

Thanks for reading, have a nice week!



Posts from the week

Some posts I liked this week…

Megen at Sparing-Change cutting costs on your vacation. There are some good tips there, check it out.

Read this post if you are having a bad day or week. It's the weekend so hopefully you can implement some of these and appreciate the res1. Thanks, Nora.

This is a good and unusual post on more and many uses of duct tape. Another good one from Daniel over at Wisebread.

Diane @ Turning the Clock back is turning up the salads with edible flowers. Check out this post.

They have a guest blogger over at Not Made of Money and he has written about struggling with energy bills. We can all use help on energy costs.

Marisa @ Food in Jars blogged about how to tell if your canning items have gone bad. Check this post out.

Go over to The Homestead Revival tomorrow and link up to the Preparedness Challenge.

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Barn Hop #33

(click on me to chek it out)

This week on the Barn Hop, I thought I would post a recipe for Chili. It isn't quite 'chili eating' weather here in Florida, but I made it anyway in hopes it will be soon.

Chili

1 lb ground beef, browned
1-28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1- small can diced tomatoes
1 or 2 can kidney beans, light and/or dark
1 small-med onion chopped
1-2 envelopes chili mix (to taste)
dash or 2 cayenne pepper (to taste)

8 oz. sour cream
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Brown the ground beef and chopped onion together until the beef is done. Drain fat. Add the chili mix tomatoes, beans and cayenne pepper and stir it all together. Simmer until ready to eat. Near the end of cooking time I usually mash the mixture to make the sauce a little thicker. Serve over rice if you want.

This is a very basic recipe. You could add anything you want to this. We have some picky eaters so this is usually what I start with. I can't make it too hot and this is always a challenge for me as I like it hotter than normal. We also top with a pinch of shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

Enjoy!