Chicken Soup Really Does Heal, Right?

Good Wednesday morning! I hope everyone had a great night last night and is feeling fine this morning. Here in our household, I am nursing back to health 3-year olds with the stomach flu. Not a whole lot of fun, but a necessary motherly duty. It is also at times like these that I recall a conversation that I had with my mother only about a week ago in a dressing room with my sister. She was commenting that before I got pregnant she just wasn't sure how I would do with kids. "You were just never the maternal type like your sister," she shrugs as she zips my sister into another dress. "What's that supposed to mean?" I ask as I begin to get a bit defensive. "I'm not saying you're a bad mom, I just wasn't sure what you would be like when they got here. You never liked kids when you were a teenager." At this point I'm beginning to wonder exactaly where this conversation is going, but once again, with my mom it's always best to not read to much into a comment as it's often hard to tell the difference between a criticism and a stray thought. "Ok," I reply a bit baffled at the turn of conversation since just a few minutes before we were discussing how fast time has gone by and pretty soon my babies will be 4. She offered no further comment after that, which only leaves me to wonder what exactaly my mother pictured when my husband and I announced we were having twins. Not that it should matter, but as it is with most daughters, maternal approval is often sought after. Please don't misconstrue this as anything other than the playful banter that my family and I often engage in. While she has no problem offering "tough love," I couldn't ask for a more loving and wonderful Mother, or a more perfect Mimi for my kids. Love you mom! However, I still feel the need to prove her orginal thoughts about me wrong!

I digress. My real reason for my post this morning was to prove what a rock star Mom I actually am. Ok, I really just need to pump myself up with false confidence every now and then; especially when I've been up all night cleaning vomit off of a very tired and cranky child and doing, yet another, load of laundry. Anyway - here was my solution to healing my small brood - Chicken Noodle Soup. Now in the past I wouldn't have hesitated to grab the nearest can of Cambell's Soup, pair it with some Saltines and call it a day, but this the new me! I decided to try and make my own soup - from scratch! Sound scary? Not really. I found a very simple recipe (albiet time consuming) that I started yesterday and that we will feast on tonight. This is great if you are a stay-at-home mom or if you work from home as the chicken has to simmer for 4 hours as you make your chicken stock. I got this recipe mainly from my "Simply Organic" cookbook by Jesse Ziff Cool (a great cookbook and I highly recommend purchasing it!). I made a few modifications and added my own noodle recipe to finish it off. Here is what I came up with:

Chicken Soup
1 whole 3-4 pound Chicken
2 large onions
3 large carrots, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
5 peppercorns
2 large sprigs of fresh dill
3 large sprigs of Italian Parsley
1 parsnip, chopped (you knew I'd get that one in there!)
1 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
noodles (see following recipe)

All you do is dump the whole chicken into a large stock pot and throw in 1 onion (I just quartered mine), 1 carrot, 1 celery rib, and the peppercorns, dill and parsley. Cover the chicken with cold water and add about another 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer, covered, for around 4 hours.
*This makes your house smell like you're mother of the year. It is the best!
After simmering, pull your chicken out of the pot and set aside. It will be so tender that it will literally start falling off the bones. Just make a little pile of all the meat, bones and skin on a plate and let it cool a couple of minutes. Place a strainer over a bowl and pour the rest of the contents into it. Discard the remaining soilds, cover the stock and stick into the fridge overnight. After doing this, go through your chicken pile and seperate the meat from the skin and bones. I kind of shredded/seperated the meat as I went to make it bite-sized. Throw away the skin, fat and bones and stick the meat into a ziploc baggie and into the fridge.
The next morning, uncover your stock and scoop up the layer of fat that has formed on the top and discard. It will all be a little jelly like at this point, but no worries, it's reliquify when we heat it up later!
It's at this point that we make the noodles!

Noodles *Make about 2 1/2 hours before you want to serve the soup!
2 egg yolks
pinch of baking powder
flour to make a stiff batter
1/2 C. half-n-half
Salt to taste

Combine it all into a bowl and keep adding flour until the batter is no longer sticky. You really get to get your hands dirty on this one! Seperate the dough into two balls and roll them out seperately. Cover your countertop with flour before starting this and also make sure your rolling pin is covered. You really can't use too much flour in this recipe. Just keep adding the flour as you roll them out so they don't get sticky. After you have rolled out both balls of dough rather thinly (they do plump up quite a bit when they are cooked), let them sit for about 2 hours to dry. After drying, roll them up (like you would a newspaper) and then start to slice them into thin strips with a sharp knife (like you would cut cookies off a roll of cookie dough). At this point you can either drop them into the hot broth, or stick them in a ziploc and freeze for a little later. It's up to you!

Final step!
Chop the remaining onion, 2 carrots and celery rib. In a large stock pot add these veggies to the stock, the parsnip, salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about an hour covered. About 15 minutes before you want to serve your soup, throw the noodles into the broth so they can cook along with the soup. Test a noodle before you take it off the stove to make sure they are cooked through. Otherwise you'll have chewy noodles! Enjoy!

I tell you, I am not a good cook, but I'm trying. I was a little intimidated by this recipe, but turns out it's really easy, just a lot of steps. Try it out if you're curing ills in your household, or if you just really like chicken and noodle soup! It tastes devine and it proves what a real supermom I am - right? Kiss kiss to my wonderful mother!

Parsnips

Parsnips. Up until a week ago, I had never eaten a parsnip. They are strange, white roots that resemble an albino carrot. However, due to my new initiative to make my family healthier, I decided to take the leap and try all sorts of vegetables that I had always been a little weary of eating. Thus, the parsnip. A week ago, I was going through beef stew recipes trying to find "the one." In this search, I came across a recipe that used the blanc veggie. Putting on a brave face, I quickly peeled and chopped the alien root and popped it into my stew. While this recipe didn't top my stew list, I was so proud of "trying" parsnips that I bragged to my father about it. "What did it taste like," he asked a bit bewildered. I had no idea. Like most veggies in a stew, once they've been stewed it's pretty difficult to determine the individual tastes. Rats. I would have to try again.

Two nights ago I was making one of my favorite recipes of my mother's which is a sausage and tortellini soup. It calls for 2 carrots. I did not, however, have 2 good looking carrots. While I was mulling over this dilemma in front of my fridge, I happened to look down and spot the remaining parsnips from the stew recipe. They looked like a carrot, but how would they taste? Should I be brave and substitute one of my carrots for it's paler cousin? This could possibly ruin a soup that I had been craving all day. Squaring my shoulders, I pulled it out of the fridge and began chopping. About this time, one of my three year olds wanders in and wants to see what I'm doing. "What's that white thing?" my daughter asks. "It's a parsnip," I reply. "Is is good?" she questions. Well, since I have been taking a stand for healthier food, I have really been striving to set a good example for my kids. I could also, not in good conscience, lie to her. "Let's try it together," I reply to that sweet, curious face. The gauntlet had been thrown. I set aside my knife and bravely picked up two of the smallest chopped pieces. I handed one to her and popped the other in my mouth. After a couple of seconds she looks at my and says, "It tastes just like a carrot," hops off her chair and resumes playing. While I didn't think it tasted quite like a carrot (a little more tangy), I was very pleasantly surprised. I had actually stumbled upon another vegetable that I actually liked! It looked like this adventure into trying new things wouldn't be so horrible after all. Leave it to a 3 year old to, yet again, show you the way. Thank you lord for my precious babies and the lessons they teach me each day!

It's been a while!

Looking at my first entry, I see it's been well over a week since I have last blogged and figured it was time for another update. A few things have happened since the beginning of January. First, I have decided to rent a booth this fall during our town's local fall festival and sell some of my homemade goods. I believe I have talked my sister into going into "business" with me for that venture. I have spent quite a bit of time creating a list of inventory that I will need to get busy making! September will be here before I know it, I'm sure.

The second item of notice is that after being on a waiting list with a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, my name is finally up and I have been offered the opportunity to purchase a plot for the upcoming growing season. This will allow me a portion of the farm's produce over the growing season (24 weeks), in addition to requiring me to work at the farm for a couple of "shifts." I thought this would be a great way to get fresh and locally grown fruits and veggies, as well as a great way to learn the ropes about growing my own vegetation at some point in the future. We'll see how it goes. I have much to learn!

Finally, in my quest for a healthier life, I am in the process of creating a website to showcase and sell my homemade creations. The name of my new company is X2Creations and I hope to have at least a cover page up in another week. I'll keep you posted on the domain name! It's very exciting and will give me a chance to beef up my family financially, as well as create some teaching moments for my kids. After all, if they see Mommy working toward a goal and either achieving it, or handling setbacks, valuable lessons should be learned. We'll see how that goes!

Thanks again for reading and I'll keep everyone updated with the upcoming website!

Welcome to Double Vision!

Hello to all! My name is Whitney, I'm from Missouri, and I am a stay-at-home mom of 3 year old boy/girl twins. My reason for creating this blog was to track and journal my journey to a healthier life for myself and my family. A couple of years ago, I was diagnosed with a few health problems that I believe were a result of my environment. Because of this, I have decided to do all in my power to provide my family with a healthier life physically, emotionally, financially, and most importantly, spiritually.

Being a mom in 2010 is hectic. There are so many activities that you feel pressured into engaging in to aid in creating "well rounded" children that healthy living gets lost in the shuffle. Believe me, I am very guilty of this. That is one of the reasons I decided to do this blog - to hold myself accountable.

Over the next couple of years, I will be slowly creating a life for my family that is healthier all around. I would love for all of you to join me in this quest. I have recently started sewing to earn a few extra dollars and I love it! Every day I am learning more ways to save money by creating on my own. I would love to share these ideas with you! Another goal of mine is to create a garden that my family can primarily live off of. Our current home does not afford me the opportunity to start this garden, but we will be moving in the next year or so and that is one of the criteria for that "new" house. On a side note - I haven't gardened a day in my life, so this particular endeavor could be quite entertaining to follow! The "new" house that we will be buying will be another interesting line to follow. I would love to purchase an older home (built in the late 60s, 70s, or early 80s) and make as many of the renovations as possible ourselves. We will be on a strict budget, so my creativity will really need to run wild with this one! Finally, I want to slow my family down in order to appreciate all that this world has to offer (for free!). While my husband and I are Christians, there is still much for us to learn and many ways for us to grow. As my children are growing I am feeling a greater responsibility to teach them about God and our savior Jesus Christ. Hopefully, through this entire endeavor, I will find many teaching moments for them so that they can learn to thank Him for this wonderful world he has provided.

I think that about sums up my opening post and my goal for this blog. I hope you all enjoy the ride and get some useful information out of it as well. Until next time . . .