It has been a week of trying a few new things around here. In addition to my kale smoothies, I made a carrot smoothie the other day that was delish. Here's a hint if you are going to try to make these...use lots of crushed ice because it makes the smoothie nice and cold. This week I'm going to try spinach. Sadly, Sasha was "helping" me and she knocked the glass part of the blender over and broke it. Good thing I have a small one from my baby food making days that will hold us over till the new part comes.
The next new to us thing is homemade popsicles. I finally broke down and paid full price for those cool popsicle molds at Bed Bath and Beyond and last night we had some really good banana peanut butter popsicles. When Nate saw me making them, he was like "I thought we were just going to freeze some juice and call it good." No, we must have real fruit! And yes, I'm sure veggies will be showing up in our popsicles as well!
Here are the happy popsicle eaters
I have always wanted to make my own chicken broth. I got my chance this week when there was a good sale on bone-in chicken and I found a tutorial on how to do it on my latest go-to cooking blog. In my short food shopping and cooking life, I have only bought boneless, skinless chicken breasts, so this was a big step for me. Yesterday we did it (Nate helped with cutting the chicken off the bone, yuck!) and I felt oh so accomplished. You can see my new crockpot in the corner of the picture. I got a new one for my birthday because I learned through this post that the one I had very likely had lead leaching into all of our food.
Have I mentioned that I really love cooking these days? If anyone has any good cooking blogs or ideas for me to try, pass them on!
Hey Heidi, another really easy technique for making broth is to just put in chicken pieces or a whole chicken into the crockpot and cover with water. I usually cook all day or overnight. Then cool chicken, pick from the bones and shred. Meanwhile, strain broth and package for freezing. Saves me from handling yucky raw chicken...and gives me chicken to freeze for when a recipe calls for cooked chicken. I usually don't add anything else but the chicken...but, you could add celery, onions, spices whatever you like. Also, if you ever buy a rotisserie chicken throw the carcass into the crockpot after eating and cover with water and cook for at least 8 hours...makes super yummy broth for free!
Posted by: Lori | April 04, 2011 at 09:10 AM
Spinach smoothies are a staple at our house. Besides the funny color, it is pretty much undetectable.
Posted by: K | April 04, 2011 at 09:16 AM
Heidi, I make spinach smoothie all the time, they are delicious. This is my favorite food blog.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/
Posted by: Steve Fabarez | April 04, 2011 at 09:50 AM
I have been meaning to tell you how impressed I am by your kale smoothies!! I haven't tried them yet...but I intend to soon!
We like this cooking blog...
http://jessieheaviland.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Hazel | April 04, 2011 at 11:27 AM
You used a coupon at bedbath&beyond, right??? ; )
Posted by: Laura Cleghorn | April 05, 2011 at 01:14 PM
Yes, Laura, OF COURSE I used a BB&B coupon! One from 2009, I think! :)
Posted by: Heidi | April 05, 2011 at 06:39 PM
Hazel - I checked out the Heaviland's blog...and I found about 10 recipes I want to make already!
Posted by: Heidi | April 05, 2011 at 06:40 PM
Thanks for the tips everyone...glad to know I'm not the only weird one who eats vegetable smoothies!
Posted by: Heidi | April 05, 2011 at 06:44 PM