Any time my kids have a stuffy nose or any kind of a cold or cough, I make chicken noodle soup with real homemade broth. It drains the sinuses and calms a cough. The secret is in the homemade broth. It won't work with the bullion cubes, canned, or boxed stuff. We also make this just because it's so good.
Homemade Chicken Broth:
It's hard to find chicken broth without MSG or other additives. It's easy to make and much more nutritious
Get one whole chicken. You can either cook the chicken in the oven first, pick off all the meat, and throw the bones into a pot or you can boil the whole chicken and pick the meat off after it has boiled for hours. If you decide to boil the whole chicken, the meat will be shredded. I do it both ways depending on what kind of meat I want. I then split the meat into 4 sections and freeze three of them and make soup with the rest.
Put the whole chicken or bones into a stock pot and cover with water (about 14-16 cups of water). If you have a whole chicken the water will need to barely cover it. Add 2 tbs of raw apple cider vinegar. This will help pull out the minerals from the bones. Bring this to a boil and turn to a simmer and cover for several hours. The longer you simmer it the more rich the broth. I simmer mine for 24 hours but you don't have to do it that long. Make sure it stays at a simmer (at least 180 degrees) to avoid bacteria from growing. I then strain the broth and cool it and put it into the fridge over night. If I'm making soup that night I'll use some of the broth right away. The next morning, I'll scrap off the fat and put the broth into freezer bags (4 cups per bag). Now I have broth when I need it.
Chicken Noodle Soup:
Chicken noodle soup it so easy to make and with very little ingredients
2 chicken breasts cooked and cut or shredded (add as much or as little chicken as you'd like)
8 cups homemade chicken broth (or half water half broth)
1/3 bunch of parsley, finely chopped
4 carrots diced (more if desired)
4 stalks of celery chopped (more if desired)
1/2 onion diced and cooked in butter before added to soup
1 tbs real salt
1/4 tsp pepper ( to taste)
1 lb of brown rice noodles broken in half (
Tinkyada) (cook first and then add to soup)
Combine all ingredients (other then noodles) into a
crock pot. cook on high until vegetables are tender (about 1-2 hours), turn to low. Add cooked noddles and cook on low for 15 -20 min.
If you want it done faster. Put all
ingredients other then noodles into a pot. Bring to a boil and then turn to a simmer for about a half hour. Add cooked noodles and let simmer for about 10 more minutes.
Here they are playing the present game. Matthew wrapped a gift in several different boxes with duck tape. If anyone rolled a 4 then they had to put on the gloves, hat , and scarf, and try to open the present. The person that opened the present got to keep it.
Yum! Hot apple spice and muffins!
They wanted to carol at sister Kelly's house. She was gone when we got there but we left a message for her to come and join the party if she wanted. She showed up and is in this picture showing them how to play this hand game. They miss having her teach classes.
Brady had a letter all written out to Santa. Santa started reading
Savannah wrecked!!
Here's Brady's snowman. They look like twins.
This is our homemade sour dough bread. This is how people made bread for thousands of years. We have a son that has a hard time with wheat. The sour dough start predigests the wheat so he can handle it this way. If he eats wheat that is not soaked or sprouted, his little tummy gets big and hurts. We don't let it go long enough to sour. My kids don't like it that way. YUM!!
Then we saw the sheep.
They had a bunch of live scenes that you would have seen in the time when Jesus was born. I think this was a metal maker?
I think these guys were making something in a brick oven.
Have some homemade wheat bread.
Here are some ladies making baskets.
Here a lady is weaving some cloth. She had some yarn that she had made from wool.
Don't forget the goats. They also had a donkey that bites. The donkey seemed too small to be able to carry a pregnant women very far.
Here is Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.
We rode to and from the nativity on a hay ride. The older kids don't look very excited. That's one thing sweet about little kids. Every thing is neat and exciting.
Brady and Tanner are going through the ornaments.
Brady decorating the tree.
Tanner decorating the tree.
A house from the village scene.
The finished room!
The kids had a Christmas piano recital. The camera ran out of batteries before I could get a picture of Matthew. They all did a great job.
We went to a gingerbread making house party at H&C house. The kids really enjoyed making their house. Thank you for the invite!
I think we have about every kind of candy on our house.
The goats were curious about what I was holding. "Is it Food!" They were relaxing and enjoying the day. I let them out in the back yard for a while so they could munch on leaves and old apples that fell from the trees.
The chickens were roaming around, eating grass, bugs, and taking dirt baths. They run to me when I come out because I usually have a treat for them.
I found Tanner playing with the chickens. If it's nice weather, I can usually find the kids out in the back yard playing with the animals, jumping on the tramp, or swinging in the swings.
Tanner enjoying the swings before the cold weather sets in.
Bella sunning in her favorite spot!
This is the escape artist. She can get out of everything. This is one of the new chicks that we hatched out in the spring. She just started laying eggs.
I found Brady swinging on the disk swing.
These are from a few weeks ago. The kids love fall so they can play in the leaves.
Cutie!
And then I found this creature on the computer. I don't think he even went outside today.
