Yesterday I simmered down chicken with the bones in so that I could pick off the meat for canning.  I always try to save the stock (juices left after boiling).  This is a process I can best show you with pictures.

This is the what my stock looks like just after I finished with the hours of simmering chicken.

You can see that the stock is thick.  It still has scrap pieces in it from the chicken bones and all the fat.  There is still a lot of filtering work to do.

The first step in filtering is getting out the scrap pieces.  I use a fine colander to get out the larger pieces.  This is the same colander I use for straining tomatoes and fruits for canning.

The scraps are now out but the fat is all there still rising to the top of the bowl.  To get rid of the fat I use a special defatting pitcher.  I just ladle the stock into it and pour off the stock from the bottom of the pitcher making sure to stop before the fat hits the bottom.  I pour it straight into canning jars to make processing simple.

Lastly I will process the jars of stock.  There will be a small amount of fat yet in the jars but most of it is gone.  The great part is the stock is free of artificial additives.  Another day I will show you just how I use my stock.

This is the question that has been running through my mind each time I look at this wall medallion. I love the pattern of it and knew from the first moment I saw it that I would be bringing it home from the thrift store.

So today I am going to pass on showing you how to do something but have a moment to ask a couple questions of you.

1. Would you paint my $2.00 thrift store beauty?
2. If you said yes then what color would you go with?
3. Do you recommend any beginner spray painting tutorials out there (yes this is a link invitation!)?

I really am leaning towards painting it but I haven’t figured it out yet.  I look forward to your comments on this topic!

Awhile back I was going to dehydrate veggies because they were on sale cheap and to my discouragement the pieces were smaller than the holes in my dehydrator trays.  I tried to find screens in the store but we live in a rural area and I could not locate any.  In sheer frustration I was talking to my friend Esther and she said why don’t you just make some.  I was confused of course and asked her with what? She told me she just gets the large sheets of plastic canvas from Hobby Lobby  and lays them on the dehydrator trays.

Lucky for Esther she has an Excalibur and the trays are square.  Me on the other hand I have a snackmaster and my trays are round.  So I thought I would show you just how easy it is to make your own dehydrator screens.

1. First you need to lay the plastic canvas over the top of the dehydrator tray. So that you can cut around the edges.  You will wind up needing to trim slightly just so the canvas fits into the tray but do not do this until you are past having the center hole cut out.
2. Next you are going to trace the center hole so you know where to cut out.  I used a black sharpie marker and it worked pretty well.
3. Now you can remove your screen from the tray.  You will need to cut out the center hole.  Do this by first poking your scissors into the middle of the hole and cutting out towards your tracing line.  Then make your way around the tracing line. 
4. After this you should be able to trim any edges that prevent your screen from laying in the tray flat. 
5. Now I can dehydrate smaller items so they do not fall through the holes in the tray.  Overall the project cost me only $2.00 per tray.  I would have had to pay $4.00 plus shipping to get the screens retail.  Dehydrating this corn is going to be easy and it won’t take up my precious freezer space.  I can toss it in soup or rehydrate and serve as a side dish.

Have you made anything great this week?  Leave a comment I would love to check it out!

A couple weeks ago I was out shopping with my friend and we stopped by an Asian food mart.  I was really excited to find a #10 can of pineapple for $5.  That is a lot of pineapple chunks.  When I got home I decided the best way to store what we didn’t eat right away was going to be to dehydrate the remaining chunks. 

I cut the chunks into smaller pieces and layed them out on the dehydrator racks.  I set the dehydrator out of the way and let it run for the afternoon and all night long.  The next morning I checked the pineapple it was finally crisp.  You don’t want any moisture left. 

I then bagged one cup of pineapple per foodsaver bag and vac sealed each bag.  I used a sharpie to label and date the package.  I can use the pineapple later in a granola, trail mix or rehydrate it for use in a recipe.

The best part is the storage space dehydrated items takes up is very little.  And these items if properly packaged will last for years to come.

One of my husband’s favorite meals around here is French Onion Soup.  In order to make my soup super easy I carmelize and can my onions ahead of time.  I know to some of you that may sound intimidating or maybe even flat out scarey but I want to show you today just how easy it is to make carmelized onions with your crockpot.

Ingredients For Crockpot Carmelized Onions

• 6 pounds onions
• 1 stick of butter or margarine (I use butter for a richer flavor)

Instructions For Making Crockpot Carmelized Onions

1. Peel and slice onions.  You can either make rings or wedges.
2. Place onions in a 6 quart crockpot and top with a full stick of butter.
3. Place lid on crockpot and allow to cook untouched for 8 hours on low.  I usually just leave mine cook overnight and finalize things in the morning.
4. After 8 hours turn off the crockpot and pack onions into warm sterile canning jars.  I use pints as they are perfect for a batch of soup.
5. Process onions for 60 minutes in a pressure canner.