Layered Chicken Soup

So I've been seeing alot of talk about this layered chicken soup in the canning groups and a few other blogs. Of course when you hear so many rave reviews you just have to try it for yourself. For me when I saw a picture of it in the jars it was so pretty. So I happened to catch some vegetables and chicken on sale this past week. Anytime you find it on sale you gotta do something with it. Right? I have to say that every recipe is meant to be made ones own so I varied from the orginal slightly.

Here are the ingredients that I used. Amounts are approximate for a one-quart jar:

1 cup cubed potatoes (peeled, raw)
1 cup sliced/cubed carrot
2/3 cup corn
2/3 cup green beans
1/3 cup peas
1/2 cup cooked chicken meat (reserve the broth)
1 tablespoon onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Roma tomatoes
1/2 chicken buillion cube

I cooked the chicken in large stock pot with 2 buillion cubes, 1 large onion quartered peeling included, 4 carrots peeled and cut into large chunks, 4 ribs celery cut into chunks, tablespoon thyme, tablespoon parsley, 3 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed, 2 bay leaves, 8 peppercorns in a large pot covered in 2 gallons of water. When chicken legs were pulling apart from the body approx 20 to 30 minutes. I removed the chicken and let it cool just enough for me to handle it. Peeled skin off and put back in with the stock, removed meat from bones and put the carcasses back in pot and continued to cook for about 2 hours. Next time I am going to let the stock cook for a whole 8 hours, possibly in the crockpot over night.

I then strained the broth by using coffee filters and a strainer. I would of used cheese cloth but I didnt have any at the time. It yeilded a beautiful stock with a great flavor.

While the stock was cooking I peeled and chopped the vegetables, cut up the chicken and steralized the jars. The corn, peas and green beans were all from the frozen food section of the grocery store.

Layer each of the ingredients into a one-quart canning jar. Alternate darker to lighter colors for a good look to your layers. i arranged mine in this order: potato, carrot, green beans, peas, chicken, corn, onion and tomato. You certainly can do it any way you like.

Covered with the stock that I made, leaving 1 inch of head space. Pressure can at 10 lbs for 90 minutes, allowing for your local elevation.

And the finished product is this beautiful layered soup. Making a good stock yeilds a nice rich color. 

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Beautiful sight

I heard on the news that there was going to be some kind of lunar halo happening. I wasn't going to check it out at all because we rarely see any of the things they report on the news. DS and I happened to be sitting on the couch, I could see out the kitchen window and realized that it was awful bright out. I sent DS out on the porch to see if he could see the halo. He was all excited and motioned for me to come out and see it too. It was so beautiful. The whole sky was lit up. I ran back in and grabbed my camera to see if I could capture it to later show DH which was fast asleep. The above picture was taken by me. It's not as beautiful as what we saw with the naked eye but, its still stunning. I'm assuming that the straight line across just below the moon is the vapors left behind from an airplane. We are on one of the main paths that is traveled frequently, we see such lines daily if its not cloudy. 

I'm so excited that I can share this with everyone. I have a few theroies of my own as to why it has happened on such a night although they are not scientific they however trump all that any meterologist could ever possibly come up with. Mine are so much better. We'll leave it at that.

If you didn't get a chance to go out and enjoy such a sight maybe it will happen again and you'll have better luck. I know some of my friends said it was cloudy in their part of the world. ;(

~ Farmgirl

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2011 Reviewed

What an exciting time of the year. I'm so ready to be done with 2011 and begin new and fresh with 2012. Some great things have happened for me and my family in 2011 such as heading back to college. I survived 3 semesters. I also got the nerve up to finally Blog. I've been asked by many to do this. So here's to a full year of blogging. Hopefully something exciting will come of it besides making some sort of sense. 

I'm also so proud of both my son and daughter as they did really well in school. I also survived my son going to his first formal dance. Oh la la did he look ever so handsome.  My son also completed his first ever Sheriffs Academy Camp. He's so looking forward to going back next summer. We just hope he gets invited to back. He also completed band camp and 4H camp. He survived football conditioning and practacie and for first time ever playing a sport he did really well. He's growing up so fast.

8th Grade Dance

Sheriffs Academy

1st year football

Christmas parade

Christmas concert

My daughter kinda got jipped on camps this year. But, she did do wonderful on her 4H projects and had a great time at 4H camp. Heck I also did great at 4H camp as I taught my first class. I'm hoping that I get to teach another class this year. Now, that I know how all things go down.

Family Vacation and Anniversary Celebration

2011 was a year for ups and down. We sure did have plenty of them. We took a family vacation to Gatlinburg, TN and DH and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. We did some things that we wouldnt normally do. As we don't normally take in expensive vacations but, we took in a show and many muesums and numerous new resturants. All the while DH wasn't feeling very well with his broken foot. He was such a trooper though. He's ready to go back and so am I.

Downers for 2011 was that DH broke his foot and landed himself in the recliner for nearly 4 months. Myself I spent most of October - December in bed with pneumonia and dental infections that kept me up late and away from studying. I somehow pulled off good grades for the winter semester to finish out 2011. 

Christmas at Granny's

We had a wonderful Christmas with many of our family members. Dinner at Granny's. Christmas Eve at the in laws. Christmas dinner at the Cousin's house. Just missed having family time with my parents ;(. Sometimes things just aren't how they use to be. What a shame. 

I'm welcoming 2012 with open arms!!

~ Farmgirl

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