What kind of CHICKEN are you?

At a recent Young Women activity (girls from our church that are 12-18) we made white chicken chili.  It was interesting that not ONE of the girls would touch the pile of cooked chicken legs ready to be deboned and deskinned.  Not one.  Maybe the act of pulling bone from muscle just made the chicken a little too . . . alive . . . in their mind.

I've found that there are those people who are the classic boneless/skinless type.  Won't touch a full-fledged turkey carcass with a ten foot pole.  And I've got to say there are times when boneless/skinless is definitely the way to go.  For instance when you have 60 lbs of chicken to cook and put in the freezer for an upcoming family reunion.  Boneless skinless is the only way to go. Why? Two words: KITCHEN AID!  Mom (mother of all things frugal here) recently showed me that you can put cooked boneless/skinless chicken breasts in the kitchen aid with a regular mixer attachment, turn it on low, and come back 10 seconds later to perfectly shredded chicken.  LIFE CHANGER!!

But I've got to give it to the good ole split chicken breast.  Cheaper. On sale I can get it for about $1.29 versus a sale of $1.59 for boneless/skinless.** And then you add on the extra money you save from not having to buy chicken broth.  You can simply put some onions, carrots, celery, salt, and a bay leaf into the cooking water and when you're done cooking that chicken you've got a beautiful chicken broth ready to be strained and stored for your next soup.

So what kind of chicken are you? Boneless, skinless or split chicken breast?

For the Kitchenaid shredded chicken tip start with cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts. 

Put them in the Kitchenaid with the regular cookie dough attachment on lowest speed. Mix for about a minute until they are shredded to your desired shreddidness. :-) 

Put in freezer bags in serving size portions and save for a busy night. 

**Boneless/skinless chicken breasts were on sale at our Aldis (aldi.com) for $1.59 this week.  (Sorry Utah people, Aldis is global, but hasn't made it's way over the Rockys yet.) Aldis is a great cheap option if you're willing to bag your own groceries and all that jazz, which I am.  But I have to say I could have kissed the cashier when she offered to help put groceries on the belt and back into the cart. Maybe it was the shopping cart exploding with 60 lbs of chicken breast, 7 gallons of milk, 30 lbs of potatoes, 4 dozen eggs, etc. etc. along with Baby Boy asleep in a carrier on my chest, Helper Girl, Big Boy, and Buddy Boy that prompted the act of kindness.  Made my day! That and the cable repair guy who stopped to help me shovel my van out of my own driveway when it got stuck hanging out onto Main Street because I couldn't get all those pounds of groceries and kids over the snow-covered driveway. Still lots of good in this world!

Laundry Detergent - Good to the Last Drop

I've noticed that with those nice pour spouts lots of liquid detergent gets stuck in the bottle. I estimate it's 1 wash load worth of detergent per bottle. So lazy me I had three small detergent bottles that were almost empty. (I usually buy bigger bottles for the better per ounce price, but these were buy this/get that type sale so they were a good deal.)

Options for getting the last drop of laundry detergent:

• cut the bottle in half and put the whole bottle in the washing machine
• drain the bottle upside down
• poke a hole in the bottle and drain it

I opted for the last option since I was afraid the first option would have jagged options that would snag my clothes. The second option didn't really work (I tried) because the pour spout kept the last drop in the bottle.

Another option would be to put water into the bottle and then pour the diluted detergent into the washing machine. Probably a lot less work, but sometimes I just do things my own way. :)

Prop in the morning and Leave till Lunch

Tips for Getting Kids to Eat Vegetables

I asked my fellow sisters how they encourage their kids to eat vegetables. Here are their responses:

Carol: (the sneaky chef)

I puree carrots and keep them frozen in one cup portions.  Then every time I make pancakes or smoothies, I throw in a cup of it.  Or sometimes I use canned pumpkin instead.  I also let them salt their vegetables to make them more palatable. Croutons makes the salad go down.  Or maybe just makes the croutons go down, I don't know but we try.  

Lisa: (the vegetable expert and local produce supporter)

So, how do I get my kids to eat vegetables?

• eat veggies myself
• keep offering them even though they've balked at them several times
• tell myself, if they are really hungry, they will eat.  They will survive if they refuse to eat.  Downplay it. 
• put them in soups, on pizza, in curry, lasagne, spaghetti sauce, green smoothies
• let the kids help prepare them (Rex loves eating a chef salad he's made) They are more willing to eat them if they've given the effort to wash and chop them.  Even more so if they helped grow them in the garden!
• let them help pick them out at the store

Sometimes if a child is eating a lot of carbs or dairy and ignoring the veggies I expect them to eat veggies before they have second servings of the other.  I talk with them about a balance and point out and label what they've eaten.  "you've had some chicken, that's protein, you've had noodles, that's grains, what veggies will you eat?" 

Nancy: (crazy vitamins)

 

Most of our kids have been pretty good about eating basic vegetables.  Of course, I'm a picky eater with vegetables, so I figure if I'll eat it, they should too.  And my general rule is to not mix vegetables into other stuff because then I don't want to eat it either.  Vegetables are side dishes.  Meaning they belong on the side.  That said, Josh does not like vegetables.  With him we have done V8 Splash for a while to get them in, but I don't like doing it for very long.  We found a vitamin that's mostly vegetable stuff that tastes like hamster food, but he loves it!  In the end though, saying that he has to eat his vegetables before dessert is usually the most effective.  He might not eat them till everyone else is eating cookies, but he'll eat them.

Margaret's comment: How do you know what hamster food tastes like Nancy?

Anna: (fabulous chef and gardener)

As far as vegetables go, each of my kids is very different.  They all like roasted asparagus (that way it's not soggy!) and will eat kale in soup or with eggs (ie in quiche).  

It generally helps if they get to help with growing or preparing it.  Cherry tomatoes straight from the bush are always gobbled up, but I suspect that eggplant wouldn't be any more popular if we grew it ourselves! 

Margaret: (married to a green veggie lover) 

I asked my kids this question. The number one response was "put it in a smoothie" which was followed quickly by "but only spinach." Truthfully I haven't even tried to put any other veggie than spinach in smoothies..... yet. 

The other response was "no dessert unless you eat your vegetable." Yep, that's the rule around here.

Growing up I remember Mom didn't like to put vegetables away as leftovers. So you not only had to eat veggies to get dessert, but if the vegetables weren't gone after once around the table they got passed around again and everyone had to take a few more (3 more green beans usually did the trick). Then dessert could be served.

Make the workout work for you

Let me just start by saying that I'm drafting this post at 2 AM.  Not because I'm a night wool, I mean owl (see, I ain't lying about the time!) but because I'm Mom to a nursing baby, as are many of you.  Exercise is important to me for several reasons - most noticeably that I tend to get cranky if days pass and I haven't found time to workout. My brain slowly switches to the my-kids-are-taking-over-my-life mentality, and it ain't pretty, so I try to avoid getting to that stage.  But as you can probably relate, the last thing I want to do after having my sleep interrupted several times during the night is to set an alarm  in the morning so that I can have my sleep interrupted again, even if it is to workout.   So here's some ways I have found to exercise! with my kids! without losing sleep over it!

The running game- we set the timer for three minutes, then I start chasing the kids around the house. After three minutes we switch whose turn it is to chase.  Our house isn't super big, but after five or more reps of this, especially using two levels of the house and incorporating stairs, your heart rate definitely gets up. The best part is how excited the kids are for this game. I figure a workout that gets my heart pumping at the same time it gives me quality time with my kids is a win-win.

The exercise video. A few years ago I would have shuddered at the mention of the word.  But now since it means I don't have to bundle up 5 bodies and trudge to the gym, I'm much more in.  The best part is if I don't get to the exercise video before the kids are up, they don't care.  They either play on their own or sit down and do the moves with me.  And tell me how much better the people are the screen are doing the moves as sweat drips down my nose.

So even if the weather looks like this outside:

there are still plenty of ways to get the heart pumping.  So grab your nearest child and get busy!

Vacation Ideas

Our honorary "Grandma" brought this blog to my attention: wetravelcheap.com  Run by experienced air mile users (reliable relatives of "Grandma"), it offers tips on how to get your air and hotel cheap.

I think we'll be signing up for the Rapid Rewards Visa offer.  After checking Southwest Airline's website (just click on the bullet above the price to see miles instead of dollars), it looks like the 50,000 miles would be almost enough to get myself and 2 smallest children to our brother's wedding next year.  (Yes, we're adding an eighth frugal sister).

The resort certificates mentioned also look interesting - $259 for a whole week (price per unit, not per person), and many of the resorts have units that will accomodate 6 or even 8 people.  (That's a must for my family.)  The offer ends October 15, so be sure to look into it now, if you're interested!

Free Papa Murphy's in Utah

For those of you living in Utah, Papa Murphy's is running a campaign to get families reading.  Go here http://readtoday.com/article/open/id/40 to read more about it.  The prize for filling out your pizza chart is a free family size 1 topping pizza!  Be sure to take your finished form in by October 11th.

Homemade Sunscreen

This is one item it never even occurred to me to make on my own: sunscreen!  Today at the grocery store, my bagger mentioned that his roommate, a chemistry major, makes his own sunscreen, with an SPF of about 100!

So, I researched it online - it actually looks fairly easy, especially since I already have beeswax!  Here's one example

I haven't tried it yet, but I probably will.  I did find a few sites listing the hazards of making your own sunscreen - so make sure you research it before you try it!