If God Gives You Snow . . .

 

The calendar on my wall and my internal clock both tell me it's time for spring. Someone failed to get the memo to Old Man Winter - we have snow in the forcast again this weekend! And so this post I prepared last month but failed to publish is still timely, I suppose. 

We won't get enough snow this weekend to make ice cream (I hope!) but we did last month. 2 storms totaling nearly 2 feet of snow meant snow ice cream!

 

 What you'll need:

1 gallon or so of fresh, beautiful snow

1 cup sugar (a little more or less will do, to suit your taste)

1 tsp vanilla extract (or your favorite flavoring (mint, cherry, maple)

1 cup cream or milk (or chocolate milk or strawberry milk, half 'n half works too)

Step 1:  Mix snow, sugar and flavoring together.

 Step 2: Add cream (or milk) and mix well.

Step 3: Serve it up with your favorite toppings

Step 4: Have your handy-dandy taste testers standing by making sure you've followed your recipe accurately.

You can't go wrong with Classic Vanilla Ice Cream, but you can easily adapt this to your family's favorite flavors.  This recipe is very forgiving - if it isn't sweet enough, add more sugar, if it is too dry, add more cream. Need more flavor? Add more! Enjoy!!!

Menu Plan Monday - 4/2 to 4/8

 

Last week, I told you about how I fill the crockpot with black beans first thing on my Big Cooking Day. The second thing I do is start a whole chicken to boil in my stock pot. I let it simmer all morning. I then have delicious chicken stock to use while making rice or white sauce or other dishes. At the end of the day I package up pints for the freezer and use what's left to make soup. The meat falls right off the bone, so it's easy to have cooked chicken at-the-ready for meals I'm preparing that day as well as for impromptu, spontaneous meals needed throughout the month.

I have a simple and absolutely delicious recipe for my chicken stock. It is from one of my favorite cookbooks, (it really is more than a cookbook, I highly recommend it!) written by a fellow homeschool mom I knew when living in Colorado.

Chicken Stock

(based on a recipe from Hearth and Home by Karey Swan)

1 whole chicken

3 stalks of celery w/ leaves

2 carrots

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

6 cups water (or enough to cover chicken)

1 large onion, cut into thirds

3 or 4 whole cloves

Stud the onion with the cloves, put all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer at least an hour, til meat falls off bone. Lift out chicken. Strain stock and discard vegetables.

Monday - B-breakfast burritos
                 L-tuna salad sandwiches
                 Sn-gorp
                 Su-Mexican Beans &  Rice

Tuesday - B-Toast & fruit
                 L-hot dogs, mac&cheese
                 Sn-veggie sticks & dip
                 Su-Chicken Parmesian

Wednesday - B-Oatmeal
                      L-gr. chs. sandwiches & tomato soup
                      Sn-cookies
                      Su-Venison Tenderloin

Thursday - B-muffins
                   L-chicken nuggets
                   Sn-gr crkrs & pnt btr
                   Su-Lasagne

Friday - B-cereal
              L-sandwiches
              Sn-?
              Su-pizza

Saturday - B-muffins, cereal
                 L-leftover pizza
                 Sn-?
                 Su-Hamburgers

Sunday - B-bagels
               Dinner-CrockPot chicken


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