Just an Old Stump

Who would have thought an old stump could be so entertaining.

They spent over an hour on this stump out behind the house.

They watched bugs, jumped off the edge, slid down the sides of it, and climbed all over it.

Oh, and got absolutely FILTHY.

Ah, simple pleasures.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

    I seriously found the best whole chicken recipe ever! (Found here) Super easy and super good. The skin was crispy and full of flavor. I ended up getting two meals out of it. We had the whole chicken for supper on Friday night and the next day I used the leftover meat, bones, and grit to make broth for soup. Not a bad deal at all.

{This is the precooked bird. 

The recipe has you cook it in a cast iron skillet.}

{For the soup I didn't use a recipe. Just come carrots, potatoes,

 mushrooms, frozen corn, frozen green beans, wild garlic chives, and some spices.}

{This big ol' pot was just enough for one night. We're all a little 

under the weather right now so it really hit the spot.}

{This recipe was so good it's going

 right into our monthly meal rotation I'm starting.}

Recipe From tastelove&nourish:

Rotisserie Inspired Roasted Chicken

4 – 6 pound whole chicken, giblets removed, rinsed and dried well

2 T. olive oil

1 t. kosher salt

1 t. freshly ground black pepper

1 t. smoked sweet paprika

3/4 t. poultry seasoning

1/2 t. chili powder

1/2 t. onion powder

1/4 t. garlic powder

Place the dried chicken, breast side up, in a cast iron skillet or a roasting pan.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.

Gently slide a spoon between the breast meat and the skin to separate the two. Do this on each side. Then using about 1 teaspoon per side, put some of the mixture under the breast skin and rub it around (this is totally optional, but makes the breast meat super flavorful). Use the remaining mixture to rub all over the rest of the bird. Now, tuck the wings under the bird so that the tips don’t burn and tie up the legs with some kitchen twine to cook more evenly (if you’re not into bondage…you certainly can skip that step)!

If you have time, cover the bird up loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Allow the rub to “marinate” for a few hours and even overnight. If you don’t have time…no worries, just put it in the oven at this point. It will still be delicious!

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Put the chicken in the oven and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees. Cook about 20 minutes per pound or until the breast meat is 180 degrees.

When the chicken is done, remove it from the oven and allow it to sit in the pan for at least 15 to 20 minutes.

Yarn Along

    A few months ago I was emotionally drained and needed some time to sort some personal matters out. I stopped knitting and blogging for quite a while. During that break I realized blogging and knitting were two things that helped me stayed focus and on a regular rhythm. Not at all what I had expected. So I have come back to my creative outlets! I have been knitting hats like crazy. Making up for lost time I suppose. Currently I am making a women's hat using this pattern. 

    Now onto the reading part of the Yarn Along post. I have been interested in herbal remedies for a couple years now but since James and I have been out foraging lately my interest has intensified. I found this book on clearance at Barnes and Noble for about $6! I tried to find it on Amazon to link it but can't seem to. I'm loving it though. There is a picture for each plant/root, making foraging so much easier. I'll have to post about all the goodies we have found and what we are doing with them. Nothing better than free organic food.

Thrifted

Garage sales and thrift stores. I love them. Ten dollars for all of this.

 Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

James loves old books in other languages so he 

added a German Bible to the collection. 

$5

I know the kids are a little old for this but we love wooden toys around

 so I couldn't pass it up. Especially for the price.

$1

A little wooden bowl. I'm not sure if I'll use it for decoration, to 

really eat from of it, or let the kids have it for their play kitchen.

.50

(They ended up rounding the total so this was basically free. Score!)

Now my favorite. I love to knit by candle light in the evenings so this, I 

just had to have. I've used it the last couple nights already :).

$4

So pretty. Now for garage sale season to get started!

Tidbits

Tidbits: tid·bits, noun

1.) Random moments of life preserved in pictures in an attempt to blog at least once a week.

So these aren't pictures from the past week but from the past month but still wanted to share them.

{The fireplace is their favorite place to color}

{Gracie helping me sew her doll blanket}

{Two cuties super stoked to sleep in the same bed. It only lasted about

 five minutes until Eli wanted back in his bed}

{Gracies first successful log tower}

{Grace has been really into fairies lately so I tried my hand

 at making her a one with a wooden ball and wooden spool}

{As Eli would say "I'm Fyling," meaning styling :)}

{He crawled up on my lap, said "I love you", kissed my cheek,

 and fell asleep. I'm one lucky Mama}

Kingwood Center

    Last week we went to Kingwood Center with my parents and nieces. It's a favorite spring/summer activity of ours. There are usually flowers everywhere you turn but it's still early. We always start by feeding the ducks then make make our rounds on the rest of the grounds.

{See that water? I fell in that when I was little. Lets just hope it was cleaner then. :)}

{You may not see it but behind the peacock are two peahens.}

{My wild child running through the woods.}

{Lexi, Grace, Addy}

{Never can get everyone looking.}

{Checking out some kind of red moss}

Finally Back

    Back to blogging and back to the outdoors. These last few months

 have been very LONG and eventful to say the least. I feel good about coming back to 

blogging and having a creative outlet again. In recent months we have had Thanksgiving, 

Christmas, all four have had birthdays, and many little events in between. Oh and we moved! For now, though here is how our evening went.

{We are so lucky to have this right behind our house}

{We are, also, in walking distance of a reservoir} 

{Throwing rocks} 

{Running down hills} 

{Building a mini snowman in 62 degree weather. Say what?} 

{I didn't want popsicle dribbles to clean up}