An Almost Spring-like February

   

The past week here in Michigan, it's been positively spring-like!  The warmer temperatures sure have everyone on the farm ready to be done with winter.  In fact, my boys were even in shorts this past weekend!  That's a Michigan-kid for you....once it hits 45 degrees and sunshine, the shorts come out!  

Thing #3 mucking out the sheep pen.

The Farmer in the sheep pen.

We took advantage of the nice days to do a bit of early "spring-cleaning" on one of our properties.  We cleaned out the chicken coop, mucked out the sheep and rabbits, opened windows, and cleaned out the flower beds of the muck to get ready for spring planting and growing - Not too much though, we did leave the straw over the plants......it is February after all!!

Looks like spring!

Laundry hanging on the line in February!

Unfortunately, with the warmer weather, my sinus are acting up.  So I decided that today was a chicken soup kind of day.  And I wanted to share my chicken soup recipe with you.  It's pretty basic, but always good.  Keep in mind that I am a toss and throw kind of cook, so all measurements are guesstimates - add what works for you!

Chicken Soup 

3 chicken breasts

Cooked noodles 

1 carton of chicken stock

3 chicken boullion cubes

6-8 cups of water

2-4 cloves of garlic

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp chicken flavored seasoning

1/2 tsp seasoning salt

1/2 tsp nutritional yeast

1 bay leaf

2-3 carrots, chopped

1-2 stalks of celery, chopped

1 cup corn

1/2 onion, chopped

Directions:

1. Add 4 cups of water to a sauce pan.  Place chicken breasts in saucepan and boil until cooked through.  Remove and shred.

2. Add noodles of your choice to the boiling water and cook as directed.  You may want to add a chicken boullion cube at this point.

3. Drain noodles and set aside.

4. Remove water and drain.  Add chicken stock and 6-8 cups of water to your soup pot.  Add chopped veggies, 2 boullion cubes, seasoning to the pot and bring to a boil.  Add chicken and cooked noodles.  Reduce heat and simmer for up to an hour.

5. Serve hot with fresh bread and butter.