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My Chicks Are Here!!!

They did finally hatch!  They started late Sunday night and continued on through to Tuesday.  Unfortunately, only 13 hatched and are alive and well.  Two others hatched, but died.  The others did not hatch at all.  But, with all the temp spikes, power outages,  and being scrambled by the post office in delivery, I was not very surprised. 
For those of you who have  never seen a chick hatch, it’s really amazing (and it tries your patience!  LOL).  It’s amazing what God can do:
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Here’s some pics of all of them after they have fluffed up!
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They are so sweet!  It’s kind of nice having little chicks around again, even if they’re making another mess for me to have to clean!  LOL
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Menu Plan 04/20/09

MPM5

We’ve got company in all week this week, so this is menu is subject to change without notice ! 🙂

Breakfast

Lunch:

  • Sandwiches
  • leftovers

Dinner:

  • Chicken fried steak
  • biscuits and gravy, sausage/bacon, eggs, chocolate gravy
  • steaks
  • hamburgers & hot dogs
  • ??????
  • Dinner out probably once or twice (not frugal, but we have plans to go do some activities together as families) – once will be for some good southern BBQ!!

Desserts:

  • chocolate pie
  • apple pie

That about sums it up! Don’t forget to check out Organizing Junkie for more great menu plans and ideas!

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Recipe Swap: Ham and Bean Soup

I found this recipe at www.allrecipes.com.  It’s very easy and very good.  Here’s the original recipe.  Sorry!  I didn’t think to take pictures!

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 pound dry great Northern beans
  • 8 cups water
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 ham hock
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 1/2 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon mustard powder
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cups chopped ham
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

DIRECTIONS

  1. Rinse the beans, sorting out any broken or discolored ones. In a large pot over high heat, bring the water to a boil. Add the salt and the beans and remove from heat. Let beans sit in the hot water for at least 60 minutes.
  2. After the 60 minutes of soaking, return the pot to high heat and place the ham bone, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, mustard and bay leaves in the pot. Stir well, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 60 more minutes.
  3. Remove ham bone and discard. Stir in the chopped ham and simmer for 30 more minutes. Season with ground white pepper to taste.

My variations:

I put everything in the crock pot and cooked it on low for 8 to 10 hours.  After it was done, I took out the bones and discarded them.  Next, I took out about 3 cups of the beans, pureed them, and mixed them back in.  This thickened the soup a bit.  It was very yummy, and my family loved it!    Since I put everything in the crock pot, I also added extra beans, about 3-1/2 to 4 cups of ham (all that I had left), and enough water/broth to cover. 

This recipe is definitely going in my “Keep” folder!

 

Don’t forget to check out The Grocery Cart Challenge for more great recipes!