Canned Chicken Thighs

 

cannery

noun can·nery \ˈka-nə-rē\

: a factory where food is put into cans

 

Okay, so you are thinking how does this possibly fit in with makeovers, painting and DIY projects?

Well, I thought I would share a few other topics with you that I have found to be very helpful in my life.

Growing up in the community that I did, I was taught how to can and preserve food. Although I don’t always get it done the way mom used to, I do get some done that I will post about.

Don’t worry, I will still be sharing any makeovers and DIY projects that I feel might interest you. :) (presently I have about five ideas brewing) :o

This week one of my favorite local markets ran a special where you could buy 40 pounds of boneless chicken thighs for $39.60. I snagged a box on Tuesday.

 

 

Oh, I should talk about my “cannery” a bit. No, it’s not a factory like described above. It’s more like a drab, kinda dark area in our basement that could seriously use a makeover, but it does work great to work on large quantities of food.

 

 

At times I feel a little suffocated down there since some of the windows are almost covered in ivy and I’m at my best when I can at least see the outside while working indoors. I find that playing a little music helps with this. So Tuesday before working with the chicken, I set up my tablet to play Pandora.

 

 

First I washed the thighs and cut most of them in half. I think they fit into the jars better if the pieces aren’t too big.

 

 

 

 

 

Next they were ready to be put into jars. I used regular quart jars.

 

 

 

I added a teaspoon of salt to each jar and filled it to the neck with water.

 

 

 

After wiping the rim clean, they were ready for lids and rings. I turn the rings until they are snug, but not too tight. Often I buy lids in bulk since it’s a bit cheaper than the boxed ones.

 

 

 

 

 

For meat like this, I always use new jar lids. I have at times for juice, fruit, etc. used lids that were used before.

 

Now the jars are ready for the stockpots. Here’s the part where I am pretty old fashioned. I know there are pressure cookers out there to cut your cold packing time in half or more, but I have always canned with stockpots and since that works great, I haven’t yet tried another route.

 

You of course can’t set the jars directly on the base of the pot, so I use cooling racks and old  jar rings to get them off the bottom.

 

 

 

 

After setting the jars in, I fill the stockpots with warm water up to the necks of the jars.

 

 

I set them on the stove and turn the burners on high until they start to boil. I cold pack them for three hours. I turn the burners down once the water starts to boil,then I don’t have to worry about running out of water. If the water does get a little low, I add more hot water. I was always told to never let the pots run out of water, that the jars would explode. Thankfully I have never had to test that theory!

After they boiled for three hours, I set the jars out on newspaper, on the floor.

 

 

 

 

The 40 pounds of chicken gave us 28 quarts. After they cooled, I checked the jars to see if they sealed. A few of them didn’t. I refrigerated them, but they can also be re-cold packed if you wish. At times, I have also put the chicken and broth in freezer containers and frozen them for preservation. Often I just use it in the next few days for a meal.

After washing the jars, they were ready for the shelf!

 

 

 

 

What a great feeling knowing we have 28 meals of chicken ready to use anytime! In the future, I will share a few of our favorite family recipes to use this chicken with!

Have a great week, everyone! Thanks for visiting!

-Mary

 

Greenleaf Gardens

 

My face in the sun, my hands in the earth, is therapy for my soul…

 

I am excited to share with you my sister’s gardens and her growing business selling perennials! What a joy it is to do what you love and provide a little income on the side doing it!

My sister and I both share the love of gardening, though I consider her to be the expert when it comes to gardening. She knows the names of all her perennials and knows what they like. She has the knack to make her gardens appealing all year long…

 

Earlier this year she opened an Etsy Shop called Greanleaf Gardens where you can buy perennial starts. Click here to take a tour of her shop.

Fall is a great time to transplant perennials. She will have her shop open for a few more weeks, so if your looking to buy healthy, bare root plants, her shop will be the perfect place!

 

My sister has mostly shade beds and she has a variety of different types of plants such as Japanese Anemone, Lungwort and Brunnera, just to name a few.

Pictures hardly do justice to her gardens but perhaps you can get a glimpse of some of them…

 

 

 

 

You will find meandering paths, arbors covered in vines and little sitting areas throughout her gardens.

 

 

 

 

 

Butterflies and bees are in paradise in my sister’s gardens.

 

 

 

Rocks play an essential part in creating a natural look in a wooded setting.

 

 

 

Like my sister’s facebook page and follow her on pinterest to see more gardening beauty!

Farmhouse Table Tutorial

 

Did you ever wonder why we are attracted to things of the past? I once took a test to see what era I should have lived and I got the 70s. I did live in the 70s a few years but I don’t remember them of course. But to me it’s almost weird how I often find myself drawn to 70s stuff, whether it be music, tv shows, muscle cars, events that took place, clothing, or even furniture styles.

So if you spot me wearing bell bottoms and huge, round glasses, I’m just letting my inner self out. I’m kidding, though. Definitely not everything is appealing to me about the 70s. I could never get used to blue toilets, dark paneling walls, or the huge, round glasses people would wear.

I often spot pieces of furniture that take me back in time to grandma’s house, especially little jelly cupboards or drop leaf tables.

One of my favorite furniture pieces to make are little cupboards or tables. The last while I have been working on a farmhouse table that I want to share with you.

I had just enough wood from an old barn left over to make a beautiful top with. That certain wood is kind of hard to come by. It needs to be the right thickness and the boards need to be fairly straight. These boards had awesome character, probably created by animals mostly. It’s funny how I wouldn’t mind eating off a table that was chewed by a horse but I complain when the boys miss a few crumbs when wiping the table. :\ 

 

 

I needed chunky pieces for the legs and thought these square fence posts would work out great.

 

 

The first step was cutting the legs, which were cut to 30”. The next step was the skirting. I wanted the table top to be 80” long so I needed to cut the skirting the right size for that. I wanted a two and a half inch overhang on the top and the posts were 4” thick, so I cut the skirting around 67”. That allowed for the two 4” legs and 5” of overhang to fit underneath the top.

 

 

 

The skirting for the short size turned out to be around 21” since the top is 35” wide.

 

I glue everything and use screws to fasten.

 

After the legs and skirting were put together, I painted that part before putting the top on. I don’t always do that but for this table I did.

 

 

I didn’t get a good picture of this, but 2x6s were added in between the skirting to fasten the top. I didn’t want any screws showing on the top so everything is fastened from the bottom, which is at times a little challenging for me. At one time I was lying on the floor, in sawdust, getting the screws set just right. If I drove them in too deep, they would appear on the top and not deep enough, would only push the boards up.

Oh, and before I fastened the boards, I sanded and sanded them. As I type, I still feel sanding dust in my head. :\

 

I distressed the legs and skirting using my sander.

Before fastening the boards, I laid them on the frame to make sure they fit nicely. Oh, and did I mention I sanded them for a long time?

 

Here is a bottom view..

 

I tried something different for the finish on the top. I got an oil based polyurtherane at a local hardware and applied that to the top. I used a foam brush to apply. I will probably give it another coat tomorrow. It wasn’t quite dry the last time I checked and I think since a table top gets a lot of wear, a few coats would be good. I usually shy away from oil based products, but thought I’d give it a shot with this table. I was impressed how it darkened the the wood and gave a nice, smooth finish. I ended up applying a coat to the white part of the table and that gave it a nice, off white look. Before, it looked too stark white.

The finished piece…

 

 

 

 

There’s something about a red checkered tablecloth that will never go out of style for me. (I bet it’s a 70s creation)

 

This table is for sale, so if you are interested in a nice, sturdy table, it’s yours! You can message me through my facebook page if you have any questions. (porchswings n honeysuckle)

Thanks for visiting!

-Mary

Old Door Headboard

 

If you are looking for a headboard that is low cost and that I believe will be in style for years, you may want to start eying old doors. They can be found in antique malls, auctions, or if you’re lucky like I was, just finding someone who wants to get rid of them.

For a headboard, you want to choose a door with symmetrical raises. They can be a bit challenging to find at times, but not impossible.

Sometimes, as was the case with mine, you will need to cut them down a bit to even up the raises.

 

 

For years we had an old door headboard and I just recently sold it (with mixed feelings). When I redid the bedroom earlier this year I saw how much more room we would have in our bedroom if I removed he headboard. You can read about that makeover here. Our bed is king sized, so the door I used was perfect for that.

 Just recently someone ordered a headboard just like ours so I made another one. I used the last door that I have from the collection that came from hubby’s home farmhouse.

After taking about four inches off the bottom, adding a 2x4 on the top as a header, and attaching the “legs” it was ready for a coat of paint. Since the door was black already, I just needed to paint the header and legs.

 

 

A close up on how I attached the legs…

 

 

 

 

And after two coats of white satin based paint and some distressing…

 

 

I didn’t drill any holes in the legs of this headboard since I wasn’t sure how the frame of the bed is where it’s going, but for ours, it wasn’t hard to fasten it to our metal frame.

I know there are other ways of using doors for headboards, but for me, this worked great!

Have a great day & thanks for visiting!

-Mary

 

 

Folding Chair Makeover

 

When I host garden parties out on the deck, I always find myself in a mad scramble for chairs, especially if I have a large party. What I usually end up with is an odd assortment of chairs in various shapes and colors…

 

 

So, about a year ago I bought five metal folding chairs from a friend’s parents for two or three dollars each. They were a nice black color, but I wanted to do something with them since they were rather plain and well, cold.

 

 

I mixed together around four different shades of blue and green paint since I didn’t have enough of one color. Thankfully it turned to be a nice light aqua color, just what I wanted. I then used my trusty sprayer to apply it.

 

 

I felt they still needed a little spark so I stenciled words related to flowers on their backs…

 

 

I used a white spray paint from Wal-Mart for this.

 

 

I hadn’t forgotten the black underneath. That had to come through a bit. I used sandpaper to distress.

 

 

 

So now I have at least five of my chairs matching…

 

 

 

They will also provide good seating elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

So if you don’t like your plain, squeaky metal chairs, you can always give them a bit of flair with paint and some stencils!

Thanks for visiting!

-Mary