What to do with an old hen

Our hens are getting old.  They are no longer laying eggs and therefore have become freeloaders, living off our food without giving anything in return. You know what that means: time to dine.

I had never seen the process of turning a live chicken into chicken on my plate, so I asked Kagwa, our guard, to show me how it's done.  The process didn't take long - it simply included the cutting of a neck, dunking the chicken in hot water, plucking the feathers, and gutting the insides.  Sure, it's not a pretty sight, but we should all know where our food comes from and what it takes to put a meal on our table.  This is eating local at its best.  My plate included meat from a chicken I raised myself; that is, until I actually tried to eat the thing and it was too tough to chew.  Apparently, that old hen was just a little too old.

From the garden: arugula pesto

Pesto is one of my favorite go-to ingredients when I want an easy and delicious meal; but it wasn't until I moved to Uganda and went a couple of years without it, that I realized how it easy it is to make from scratch. My garden is shady, so leafy greens are the best things to grow, and pesto is also a great way to use the my herbs.  I often make a double or triple batch and then freeze what I don't immediately need.  Pairing basil pesto with my home-made sun-dried tomatoes never disappoints.

Basil pesto is certainly the most common, but you can make pesto from any variety of herbs or leafy greens.  Last year I had a huge amount of arugula in my garden, so I used it to make arugula pesto.

Here is the recipe I use, which can easily be adapted.

Ingredients:

About 1 cup of packed basil/arugula/cilantro/kale/whatever you want
1/2 cup of pine nuts (walnuts are a great substitute)
1/2 cup of olive oil
3 cloves of minced garlic (but I like to use more)
1/4 tsp of pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Blend all your ingredients except the olive oil until they are ground together in a thick paste

2. Slowly start adding the olive oil and continue to blend.
3. Add salt, pepper, and pepper flakes to taste.

4. Pour into a container to serve or store.  If you're not using it within a couple of days, pour your pesto into freezer bags to freeze and use for later.

Here are a few other recipes to use with pesto:

Turkey, pesto, onion, cheese, and poppyseed sliders
Pesto and cheese stuffed chicken
Roasted garlic chicken pesto pizza
Pesto ranch crock pot chicken thighs

Ingredients:

About 1 cup of packed basil/arugula/cilantro/kale/what you want
1/2 cup of pine nuts (walnuts are a great substitute)
1/2 cup of olive oil
3 cloves of minced garlic (but I like to use more)
1/4 tsp of pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Blend all your ingredients except the olive oil until they are ground together in a thick paste
2. Slowly start adding the olive oil and continue to blend.
3. Add salt, pepper, and pepper flakes to taste.
4. Pour into a container to serve or store.  If you're not using it within a couple of days, pour your pesto into freezer bags to freeze and use for later.

Homemade bone broth

Bone broth is one of the most commonly-made food items in our household because 1) it's super easy, 2) it's used in several recipes, and 3) word has it, there are several health benefits. (I guess there's a reason your momma made you chicken noodle soup when you were sick.)

So here's the know-how:

Get some leftover chicken (or beef, turkey, etc.) bones (I'll keep them in the freezer until I'm ready to use them)
Get some leftover veggies and herbs (or collect your veggie ends in a bag in the freezer until ready to use)

Put everything in your slow cooker and douse it in about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, which supposedly "leeches" out the nutrients.  Put in just enough water to cover everything, and put your slow cooker on low.  I'll leave the slow cooker on while I sleep or when I'm at work, for at least 8 hours.  You'll wake up or come home to the most delicious and comforting smell!  Strain the bones and veggies out and voila!  You have a yummy and healthful broth.  You could drink it as is, or put it in the freezer for future use.  I mostly use the broth for soup recipes, giving mymeals a richer flavor and a more healthful kick.

Before cooking

After cooking

Other recipes
What to do with an old hen
What to do with an old hen
From the garden: arugula pesto
From the garden: arugula pesto
Homemade bone broth
Homemade bone broth
DIY solar dehydrator and sundried tomatoes
DIY solar dehydrator and sundried tomatoes
Drying herbs
Drying herbs
Easy Gluten Free Banana Bread
Easy Gluten Free Banana Bread
Fluffy gluten free pancakes (no sugar and dairy, too!)
Fluffy gluten free pancakes (no sugar and dairy, too!)
Jorts of July and a popcorn bar
Jorts of July and a popcorn bar
A cup of tea
A cup of tea
Home-spiced rum
Home-spiced rum

DIY solar dehydrator and sundried tomatoes

And by DIY, I mean I told my husband what I wanted, and he explained the design of this solar food dehydrator to our carpenter, who made it for us.  But I looked up the design online after seeing one at a lodge here in Uganda, so I think that counts for something.

Anyway, if you're the craftsman type or you have a carpenter who you can call, here's an idea for how to harvest the sun to dehydrate and preserve your own food.  I'm still experimenting, but my first success was with sun dried tomatoes.  It took a few days for them to dry out enough, and I then used some of my dried herbs, garlic, and salt to season them while preserving them in a glass bottle with olive oil.  We used them to top some pesto pasta.

Next up, dried fruits.

Drying herbs

I've been away from my own home for so long this year and I missed making food from what I can grow on our small piece of land or buy fresh at the local markets. 

When i came back, my herb garden was definitely in need of some attention.  Some of my herbs had been crowded out by weeds, some had gotten spindly for lack of pruning, but others had absolutely exploded.  With these, it was the perfect opportunity to harvest a little crop and dry the herbs for future use.  There were other bundles of herbs I had hung to dry before I left and they were now finished and ready to use.

I simply cut off trimmings of my herbs, wash them thoroughly, tie the ends together with a rubber band, and hang them at the top of one of our cabinets, where it is cool and they get good air circulation.  When they are dry and brittle, I take the leaves off the stems, crush them into smaller pieces, and place them in containers until I need them in a recipe.

It's always a lovely feeling to cook with something I grew and processed myself, and drying herbs is such a simple way to do that.

Fresh thyme, rosemary, oregano, and lavender

Dried thyme, rosemary, oregano, and lavendar

Herbs hanging to dry

Dried oregano and sage

Sage bundle

P.S. My husband and I have an ongoing argument about how to pronounce "herb."  Is the "H" silent or not?