I love it when I find that my past self thought ahead. Even if I forgot I did something clever. Even if it takes months to finish whatever I was thinking of. It's always such a pleasant surprise, a little gift I sent myself from the past.
Today it took the form of frozen chicken. Don't laugh. It doesn't take much to make me happy.
I decided it was a good day to make chicken soup so I pulled out 2 bags of frozen chicken bones and a bag of frozen vegetable scraps. Then I found a bag of what looked like cubed chicken meat. I looked all over the bag for bones and didn't see any. Could it be, I thought, that I actually managed to be prepared? That I knew that sometime in the future I was going to make chicken soup and would want to have a whole lot of meat all ready to go in? Apparently, I did. And it made my afternoon so much easier!
For the stock, I tied all the vegetable scraps into a cheesecloth so I could just fish it out and throw it away. I put a bay leaf and a few peppercorns in that as well. I tossed all the chicken bones in and then added enough water to cover it all, probably several gallons, as this was the lobster pot. This simmered for a few hours. Then I took out the veggies, strained the stock, and made soup.
The soup started with onion, parsnips, celery and carrots, sautéed, and then I added the chicken cubes and about 4 quarts of stock. Plus salt, pepper, thyme and parsley. Mmm. I just now added egg noodles and that's going to be dinner.
While that is cooking, I'm canning the rest of the stock: 5+1/2 quarts. 4 quart jars and 3 pint jars. Which are blue. Has anyone else seen these? They're a really pretty light blue glass that I think aren't really meant for anything to go into them. After all, once you put anything yellow, or green, or red into them, it's no longer such a pretty blue color, is it?
Oh, and self, here's another little gift for next time. Don't try to muscle the pressure canner closed. You know why.
Today it took the form of frozen chicken. Don't laugh. It doesn't take much to make me happy.
I decided it was a good day to make chicken soup so I pulled out 2 bags of frozen chicken bones and a bag of frozen vegetable scraps. Then I found a bag of what looked like cubed chicken meat. I looked all over the bag for bones and didn't see any. Could it be, I thought, that I actually managed to be prepared? That I knew that sometime in the future I was going to make chicken soup and would want to have a whole lot of meat all ready to go in? Apparently, I did. And it made my afternoon so much easier!
For the stock, I tied all the vegetable scraps into a cheesecloth so I could just fish it out and throw it away. I put a bay leaf and a few peppercorns in that as well. I tossed all the chicken bones in and then added enough water to cover it all, probably several gallons, as this was the lobster pot. This simmered for a few hours. Then I took out the veggies, strained the stock, and made soup.
The soup started with onion, parsnips, celery and carrots, sautéed, and then I added the chicken cubes and about 4 quarts of stock. Plus salt, pepper, thyme and parsley. Mmm. I just now added egg noodles and that's going to be dinner.
While that is cooking, I'm canning the rest of the stock: 5+1/2 quarts. 4 quart jars and 3 pint jars. Which are blue. Has anyone else seen these? They're a really pretty light blue glass that I think aren't really meant for anything to go into them. After all, once you put anything yellow, or green, or red into them, it's no longer such a pretty blue color, is it?
Oh, and self, here's another little gift for next time. Don't try to muscle the pressure canner closed. You know why.
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