Soup
It’s August, in southern California, and I’m cooking soup. Not a delicious, cold gazpacho, because my tomato plants have really not cooperated with anyone except the lizards, not even a cold strawberry soup, but pots of hot soup. Yes, pots, two of them, on the stove top right now.
We are a soup eating family, really no matter the weather. James will eat pretty much any vegetable if it is put in a soup and every month, he requests some form of soup.It is possible that even at 100, we will be eating soup.
I took a cooking class with a friend a month or so ago and they had a suggestion I just loved. Take your vegetable scraps, keep a freezer bag, and use them for your stocks. Now, I had been saving them for compost, but we have been having a fruit fly infestation problem so I started limiting my compost to garden waste only. And I always save chicken carcasses for stock, but now I could keep my vegetable scraps from going to waste and not have to buy vegetables “just” for stock.
So, today, I have a chicken in the pot, making chicken stock, and we will have chicken pot pie tonight, chicken salad tomorrow (that’s a green salad with chicken in it; personally I’m not a fan of the chicken with mayo in it fan, but James will probably want it that way for lunch), and use the chicken for sandwiches, wraps, etc. throughout the week, and I have beef bones and veggie scraps in another pot because we’re going to have beef barley soup later in the week. Stock not for use this week will get frozen in 2 c. portions.
So, there you have it, random housekeeping post for the month (perhaps the year 
). Our love of soup.
For Mom #1 (and the benefit of anyone else who might be interested), it took me a couple of days to get the nerve up to actually use the new sewing machine. I was a little worried I would regret my decision. Silly I guess but there you have it. I love, love, love it! So far, I’ve repaired a car organizer I made with the old machine, which mostly was held together with a little bit of luck I believe). I will take pictures. Really . The thing is, it’s really dirty. James puts his feet all over it. Better it than the car seat.
I plan to make myself a skirt. I’m actually going to use an old tablecloth. That’s my plan. I have to pull it out and see if there are any major stains. None of my tablecloths fit my table anymore (new table a year or so ago) so I should be able to sew a few things without making any purchases, thus, justifying the cost of the machine. Right?
Oh I am definitely one of those people who can eat soup year round. My hubby, despises the stuff – - in any form – - but I can eat my weight in it. And my boys are the same way. They’ll eat almost any veggie as long as it is in soup.
Oh, Mom #2 makes a homemade Mexican chicken soup that can cure any illness and make you cry just by being in the room with it. It’s so delicious! Before that, I wasn’t much for soup, but I’m totally addicted now.
I’ll take photos of the car organizer and the upcoming skirts. Get to it, Holly. Chop chop!
I love soup and we make our own stock too. It’s just deee-licious.
I’m really partial to beef “stoup”–it’s lighter than stew, but not quite soup. Fantastico!
I too would enjoy seeing your car organizer–it’s got me all curious.
ok I have so never made my own stock, but love the idea of using vegetable scraps for it!!!
You sew girl!!! I am excited to see what you create!
I usually cook the necks and backs of chickens when we have them and use it for soup. Sometimes I will freeze it if we don’t use it right away. I have soup bone too, but don’t make vegetable stock or add vegetable to my stock since I add vegetables to the soup. Many soups I make I don’t even use stock, just what is in it for flavour and the seasonings. I have turkey now and will probably make soup with it and won’t use stock. I think I am really just too lazy to do the stock thing. It is a great idea to use vegetable scraps for stock. We are having a tough time with the fruit flies right now too. They are so annoying.
OMG!! I just looked at your latest flickr photos. They are great, you are a wonderful seamstress and YOU ARE SO SKINNY!!! You really look great. Saw it in your face on Skype last night, but now saw the full impact. You have inspired me. Weight watchers it is. If you have the ipod touch now (or are you hoping for it), there is an app called couch to 5K. Thought you might be interested given your 5 am workouts….. Love you. PS–really am sorry about the spy alarm. Should have thought that threw better. It came in a kit of cool spy stuff, wasn’t a well thought out purchase… I know that lame excuse won’t save me this Xmas!