One improvement in our new house is the windows and the light. We
have windows; we had few in the old duplex. No views. No scope for the imagination, as Ann(with an "e" says), and little lovely sunlight. It makes for such beautiful shots of such homely things. Now we have many windows!
The other day, I made soap -- lavender, rosemary, lemongrass poppyseed, balsam, sweet pea.
I had the quiet kitchen to myself. Well, me and the cookie cutter fellows.
A new neighbor gave me this tree. The tag says it's a perennial. It's happy in the kitchen window.
My autumn garland is cheery in the window too.
While waiting for my lye and oils to cool properly, I busied myself with some crochet -- making a washcloth. It's tricky crocheting in latex gloves :)
While soap cooked on the front of the stove, soup cooked on the back. Adam simmered away his stock
all day long. I added water when needed, until the broth had robbed these veggies and chicken parts of all their flavor. It's a wonderful soup method: enrich your broth, strain out the robbed veggies, bones, and organ meats, and rebuild your soup from then.
The mash you see above was given (a little) to the puppies. They love it. This method allows you to get the rich flavors of the organ meats (so good for you!), without having to actually
eat them. If you cook the veggies long enough to get a richly flavored broth, the veggies are mush. This method gets the best of both worlds.
Adam then took some skin and fried it to extract enough fat to brown some new chicken cubes.
This chicken is what goes into the soup, along with new non-mushy veggies and some pasta.
The resulting soup was rich in flavor with good texture in all its parts.
We added some hard, dry croutons -- perfect! What an excellent meal on a cold day!
We're settling into our new home. My favorite thing to do still is sit on our couch with a puppy nearby and my hubby next to me. We may read or fiddle with a screen, but the point is to enjoy a quiet evening at home together.
Have you had soup this week during our chilly weather?
7 comments:
So glad you sound so content. And that is lovely sunshine.....but, your husband needs a sweater in in that last photo. :) I'm freeeeezing, and I'm in bed!
Soup sounds good to me this morning as it turned cold down here in s.e. FL. Right now it is 48 and feels like it is 39. Brrr!
Crocheting in latex gloves, what a trick, don't think I'd do very well with that.
Your soap sounds wonderful!
Happy creating ~ FlowerLady
We had soup last night--perfect for this frigid weather!
Do you have a soap recipe you could share--or a source for your soap recipe? That's something I'd really like to try.
frances
Frances, I'm not a good soup-maker, but Adam is :) Aside from the chicken, this one ended up with carrots and broccoli, and I don't recall which other veggies in the final soup. I know he didn't put rice b/c it thickens it up too much. In the initial broth, he did use other veggies for flavor that he didn't want to actually EAT, like the celery. I don't know the ingredient list, I'm sorry to say. I just enjoyed the aroma :) But perhaps the most important thing is to make the broth first, building the flavors by reducing, and then adding the solid items at the end so they are not mushy but still have some texture.
OH yay for windows! They make all the difference. We had Pioneer Woman's Hamburger Soup the past two nights and tomorrow I will make a chicken enchilada soup.
Mmmmm, that looks good@!!!!!! I often wish I had a dog to give the left overs to!!!
I agree, sunshine coming into a house makes all the difference!
Post a Comment