Today is really cold and tomorrow is supposed to be even colder, with lots of snow to come, ugh! My mother-in-law told me years ago that as I got older I would hate the cold more and more (I had made the mistake of complaining about the summer heat in south Florida where they have a house), and I be damned if she wasn't right. Now just counting down the time until Ben retires (only 11 more years!!) and we can migrate south as well. We have also started looking at condo ads for Hilton Head, thinking that once Nicole finishes college we can divert the money from her school and living expenses to a 2nd home for us (never hurts to dream, does it?).
The only good thing about the cold is the desire it brings out in us for homemade soup. A rummage through the freezer uncovered both a chicken carcass and a meaty ham bone- soup nirvana :) I dropped the chicken in a soup pot with some bay leaves and water, leaving it to cook while I was on the eliptical (yes, me!). Once the broth was golden and shimmery (yeah for chicken fat) and the meat falling off the bone, the carcass came out to cool and the broth was strained into smaller pot. The broth goes in the fridge to chill, allowing me to easily skim off some of that fatty goodness (all in moderation). Into the soup pot goes the ham bone and the process starts all over again. Once everything is cool, the broths are skimmed, the meat picked from the bones and added back in, and I am ready for soup making. The meaty chicken broth I used to make chicken noodle soup loaded with veggies to go with reubens made with leftover New Year's corned beef. I really want to make a split pea soup with the hammy goodness, but with Nicole away at school, I am the only one in the house who will eat it, so I put the broth and meaty bits into the fridge for another day.
The chicken carcass is out to cool with the broth strained and cooling in the fridge. In goes the ham bone to cook next.
The meat from the chicken carcass.
The meat from the ham bone with a rough chop.
I did not have enough room for both pots in the fridge so the ham broth was put out on the deck to cool...at 20 degrees, I think it was pretty safe from buggies :)
Jill B. on Facebook 1/7/2010: Mine died last week. It had a virus. I did a recovery but I lost everything. It is up and running now but I am still having problems connecting to the internet. I have to make a call to the router company and they can fix it. I have been working for the last week to get everything back on here. What a pain.
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