Stock

I wish you could enjoy this delicious smell! I wish I could too.

We've been battling colds and/or allergies since The Professor's birthday. The older three have each taken their turn. We are praying that BigBoy and the little one don't get it. I'm either on round two of a cold or having the worst allergies of my life. I'm not sure. Hopefully the doctor will let me know later. Update: The doctor thought it was just allergies but after I came home, took a shower and had some dinner, the chills and fever hit. It's a cold, definitely a cold.

I've started making homemade stock to help us all as we recuperate. A friend (who's wonderful writings on feast day foods and festivities can now be found in mater et magistra magazine) taught me a long time ago how to make soup from vegetable peelings that you save up in your freezer. I've done it before but have recently started doing it regularly. Maybe you know this trick too. You save up your chicken bones and carcasses in the freezer.

Along with those, you also scrub your veggies clean before you peel them as you cook during the week, save the peelings also any celery tops or leek trimmings and add them to the freezer as well. When it's soup making day, dump everything into a pot, add some seasonings and boil it all down!

I like to boil it until the full pot is at half. That usually makes 8-9 C. of a thick gelatinous stock. Easy to use or keep in the freezer.