Today I downloaded some patterns and ordered all the necessary material - I am going to make dolls!
Special kind of dolls: they are called Waldorf dolls and they are made with all natural material, mostly wool and cotton. No Poly Esther and other nasties.
This also fits in with my other interest; felting. Not to mention my beliefs.
I'm so looking forward to doing this. Maybe the order will arrive on Friday and I could start it on the weekend ...
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I started to cook my broth this afternoon. Did someone ask 'What broth'?
Well, last year I read about this rich broth supposed to be really good for us. Full of that gelatinous stuff and possibly lots of minerals.
It's very beneficial to drink a mugful nicely warmed, before dinner, as it helps a lot with digestion.
I usually cook about 8 litres and store it in the freezer in 1/2 litre containers. I don't buy stock anymore, use this instead, what a difference in taste!
And if I there's nothing else in the fridge I can quickly make a rich soup by throwing in some chopped vegies, some thin noodles or cooked rice and one or two eggs for each person.
Here is my recipe:
Broth
Ingredients:
1.5 - 2 kg marrow bones cut into big chunks
1 pork foot (optional)
4-5 chicken carcasses with lots of meat and skin left on
8 full chicken wings
3 parsnips
1/2 celeriac (optional)
1-2 capsicums
6 large carrot
2 potatoes, skin on
3 red onion
1/2 head of garlic
1/2 bunch celery
large bunch of parsley
salt
black pepper
cayenne pepper (optional)
Method:
Put the bones and pork foot if using in a large stock pot (mine is 11 litres). Fill pot half with cold water and to this add 2 tbs vinegar. Put the lid on.
Let it sit for an hour, then turn the stove on.
When it starts boiling, turn the heat down to the lowest and scoop off the developing foam.
Then just let it simmer on the lowest setting with lid on. And simmer ... and simmer. For 4-20 hours. Yes, even for a whole day! Just do it slowly. It only needs to simmer very gently.
I usually start the process in the afternoon and simmer it like this till the next morning.
This is how it looked like in the morning:
Then in an other pot put all the chicken carcasses and wings (after washing and cleaning them, and I give the ends of the wings to the dogs, good for their teeth) with water wich just covers them.
Bring to the boil, scoop off the foam, then transfer meat and water to the big pot. If there is room for more water add some more to about 10 cm to the brim.
(The reason for this is that cooking must start in cold water. And I don't want to cook the chicken as long as the bones, because I like to give the meat to the dogs. But, everything could be started at the same time, only that no meat would be edible.)
So now simmer all for another 1.5 hours. You can prepare the vegies in the meatime. Clean and cut them into big chunks but don't cut the potatos, just give them a good scrub. Tie the parsley with a string.
I picked a big basket of mixed greens in the garden, they are going in, too:
Now add all the vegies and seasoning.
Cook for another 1 hour.
Ready. It has a lovely yellow colour and wonderful rich aroma from all the veggies cooked in it.
Now put two or three bowls around the big pot and start taking out everything. Put them into different bowls as either still edible, edible for dogs or rubbish.
At the end pour the empty soup through a double fine sieve, or better still, through a muslin in a sieve.
You can ladle it into freezing containers and when cool, put the lid on and into the freezer. It can also survive about a week in a normal fridge but after a few days it needs to be boiled before eating, just to be sure ...
This soup/stock is great to have on hand, and I usually do a batch every two weeks. From all the vegies and the mixed meaty bones and skin it's so very tasty. Yum!!
