Rainy Day Kitchen Time

Another day of steady rain; not a storm, just a constant easy downpour sometimes light as mist and sometimes heavy as rain.  Constant.  Yesterday, we had rain as well.  I was busy in the kitchen -- my favorite rainy day activity is cooking (when I have energy).  Today, I'm engaging in my other favorite rainy day activity: reading a good book by the fire.

After lunch yesterday, I got a pot of chicken stock going on the stove.  When I roast a chicken, I throw the carcass in a freezer bag and save it until I get the urge to make stock.  I brown the bones and any clinging meat and skin in oil.  Then I add whatever vegetables I have on hand - in this case it was an onion, celery tops, carrot, fennel tops and a leek.  I gathered rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage and a bay leaf from the garden.  I tied them together with string and tossed the bundle into the pot with everything else.  I filled the pot with water until everything was covered and let it simmer on the stove for a couple of hours. 

I tasted it for salt, strained it, and put it in tupperware containers destined for the freezer.  I kept enough out for the soup I planned to make for dinner.  Homemade stock is easy and tastes vastly superior to what you buy at the store.  It also makes the house smell wonderful.

While the stock was simmering on the stove, I made up a batch of homemade granola.  I mixed together oats, nuts, coconut, brown sugar and maple syrup with a beaten egg white (makes the granola crunchy) and baked it until it was toasty brown.  When it had cooled, I broke it into a bowl and mixed in dried blueberries.  I love granola on yogurt and on fruit. 

For dinner, I made a lentil soup with chard and sausage.  It was amazing!  I found the recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog and I highly recommend it.  HIGHLY recommend it; perfect for a rainy night.