Duck Soup

The last day of vacation. Sigh. Time to prepare for the school and work week ahead. That meant a little grocery shopping, finishing up a school project, bread baking and soup cooking.


We roast a chicken several times a month. I always make roasted chicken stock from the carcass and then generally make a good nourishing soup with it. Soup is an excellent way to finish up those vegetables that may have been in the fridge for just a tad too long. It's never the same thing twice.


In this case, I'm making duck soup. Yup, duck. We roasted a duck over the Christmas Holiday and I used the carcass to make stock. Making stock is so easy! The broth is so much better than anything you can buy at the store. Basically, just throw the carcass into a pot, cover the bones with water, add an onion, garlic and some carrots and bring to a boil. Let the mixture simmer for several hours. I generally add water once to fill up the pot during the boil. Then just strain the liquid through some cheese cloth and you've got some really delicious, nutritious broth to do with as you will!


Today's soup includes the duck stock, onions, garlic, green beans, carrots, tomatoes (frozen from my garden) and the left over duck meat. I pulled out some pesto to add in at the end. I forgot I had a whole bag full in the freezer!


Nathan and I made three loaves of whole wheat bread this afternoon so I'll cut a few slices for the boys (who aren't too wild about vegetable soup) and a simple, nourishing meal will be served with enough leftovers for Mike and I to have for lunches this week.


Now, back to the old grind!