Chicken stock, that is!  One of the things i like to make at home (as opposed to buying it in a store, already made) is chicken stock.  Why would anyone make their own stock when it’s so easy to buy?  Well, there are a lot of benefits, and it’s really very easy! Homemade stock contains tons of nutrients that you just don’t get in a box or a can (and many brands contain hidden MSG).  The key is using bones.  Yep, bones!  Bones are full of minerals that will leach into the liquid as it simmers, and the result will be a rich, healing bone broth.  There’s a reason our grandmas always said chicken soup will cure anything!

This recipe will make about 3-4 quarts, depending how long you let it simmer.  You can use one quart that day, and freeze the rest for later.  I freeze mine in 1-quart mason jars.  The recipe uses a whole chicken, so you also end up with delicious meat that you can use for enchiladas (a personal fave), tortilla soup, chicken salad - whatever.  Make sure you use the best quality chicken you can get - local pastured chicken is best.  I use the recipe found in Nourishing Traditions.

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken (or 2-3 pounds of bony parts)
• 4 quarts water
• 2 TB apple cider vinegar
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 carrots, coarsely chopped
• 3 celery sticks, coarsely chopped
• 1 bunch parsley

Basically, you throw it all into a big pot, except for the parsley.  Let it sit there for about 30 minutes and then bring it to a boil.  If anything rises to the top, skim it off.  Then reduce heat, cover, and simmer anywhere from 6 to 24 hours.  The longer you simmer it, the more flavorful and nutrient-rich it will be.  About 10 minutes before you’re finished simmering, add the parsley.

When finished, let it cool slightly and you can take out the meat and use it, freeze it, or whatever.  Strain the broth through a mesh strainer into containers that will seal and remain airtight.  If you plan on freezing it, remember to leave about an inch of room at the top.  You can stick it into the fridge once it’s at room temp, and let the fat congeal and rise to the top in order to skim it off, but you don’t have to.  Voila!  Home-made chicken stock, complete with healing properties and free of added scariness.  Economical, too.  I try to make sure I always have at least one quart in my freezer at all times.  I gave it to my baby straight up when she had a cold and she got better pretty quickly.  I love to make soup with it, though.  It’s also great for cooking rice and cous-cous instead of water.  Eventually, my goal is to make this every week, since I am doing more and more of my cooking from scratch.

Smacznego!  (That’s like the Polish version of “Bon appetit!”)

Well, I haven’t posted in a little while… this past weekend was a busy one! My best girlfriend treated me to a lovely girls’ night slumber party at the Stephen F. Austin Intercontinental Hotel! It was sort of like our last blast before mommyhood kicks in. We had a fabulous weekend that was really - let’s be honest - all about the food. Lunch at Julio’s, dinner at Z Tejas, a tiny splurge at Amy’s, and then breakfast at Trudy’s - mmmmm, migas! What more could you really ask for in a girl’s weekend? Oh, okay - there was also lots of great conversation and catching up - that was pretty cool, too. Overall, it was a splendid time.

Then on Sunday afternoon my hubby and I went to a wedding shower, and in the evening a wedding! (Two different couples, of course.) Both were a lot of fun, especially the wedding - we got to see a lot of people we hadn’t spent time with in awhile, and the wedding itself was beautiful - very Christ-centered and full of His grace. It was a truly lovely day - but boy, was I exhausted at the end of it all! The daily high temperature is getting up to about 95 degrees fahrenheit now, and I am starting to understand why everyone told me it was so great that I won’t be pregnant through the hottest part of the summer!

There is a lot going through my brain right now, but I have been hesitant to write about it, for lots of different reasons. The baby is due in 17 days, and I find that childbirth is consuming most of my thoughts. We have taken Bradley Method childbirth classes in preparation to have a natural childbirth - meaning, no drugs or interventions if we can at all avoid it. While plenty of well-meaning people have told me I’m crazy for wanting to avoid pain relief in childbirth (maybe you’re one of them!), it’s really important to me. But as it draws closer, I find myself becoming fearful that I won’t be able to do it, and that I will crumble under the intensity of it all and start begging for drugs.

If you’re a praying person, please pray for me concerning this.

Please pray that through God’s grace and strength, I will endure the pain. Here is one way to pray: If you know us, you probably know that we want to move overseas someday, and we might possibly move to an area of the world where martyrdom is a real possibility. While I am not afraid to die for my faith, I have always feared the pain of being tortured for my faith. I am actually trying to look at the pain of childbirth as a sort of “testing ground” for that. Sounds weird, maybe, I know…but it’s true.

Well, I am supposed to be sleeping right now, so I think I’ll head back to bed. My sweet hubby doesn’t even know I’m missing - these middle-of-the-night sojourns are becoming more and more normal to me and I’m so glad that he can just sleep through them. At least one of us will still be rested when the baby gets here! Ha…

One of my earliest memories of my husband, when we first met, was the way that he talked about finding God in fruit. I thought that was kind of weird at first, but when I started to look for myself, I saw what he saw. Fruit is a truly amazing thing that God gave us.

Think about it: take a little tiny seed, add some water and some sunshine, and somehow an entire plant grows up from that little seed. And then, that plant produces these objects that we can eat! Their different flavors vary far more than we could ever try to vary flavors of candy or ice cream. They are amazingly delicious. They also provide us with lots of things we actually need, like vitamins, minerals, etc. Isn’t that amazing? God thought of fruit and provided it for us as tasty & nutritious food.

And on top of all that, most fruit is also beautiful and even symmetrical. For instance, if you peel an over-ripe banana, slice it in half, and roll it back and forth a little bit between your fingers, it will actually fall into perfect thirds! Did you know that? I never knew until my hubby showed me. And the way that oranges and other citrus fruits grow in little segments - they’re like perfect bite-size packages. God didn’t have to do it that way, but He did. I think He must have had tons of fun when he was creating all the different kinds of fruit.

Sometimes when my husband eats fruit, it leads him to verbally praise God, and our snack practically turns into a worship time - IF we take the time to look at what we’re eating and thank Him for it. I think that’s the way it should be. My most recent discovery is the Taylor’s Gold pear. This pear - no offense to the trusty Bartlett - but this pear rocks! The flesh melts like candy on your tongue, and the skin is tender and sweet. Trust me, go to your nearest grocery store and buy a few - you will love them. And praise God as you eat! He loves to provide for His children, and He does so in beautiful, delicious, creative ways. He doesn’t have to do it that way - we could all be eating astronaut food or something. But instead, we can see a little bit of His ways everytime we peel an orange, or slice into a watermelon. Thank you, Lord, for revealing more of who You are through Your creation!