Soup, gingerbread a heartwarming meal

Grand Island Dispatch, April 11, 2008

Our beloved grandson Leon is gone. He died in a snowboarding accident.

Trying to comfort us, and themselves, friends said that he was doing something he loved to do.

He loved everything he did.

Very gradually, our world is straightening out. It has been hard, but we will make the try.

Thinking about Leon, I put together a fruit mix the other day. He disliked it if it had grapefruit along with the fresh strawberries, raspberries and pineapple. There sits the grapefruit. I’ll use it next time.

We had a three-and-a-half pound chicken to fix for Sunday’s dinner. I knew it would probably be enough for two dinners for the two of us – and one nice soup, as well.

I roasted the chicken with a cup and a half of bread stuffing. It was a great meal.

The second day, I heated the leftovers in a moderate oven for 15 minutes and we had another great dinner – mashed potatoes and gravy, carrots and a fruit cup.

There were some hefty chunks of thigh meat and some white meat left on the chicken frame. I had saved all the golden-browned skin and all the bones each time I served that small chicken – and for good reason.

It was time for chicken bone soup.

Chicken bone soup

Ingredients (serves four):

1 oven-roasted chicken frame with meat
1 stalk celery, chunked
1 small onion, chopped coarsely
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 and 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup quick-cooking barley
1 to 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large potato, peeled and diced
1 cup frozen peas

Put chicken frame, skin and bones in a Dutch oven (deep cooking pot).

Add the water (If it does not cover the chicken frame, add a bit more).

Add salt, celery and onion. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 45 minutes.

Uncover and strain liquid into a similar-sized container. Let cool.

When cool enough to handle, separate meat from frame/bones. (Throw those bones away!)

Set broth on the stove. Bring to a boil.

Then add the barley, the carrots, potatoes and peas in sequence. The barley will be cooked in 15 minutes; the carrots and potatoes, 12 minutes; and the frozen peas will cook in five minutes. So take the time to put each ingredient in at the right time.

Correct the seasoning, if necessary.

Now that’s conservation!

Along with that soup, I wanted something a bit filling, but not overpowering. I went through six cookbooks and settled on this recipe:

Gingerbread

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup molasses

Grease and flour (shake out excess) an 8-by-8-inch ovenware pan.

In a medium-sized bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat shortening, brown sugar, egg and molasses. Beat for one minute. Alternately add the flour mixture and the water, a little at a time, to the molasses mix, beating on low speed after each addition, until smooth.

Pour into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cake has pulled away from sides of pan.

Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm.

I had a half-cup of vanilla frosting left after baking a cake before. It had been in the refrigerator for about a week, covered, of course. I put a piece of wax paper over it and microwaved the frosting for 20 seconds. Then I drizzled the warm frosting over the gingerbread.

Great meal.