Busy Bee Cafe

I really have no idea why I thought making chicken stock was difficult and time consuming when in actual fact, after fiding a recipe here and making it a few times, it’s such a time saver and, the plus side, I know what in the stock and how much salt is in Little Bee’s food!

OK, it takes a few hours to cook and wait for it to cool down and pack into individual freezer bags and cooling it further in the fridge before putting the bags in the freezer, but preparation time is 10 minutes tops! After that I just left it on the stove for a couple of hours and that is a couple of hours where I can just forget about it and do my chores, entertain Little Bee, gardening or have a nap with Little Bee.

And the reward is lots of stock to use for lots of dishes.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut into 4 pieces
3 celery, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
1 large onion, quartered
1 head garlic, cut in half
Mushroom stems
1 leek, roughly chopped
4 bay leaves
5 sprigs of fresh thyme
A handful of parley stems
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp black peppercorn
4 liter water

1. In a large pot, combine all the ingredients and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 hours.
2. Remove from heat and strain through a fine sieve into another container.
3. Remove the meat from the bones and reserve it for other use, i.e. sandwich filling, add to pasta sauce, etc. Discard the bones and vegetables.
4. Let the stock cool completely and refrigerate overnight. Skim any fat that forms on the surface. I them put 300ml in individual freezer bags and freeze for when I need to use it.

I asked Little Bee what she wanted for breakfast this morning and she said ‘Pancake‘.

So I made her this:

Usually one pancake with honey was enough for her. But today she wanted another one.

AND I had been offering her dried apricots for days which she rejected… but with them being the ears, she ate them and told me ‘Apricots are my favourite’.

So maybe with me going ‘bento crazy’ on Thursday, ordering a recipe book, sandwich cutters, boiled egg mold, etc will work to get her to enjoy food more. Maybe happy faces will make her eat more vegetables

When I do get my book and accessorize I will then start experimenting. Watch this space