pumpkin and brown rice soup with walnuts

Hasn't winter kicked in! I'm one of those rare breed of people who actually loves winter.  I love the change of seasons and the excuse to snuggle inside with the heater on and recharge.  Days of constant sunshine and heat wear me down...I know, strange.  But true!

I've had the slow cooker out working for me so I can do my crochet.  Yep, it's official, I'm hooked on hooking.  I've finished a pretty blanket for my daughter and am now working on connecting one for me :D  

This pumpkin soup is nothing new, but the addition of brown rice is.  I just cut up 1/2 a pumpkin and add in whatever I have on hand ~ carrots, sweet potato, potato, celery, onion and garlic.  Plop it all into the slow cooker with a cup of well rinsed brown rice  with enough chicken stock to cover and turn the dial up to high for the next 4-6 hours.  

Blend and serve with crushed walnuts and a big dollop of natural yoghurt.

This is the easiest blanket as it's just a continuous granny square.  I just love this soft pink and green wool.

Now on to crocheting up my granny rug.

I think this is going to take awhile, lucky the weathers bad, no summer sun guilt here!!

What do you do to get you through a rough winter?

Ciao, Jan.

making stock

Making stock isn't rocket science but it will save you both time and money in the kitchen.  If you have a local butcher, if you ask nicely, you might even get your bones for free.  I made around 4 litres of chicken stock for around a dollar that's far cheaper than the liquid stocks available ~ it would be around $12 for the supermarket variety.

Leave it for a day when you are home for awhile and let it bubble away doing the work for you.

Chicken stock

4-6 chicken carcasses or a big load of chicken necks

2 carrots roughly chopped

3 stalks of celery and the butt end roughly chopped

3 brown onions, skin and all, roughly chopped

2-3 dried bay leaves

small bunch of fresh thyme or rosemary

10 peppercorns 

• Place all ingredients into a good sized large saucepan. Cover them with water.  For a darker stock, you can roast the bones first if you have time.
• Bring to the boil and allow to simmer away for 4 hours or so.  
• Skim off any skum/fat/impurities that rise to the surface.
• Strain and place into zip lock bags or containers into the freezer or of course use straight away

This basic recipe I will be using for my slow cooker which will be getting a strong workout this winter.  I've created a 'slow cooker' side bar which I'll be adding to over the coming weeks.  I get asked a lot for! slow cooker recipes and advice on how to use them, so I'll get cracking.  For those of you who are scared of them or haven't dusted your old crockpot off in awhile, get them out.  Just think of them exactly the same as a casserole dish sitting in a low oven, they need time and do all the work for you.  

Ciao, Jan.

P.S. It's week 24 of the 52 week money challenge :D