Monday's soup

It snowed off and on most of the day. Calls at work from both my brother Jim and my brother Joe gave me the good news: My mom's being released from the hospital! She'll be going to a local nursing home for 21 days of physical therapy.

When I got home, I decided it was time to finish fooling with this stock.

So, I took it inside and skimmed the fat off the top. Then I ladled it into 1-quart freezer jars. I got six quarts labeled and put in the freezer. The remaining stock will be for today's dinner: Chicken soup.

I put the last two helpings of chili in freezer containers as well (I want to use the Dutch oven). I washed the pot and lid and dried it off. Then I cut up the original mirepoix again. But this time, rather than rough chopped, I went with a small dice of onions, carrots and celery (according to the Culinary institute of America, large dice means 3/4 inch square, medium dice 1/2 inch square and small 1/4 inch square). These went into the pan to saut� in hot canola oil and butter.

When they started to soften I added four minced garlic cloves and cooked them for a minute or two and then added a container of button mushroom I had sliced. When the mushrooms reduced, I added the remaining pieces of chicken I had gotten off the chicken carcass. Then I added the last of the stock and set it to boil. Once boiling, I added a whole package of wide egg noodles and cooked them for 6 minutes. I tasted it for seasoning and decided I needed just a touch more salt. Then the last ingredient went in: a handful of fine chopped parsley.

I ate dinner watching TV. After cleaning up, I went back to the TV to clean out some of the taped shows (nothing good on tonight) and quit to go to bed at 11:00 PM.