Chicken Soup for Sisters

I accidentally pressed enter before I'd even finished the title -- sorry for the double posting. I learned a lot with MSU recipe #1. It's fun to be back in school again. :) I had no idea what parsnips were, nor where I could get a whole chicken. Wal-Mart really came through. I found everything I needed there except the fresh thyme. Which, by the way, I pronounced with the "th" sound to my husband and he got a good laugh out of that and finally explained to me that the word is pronounced "time." Since I couldn't find any fresh at the store I borrowered my sister Cami's bottled thyme and we kept making punn jokes about it -- only 24 hours in a day and she's willing to lend me some of her "thyme," what a good sister.

The first step of course was cutting the chicken. Here it is flashing the camera. Poor chicken. Luckily my sisters gave me an awesome set of knives for my wedding and I was able to cut it up pretty easily. Until I got to the breast. Martha suggests using the end of your knive but mine was way too thick. I looked for something close by and found a cheese grater. I was seriously pounding this breast bone with the edge of a cheese grater. I grabbed a wooden spatula but when I saw the blood squirt out I decided to stop hacking at the thing. I used the sharp end of the knife and then just used my hands to break it. Ugh. The eight pieces looked pretty good when I was done though and I was proud. I may look like a murderer in this picture -- well that's exactly how I felt!

That was Saturday night. Sunday I did the rest. Luckily I ended up with plenty of broth. I let it simmer even longer than the suggested hour and I was generous with the spices so it tasted great. I also cooked my vegetables for longer than the suggested 8 minutes b/c they were still crunchy when 8 minutes were up. Even Martha's recipes sometimes need some tweeking I suppose. Overall it turned out good but it wasn't my favorite. I don't think I'd do it again. I don't have fancy taste buds so I didn't appreciate the pure/fresh taste of this soup as much as some might. Caleb really liked it and I was glad about that.

I've cut up a whole chicken, I know what parsnips are, and I know how to pronounce thyme. I'm excited for next week's adventure!