a slow kind of day

After Noah's nap he woke up very hungry

and enjoyed some chicken soup on the back deck

The paintings that I am working on

It's a slow day here at our home. This morning Noah woke up extra early this morning and because of that, everything has been off a bit. He was up at 6:30 (instead of his usual 7:45) and he was just tired and groggy all morning. To keep Noah awake as long as I could, we went for a walk to the park. The park is straight through a small wooded area behind our house, so we did a little bit of a walk through the woods and tall grass to get there. Noah enjoyed running in and out of the woods and liked picking up the pine cones that he found along the way. At the park, we walked around the perimeter of the playground on the wood that keeps the sand in. I made up this little exercise for Noah so that he can practice his balance. It's certainly not a difficult task, but the perfect one for his size and age and he loves doing it. It makes him feel proud when he does it. We did some drawings in the sand with sticks and then headed home to get in the car to run a few errands.

The rest of our morning had us end up at Canadian Tire to pick up some potting soil and The Great Canadian Superstore to pick up some peanut butter and zucchinis. I have a craving for peanut butter cookies and we were out, so that's what we had to get. Poor Noah was so tired that he fell asleep in the grocery cart and stayed asleep while I finished my shopping.

We came home (Noah still asleep) and I had a chance to talk to my mom, work on some paintings that I am doing and start a lasagna that I am preparing for dinner.

It's been a slow morning...but maybe not so slow when I stop to think about it.

Soon Noah will wake from his nap and we will have lunch. Homemade chicken soup left over from yesterday. My friend Lisa asked me over Facebook how I make my chicken stock and so I thought I'd leave you with my recipe for Chicken Soup. It's certainly not fancy or anything, but it seems to do the trick every time we want a warming nutritious soup.

Happy Tuesday friends~ !

xox

Chicken Soup

To make the stock, boil the carcass of one whole chicken or pieces of chicken and bone in a pot with about 5-6 cups of water. Add largely cut up carrots, celery, 2 bay leaves, lots of garlic and onion, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper and a tiny pinch of hot pepper flakes. Taste the stock along the way and add more salt if needed. Let this simmer away for a good hour or so. Once the stock has simmered remove the chicken (with meat and bones) carefully and place into a large bowl. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle remove all the meat that is edible. Save the meat and the liquid. Strain the liquid through a colander, discard the left over bones/veggies/onions ect into your compost.

-5-6 cups of chicken stock

-a good cup or so of chicken meat

-peeled and cut up potatoes (bite size)

-peeled and cut up carrots (bite size)

-peeled and cut up celery (bite size)

-any other cut up veggies (green beans, parsnip, corn would be nice)

-more salt+pepper and hot pepper flakes to taste

In a large pot add your chicken stock, chicken meat, peeled and cut up potatoes, carrots and celery. Let this simmer for a bit till your veggies are tender. I like to add new carrots and celery so that the veggies aren't too mushy. Taste and see if you need more salt and pepper and flakes.

While my soup is simmering, I like to make a cup or two of brown rice in our rice maker.

Once the soup is ready, scoop a spoonful of cooked brown rice into the bottom of your bowl, ladle the soup and it's yummy contents on top of the rice. Enjoy!