Lentil soup from leftovers

There is one thing that my family know. If there's any left over meat from a pork roast, the next day they'd be getting fried rice. It's my favourite go to recipe for pork leftovers.

There is a new thing, they will too, come to know. 

After a roast chook, they can bet their bottom dollar, there will be chickeny lentil soup on the stove the next day!

You will need:

1 leftover roast chook carcass. If there is stuffing, remove it. 

Place chicken carcass in a large saucepan, and if there is any left over meat chuck that in too. Add in a couple of litres of water.

Cover and simmer for half an hour. Remove carcass and any meat and let cool. Pick any meat that is still on the bones into a bowl, cover with cling wrap and put in the fridge. Put the stock in the fridge too.

The next day, strain the liquid into a bowl.  You will need about 6 cups for the soup. Freeze any leftover chicken stock for something else. More soup, or rice, whatevs.

Lentil Soup

1 tablespoon oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped finely
2 celery stalks, chopped finely
1 375 gram packet of green lentils, rinsed and drained
6 cups of chicken stock.
handful of fresh parsley, chopped 

Heat oil in a large saucepan, gently fry garlic, onion and celery for 5 minutes.
Add any chicken meat, stock, parsley and lentils. Season with pepper only. Do not add salt at this stage, it prevents the lentils from softening or something like that. It's a thing.
Bring to the boil, then simmer, covered, for 1 hour.

Season with salt to taste.

Eat.

.....oOo.....

An InLinkz Link-up

Garden inspiration

After going to look at open gardens I came home and had the urge to put rusty junk in my garden. To paint old chairs, do some rearranging and making.

Here's some of what I've been up to and what's flowering. Sorry in advance for the photo overload.

Sweet peas will be flowering soon. I rescued the 'speak no evil' frogs that had been buried under weeds
for ages and plonked them behind the cubby house were not much grows. There is a pond near here, so they
fit in.

This used to be our fruit bowl. Repurposed.

Cheap shop heart hanging in the plum tree

I got this little fella half price because he had a broken ear.

There used to be a stone bench here. 

I went and scrounged around my dads shed(junk yard), made this with some wire and a $3.50 heart from the
garden centre

No grass wants to grow here, so I plonked the stone bench there.

Another home madey from Dads junk yard

The chook house, all 'blinged' up

Chocolate creams

Chocolate Creams

125 grams butter
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups SR Flour
1/4 cup custard powder
2 tablespoons cocoa 

Icing
75 grams butter
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon milk


Preheat oven to 180C.
Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.
Add the milk and beat to combine.
Sift the flour, custard powder, and cocoa. Add to the bowl and mix in to form a soft dough.

Roll about 2 teaspoons worth to make small balls.
Place on baking tray and press with a fork to flatten. Dip the fork in flour first, to stop it sticking to the dough.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

Let the biscuits cool while you make the icing.

To make icing, beat the butter and icing sugar in a small bowl, Beat in the milk.

Spread about half a teaspoon of icing on one biscuit, and join with a biscuit of the same size.

Welcome to Open Slather #100!

I'm just a little bit chuffed that this week sees me hosting my 100th link up. Feel free to add ONE of your social media accounts, like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to Open Slather, as well as a blog post.  I hope you all find new blogs and accounts to follow and followers for yours. :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Survivor

We've had a weekend away. Mum, my daughters and I, looking around several open gardens in the Adelaide Hills. 

It was awesome. I have come home with so much inspiration and vigour for my garden. I spent all day Monday out in it, mowing, weeding, rearranging and cleaning up. Tuesday too.

We'd been listening to the radio mostly, in the car, but on the way home Mum put on one of her CDs, one of those 'party' or BBQ compilations. The words 'Survivor - Eye of the tiger', came up on the digital screen on the stereo. I'd had the #fmsphotoaday challenge in my mind - fave word. 

There were several that came to mind. Home, happiness, family. As soon as I saw that word, Survivor, it felt right. It sat.

I wasn't quick enough to take the photo, Mum turned the stereo off,  she has a habit of turning the stereo off when she is on a talking roll. I zoned her out though, thinking about missing that photo. I didn't want to let that word go.

We are all surviving something, or desperately trying. Cancer, mental illness, the god forsaken witching hour, peak hour traffic. That annoying nosy woman in the street,  who asks all the obvious nosy questions, because she can't help herself but know your business so she has something to talk about to other people. Or the kicker, that makes your problems seem insignificant - the family desperately escaping across borders. Escaping their war torn homeland, with only the clothes on their back and a few bottles of water. Hiding wherever they can, not sure if they will make it through the night, without being discovered. The elderly, women, children.

The word 'survivor' means there is hope. It means that there is a skerrick of a possibility, that surviving is not impossible. 

I can only hope, with my head buried in the sand mostly, because the truth is too hard to bear, that there be many who can call themselves 'survivors'. That they will have courageous stories to share. Fabulous stories of hope. This is my wish.