Its Alive...

When you take the remains of something to build something else, does it have to be a monster? Is it possible, or even probable that things are changing for the better or even for the good? I think that reusing is as close to good as you can get and I'm not just talking about your plastic bottles.

I'm talking about soup. Not just any soup. I mean my soup. A creation that I saw coming together and made it happen and it did not start with soup, it didn't even start with broth, no this sordid story begins with grandparents and change of plans. Id like to tell you about how a plan can come together.

Grandparents on both sides were coming over for dinner. We bought two giant (I can eat my beef, but these were mammoth) cuts of beef. If I had to guess I would say 48 oz a piece. We were going to grill them up and give meat to everyone for two days. Two short phone calls later, the guests are all skipping and we have a lot of food; Apples. My solution? Applesauce.

I mean that figuratively. The crock pot was assembled, the meat seared, a sauce made. The sauce was tomato sauce, tomato paste, Worcestershire, Cayenne pepper, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper, a dash of soy and half a bottle rose wine. I know, sounds good. 24 hours later we are making tacos with some serious flavored meat. When that was all gone, we had about 4 cups of some serious flavored gravy.

After some soul searching (calling my chef cousin) I had a plan, I had the ingredients, I was going to make this sauce better, tastier, more flavorful than it was before. I was going to make soup. Into a pot went some olive oil, garlic, and the parts of mirapoi (Carrots, Celery, Onion) that I'm allowed to use (onion is forbidden in my house, don't complain, I already feel the loss). When that cooked up, I added the super beef sauce, a large can of chicken stock, water, bouillon to compensate the water, salt, pepper, some chicken breast(raw), and a few dash spices (I don't remember exactly). When the chicken was cooked, I removed, chopped and returned it. I then added egg noodles and peas, let this simmer until noodles cooked, then I feasted.

There you have it. A flavor explosion of a soup that is hearty, warm, perfect for these cold days. I have half the batch frozen for later consumption and the other half was eaten within days of it being done. Sometimes in life your going to have a lot of little when your looking for something big. Its up to you to make a plan, stick to it, get help when you need it, and make something big for yourself.