This morning, I woke up and wanted pancakes. This is unusual because as delicious as pancakes are, they're not my normal choice for an involved breakfast (I will choose eggs Benedict over anything). I think my want of pancakes has come from repeated conversations about pancakes with my co-teacher (her favorite food is pancakes). Either way, I decided that today was the day for pancakes.
Because I don't make pancakes very often (or ever), I used the almighty Pinterest to find a recipe. I searched for buttermilk pancakes, and just used the first one that came up, which was this. The only problem with it was that I don't regularly keep buttermilk on hand, but I know that adding one tablespoon of white vinegar to one cup of regular milk (and letting it sit for 5-10 minutes) makes buttermilk, so I really didn't have any problem at all, did I?
As was mixing everything together, I had to go into my pantry to get more flour. I saw that I had half a bag of milk chocolate chips sitting there, so BOOM! Into the batter they went!
Oh yes. That happened. I know that I'm clearly not the inventor of the chocolate chip pancake, however, I was pretty excited that I found that bag of chocolate chips this morning.
Fast forward to this evening. I made a fairly involved dinner of Lemon Chicken Breasts, roasted beets and Brussels sprouts, and lemony rice pilaf. I'm only linking the chicken breasts because that's the basis of what I used for my chicken stock.
I used bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts for the recipe, knowing that I was going to make chicken stock after dinner. The roasted chicken itself was just okay (not a ton of flavor, which surprised me, coming from an Ina Garten recipe), and I doubt I'll be making it again, but everything from the roasting pan went into the pot for the chicken stock.
I love making chicken stock. It uses veggies in my fridge that are on their way to being done-for, and I like the idea of using all parts of the chicken. Plus, it makes my house smell amazing while it's bubbling away!
So, as far as making the chicken stock goes, it's stupid-easy. In addition to the bones, skin, juices, and misc. chicken bits I put into the pot, I also added a bunch of mushrooms, carrots, celery, an onion and a half, and a head of garlic cut in half. I put in some salt (only a teeny sprinkle) and pepper, as well as some dried oregano and dried thyme, then covered it with water, brought it to a boil, then let it simmer for about an hour or so.
Once it's done, I let it cool off for a bit, then strained it into a colander. I filled up some plastic containers (I like the cylindrical ones for chicken stock...I have no good reason why). They're currently in my fridge to keep cooling overnight and then tomorrow, into my freeze they'll go! I'll be set on chicken stock for a while now, which makes me happy to know that I don't have to buy it for some time (win!). :)
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