Souper Star!

When my elders raised me to finish what was on my plate based on the idea that there are starving children in Africa, it really stuck with me. I've always felt terribly guilty not finishing my food. It was this same sentiment that attracted me to the idea of making chicken stalk out of my leftovers. I had never made my own stalk before, but after listening to my good friend Matzo Ball talk about how easy it was to turn a large turkey leg into a delicious soup broth, I decided to give it a go. I threw the bones of my bird into a large pot and covered it with water. I chopped up some carrots, celery, onion and garlic and tossed it all in with the chicken. I put the pot over a medium flame and added some fresh thyme and sage, and a bit of black peper. Once everything is in there, I just let it sit there for four hours while I did some work and watched some old 30 Rock episodes. One of the best things about this venture was how good it made the apartment smell. It was like what a grandma's kitchen should smell like - a warm herby steam.

The delicious aroma made me decide it was too tasty not to make into soup, so after pouring some of the stalk into a tupperware and freezing it for later, i gathered the veggies and chicken meat that had fallen off the bone and chopped them into more bite-sized pieces, threw in some more onions, celery and carrots. Added salt and seasoned salt and some oregano. I brought this mix to a boil and then threw in some egg noodles care of Won Ton. After letting it all simmer together until the noodles were soft and mm mmm goood, I got Campbells beat. So, African children, if you're hungry, I got some soup!