The Family Table: Who’s trained who?
The dogs and I have a routine. It was, I suppose, unintentional training on my part.
Whenever I stand up, they run into the kitchen.
It doesn’t matter if I’m going in there to make food, or just to grab a glass of water. Really though, the pooches don’t care if I’m actually going to the kitchen. If I head in that general direction, the furry boys head there to wait.
The little one flips around in circles; the big one races in and stands, waiting semi-patiently. They want what we refer to in our house as “c in the k.”
Chicken in the kitchen.
I’ve used the actual words enough times that like the words “outside” and “walk,” “chicken” and “kitchen” are included in their vocabulary.
I can’t even spell the word chicken anymore.
The big one, it seems, is on to that, too. When I get a few letters in, I’ve seen him leap over the chaise part of the couch and be off like a rocket to his favorite place in the house. Should I neglect to follow, he will come back and give me the most persuasive puppy dog eyes known to human kind, tipping his head back and forth and imploring me to join him.
I add a little chicken and carrots to their dry food, a routine I started a couple years ago. Not a lot, just enough to give them a little extra treat atop their meals.
So, a couple of times a week, I pull out a freezer bag of chicken thighs, carrots, celery and parsley, pop it in my pressure cooker with some water and make their little treat.
Doing so means we have a bounty of unsalted, flavorful chicken broth.
And so, much like I end up doing with garden-grown zucchinis in the summer, I’ve become the broth fairy, looking for people to give it to so it doesn’t go to waste.
In the past few months, I’ve started cooking with it. We’ve been vegetarians for several years now, which I suppose should come with an asterisk.
While I don’t cook meat at home (unless one of the kids asks for something), I do sometimes make soups or cook grains or dried beans with the chicken broth I can’t manage to give away.
I figured if my choices were to pour the broth down the drain or use sodium-loaded boxed broth when I don’t have homemade vegetable broth, the former is the preferable option.
When my mother came to spend some time with us a couple of weeks ago, I used the broth I had to give her an electric pressure cooker tutorial. We bought her one a couple of years ago, but she’s not used it much.
We made a simple but flavorful lentil soup that (I hope) showed her how easy it is it use the pressure cooker.
Since I was cooking for six and wanted leftover for work lunches, I made quite a bit. The recipe can be cut in half or even quartered without changing the time in the pot. I use a fair bit of liquid because I like my soup, well, soupy. To make a less brothy soup, feel free to cut the amount of liquid by up to two cups.
As I type up this column, our doggies have already had their morning treat. My husband gave it to them when he brought them down to take them out.
Shortly, I’ll get up to get ready for work. The big dog is already staring at me, and I know as soon as I stand, he’ll try to convince me he’s a starving and unfed.
Today, though, his attempted training routine (for me) will have to wait.
Lentil Soup
2 medium sized onions, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
4 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
3 cups of dried green lentils
10 cups broth (chicken or veggie)
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
录 cup fresh chopped parsley
2 10 oz. bags fresh baby spinach
Salt/pepper to taste
Put everything except the parsley and spinach into the insert for an electric pressure cooker. Cook on high pressure for 18 minutes and when the time is up, release the pressure. In batches, stir the spinach in until it has wilted. Stir in the parsley, and season with salt and pepper.