One Small Change: Broth and Beans

My One Small Change Goal for this summer is to learn how to make tasty beans and broth from scratch.

As I started this change there were zero cans of beans and a few boxes of chicken broth in my house.

We had roasted a turkey at the end of March so it was time to make my first "real" attempt at Turkey Broth.

I pulled down a couple of cook books.  Of course I started with Martha, but she disappointed me with a few complicated twists and an alternate recipe that started with canned broth.  :-/  So I found a simpler recipe in a book called Chicken.

The recipe called for boiling a whole chicken which I didn't do because I had just roasted a 25 pound turkey.  We cleaned most of the meat off the bones then boiled the bones in water for several hours.  We cleaned the meat off the bones again.  I tossed the bones and added the aromatics, wine and spices that the recipe called for.  Boiled and simmered for a few more hours, filtered out the add-ins, skimmed the fat and reserved the meat for later use.

I corrected the salt and pepper and turned the broth into one Kick-A$$ Matzo Ball Soup.

Ok, I admit it is not any where near as good as Ada's Deli in Chicago, but I made a very respectable Matzo Ball Soup.  It was flavorful but not as clear as I would like it to be.

I also made Baked Beans from Scratch.

These were started with three cups of dried pinto beans and turned into a huge pot of very yummy baked beans.

I soaked the beans overnight, rinsed them a few times and then cooked them on high in a crock pot for about four hours.  The recipe I followed is in Molly Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook.  Very tasty.  I am very pleased.

The One Small Change project has ended.  I've enjoyed being part of a regular focused attempt at improving my impact on this earth.

There are plenty of things for us to continue to work on, so I'm certain we will continue.  I'm just not sure at this point if/when/how I will post about them.