Way Better than Canned

This week has been the week of domesticity. My nannying family is on vacation, so I have had absolutely nothing I have to do and nowhere I have to be. That is entirely too much freedom for me, so I've made myself an impossible to-do list, with the understanding that I didn't have to get it all done, but I did have to try. This has kept me fairly busy and made me feel like Suzy Homemaker. I've organized whole rooms, cleaned out closets, bought paint (on clearance! Thanks InDeeds!), shopped the clearance racks, and . . . drumroll please . . . made this:

. . . which doesn't look nearly as delicious in this picture as it was in real life. Homemade chicken soup. Is there anything more comforting? Or labor-intensive? :-P

Actually, my mom's chicken soup recipe is pretty easy (step 1: put chicken in large pot of water. Cook for 3 hours.). It does take all day, though, and a good bit of vegetable chopping and chicken-pulling-apart. But it's so worth it . . . on so many levels, as not only is soup comforting, it's also cheap. I crunched the numbers for you:

1 "bowling ball" chicken @ $.99/pound = approx. $5.50
1 bag celery = $2
1 bag carrots = $2
1 box noodles (leftover lasagna noodles from the progressive dinner) = $1.50 (a serious splurge)
2 onions = $.98
TOTAL Cost = approx. $12 . . . for 3 dinners and 5 lunches.

AND I know exactly what's in this soup . . . no hydrolyzed soy or MSG here.

More on my domestic endeavors tomorrow. :-)