I wrote most of this article from the oral surgery waiting room, as Rick had his wisdom teeth removed. Thanks to the unsuspecting man who hadn’t secured the hotspot on his Android, my wait was a productive one! If I remember correctly – the recovery from having your teeth yanked can be a long one – and the likelihood of soup in our near future is high. What better base to start from than home made vegetable stock?
This was one of my goals for this year – stop buying soup stocks and start making them. In the past 3 months I’ve only bought one carton, and have made many litres – hopefully a healthy habit has formed enough to stick.
Why make your own stock when there are plenty available at the grocery store, you may be asking. The real answer for me is more about what a home made stock doesn’t have in it – way less sodium than most store bought, no questionable ingredients (from “natural flavour” to MSG to sugar – who needs that stuff?) And, it’s way less work than you may think.
Are you an emotional eater? I would have never classified myself as one, but this morning a light bulb went off for me and I discovered that I absolutely make food choices based on my emotional state. And judging by the many websites out there devoted to emotional eating, I’m guessing that if you’re not, you know someone who is.
You know what I love best about food (other than the whole keeping you alive thing)? It’s the memories that go with it. As far back as my brain can go, the big memories are associated with food. One of the first things I can recall is being forced to choke down an overcooked brussel sprout (at age 3 or 4) and then promptly throwing it back up. Of course we all have thousands of more pleasant food memories – from school lunches and holiday feasts to picnics, tasty travels and everything in-between. And the best of them all usually involve friends and/or family.
