My mom will be the first to pipe in to the fact that I was no help in the kitchen growing up...
NONE..
Whatsoever...
Let's put it this way, I opted to clean the toilets in our house rather than help in the kitchen...there was just something about that leftover food floating around in the sink...ewwww...
I know..
Let us not discuss the IRONY of that statement...
the point of the matter: I was not a Miss Holly Homemaker in the kitchen...
Fast forward a few years and I find myself married, with children and an overwhelming desire for them to eat healthy AND nourish my family on a budget...this is now my "JOB", and being the perfectionist that I am, I make myself figure out how to do things that I normally wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole (if I actually owned or have every seen such a thing)
Okay...so I use all this as a preface to the fact that I made a Ham Hock Soup today...at least that's what all the google recipes called it.
I won't mention the fact that after I had simmered the ham bone for about 3 hours in a pot of water, onions, celery, garlic cloves and a pinch of salt, I failed to remove the ham from the bone...to which my husband said when he arrived home and looked into the strained broth to which I had added carrots, white beans and some other spices & parmesan cheese, "Um, honey, where is the ham?"
I replied that I had to cut up the leftover ham from the fridge and I hoped we had enough...
"Well, sweetie, how about if you just take the ham off the bone since the meat will practically fall off now that it's simmered so long?"
*silence*
"Oh," I answered...and with my tail between my legs I managed to work my way over to the discarded ham bone and remove over 2 cups of the shredded ham meat from the bone...
How I wish I would have paid more attention as a young girl...
I am proud to say that the soup DID turn out quite delicious and that my girls actually ate it once I added in some homestyle noodles and smothered some more parmesan cheese on top.
I have enough "broth" to make about 2 more soups, for heaven's sakes...but I guess that will come with more practice and experience...
until then, I'm still perfecting my toilet cleaning skills and I must say that Q-tips are a must!
'nuf said!
