It's Chicken Broth Day!

Everything you need to make chicken broth is right here!

Last night's roasted chicken dinner is seeing a new life today. In a previous post, I mentioned how we get at least 3 meals out of one chicken to feed our family of 6. While I'm saving the shredded chicken for another night, today I am making chicken stock to freeze and use in many of the soups and other savory recipes that we'll prepare this Winter. You can read about the nutritional benefits of bone broths, such as this chicken stock here.


While I modify it a bit from time to time, my recipe for chicken broth is super simple!


1 gallon of water
1-2 chicken carcasses, picked pretty clean (I like to use 2, so I usually have one waiting in my freezer until the second carcass is ready)
1 small yellow onion, quartered
whatever veggie scraps are on hand (for us, that's usually a few carrots, celery tops, broccoli stalks or a lonely leek)


I put my chicken carcass(es) in a 7-qt. Dutch Oven, or you could use a stock pot. Fill almost to the top with water. Add in the onion and veggie scraps and turn the stove to high until the water comes to a boil. Once it begins boiling, I turn the heat down to a simmer, put a lid on it and leave it alone to simmer for a few hours. Once it's cooked down for a few hours, I turn the heat off until it's cool enough to pull out the bones and what's left of the veggies, then strain the stock from the pot.
What's left is a couple of beautiful, golden quarts of homemade chicken stock!


And when you pull it out of your freezer to make made-from-scratch soup, your family and friends will think you are a culinary genius. You don't have to tell them how incredibly simple and easy it was if you don't want to. It can be our secret.


Update: A photo of the finished product:

Just shy of 3 quarts chicken stock going into the deep freeze!

How Did I Get Here?

"How did I get here?"


Do you ever step back from your life and wonder that to yourself?


Here is the super-short version of how we got here, to become The Simpson Six:


Well, once upon a springtime, a 19-year-old-hippie-college-guy passed a 21-year-old-wide-eyed-and-in-her-own-world-college-gal in the middle of the street and he crossed his eyes at her. She went back to her girlfriends and informed them that Jason Simpson was going to be her new best friend. We attended a small college...so even if you didn't *know* someone, you at least knew who they were--especially if he had hair past his shoulders and never wore shoes.


Then a few weeks later they happened to be diving into the same rock quarry one afternoon after classes with some mutual friends and she caught him staring at her (and he probably caught her staring back). Well, let's fast forward about 4 months to the end of the summer when "Boy Who Does Strange Things With His Eyes" and "Miss Stephanie" finally, officially met...and were instantly inseparable...and so began the start of life as we know it.


Some things are easier than others to pinpoint exactly how you got to where you are now.


What about how you got to the city where you live? Can you pinpoint the moment that led you to the place that you call home? What about the neighborhood (or not) where you live and the house or apartment where you reside?

What about the car that you drive? Or did you make a conscious decision not to own a car? How did you get there?


What form of exercise to you enjoy? Do you enjoy exercise? How did you land on the level of activity that you currently practice?


What is your occupation? Do you have an occupation? Is it by choice or by chance that you are in this role or not at this time? Is this occupation a long-term career that you plan to remain in? For how long? Is it a short-term job that is right for right now? Are you living your dream?


How did I get here?


What foods do you choose to consume? Do you know why you choose to purchase the foods that you eat when you visit the grocery store each week? Do you visit the grocery store each week? How did you learn to cook what you eat, or when did you decide that you were not going to cook your own meals?


If you practice a religion or call a faith your own, how did you get there? Do you know why you believe and do not believe that which you do? What led you to those decisions?


We are the sum of our experiences, but can we always recall what experiences have shaped us to be who we are today? 


How did I get here?


Do you live your life with a purpose in mind and can you point to the markers along the way that have led you to where you are today? If you look back, can you see the answer to "How did I get here?"


More importantly, do you like where you are? Life is not a game of chance. Live intentionally. 


When you look for the answer to "How did I get here?", may you have a smile in your heart as you recall the moments in which you made the little decisions that pointed you in the direction of living the life that you want to live. Even if it's as seemingly insignificant as crossing your eyes at the cute girl in the middle of the street, or smiling back at the barefoot hippie crossing his eyes at you, may you always find the answer to "How did I get here?".

Christmas. Simply.

Have you noticed it?

The evergreen garland appearing on public buildings as Halloween candy was still fresh in the trick-or-treat pails. The lights springing up on houses in your neighborhood. The endless refrain of Christmas carols playing in the malls, and even in the grocery stores.

It seems as though Christmas creeps in earlier and earlier each year, and becomes a game of one-up-man-ship by everyone trying to create a more grand extravaganza than the year before. Even "Black Friday", the un-official start to holiday shopping, is inching into Thanksgiving Day with many stores opening their doors next Thursday night for shoppers who cannot wait until 3:00am.

Before I go on, please understand that just because it doesn't work for me, does not mean that I am poo-poo-ing extravagant Christmas celebrations as a whole. They certainly can and do have their place, and I know that our perspective on Christmas is not a one-size-fits-all view either.


That being said, I'm already feeling Christmas burn-out, and Thanksgiving is still a week away. For most of our life together, Jason and I have valued living simply, but have focused in on this priority in a more intentional way over the course of the past year or so. We see so much excess around us and in our home that distracts and deflects from that which is most important and we are working to simplify our lives to be more in line with the vision of who we should be and what we believe that God has called us to do.


Christmas just amplifies this, in society and personally, and I have felt the pull early this year to plan ahead, in order to be mindful of what is important to us, and to set out our plans for Christmas ahead of the busy-ness that bombards us beginning November 25.


For us, experiences, people and keeping the coming of our Christ as the focus of Christmas are our of primary importance to us. We want to make sure that the way that we celebrate Christmas reflects that. Our kids will remember what we place value on through our choices and our actions, not what we talk about as being our values. What they see and experience will stick with them for a lifetime, long after they forget our words. We can tell them what our values are, but unless they see them lived out, they won't take them to heart.


Therefore, I have primarily been focusing on how to reflect on the birth of Jesus in meaningful ways with them, through activities, interactive stories and play surrounding the Christmas story. As our children grow, our activities and play are growing with them. We have several nativities for the kids to play with as they choose throughout December, as well as a Playmobile nativity that we add to each night in the days leading up to Christmas as we tell another small part of the Christmas story. Now, sometimes the angel sleeps in the stable (because they don't get the baby Jesus piece until Christmas morning), or the wise men exchange beards, but the kids get to interact with the story and it helps them to process the pieces and learn the history.

Christmas 2010-Caroline and Lydia play with a toy Nativity set

Christmas 2009-the nativity scene one evening. I think the wise men had a pretty wild party.
And someone dropped off a jack-hammer! 

Secondary, we want our kids to have rich experiences, and with that we make celebrating Advent--the time of waiting--a time of lots of fun experiences and activities as a family. Each day, beginning December 1, we open a door in our Advent calendar to find a Christmas activity for the day as we are waiting for Christmas. Some days are as simple as coloring a Christmas picture or building snowmen in the yard (if we have enough snow), to visiting a live Nativity or going to one of the local museums for their holiday exhibits. The kids talk year-round about our Advent activities and are anxiously awaiting December 1 when we open our first door.

Ian gets "Elfed" at The Indianapolis Children's Museum Jolly Days

Finally, people are exceptionally important in our lives, and we try to create space to spend time during the holiday season with people that we love. We visit with as much family as we are able and try to make those gatherings as relaxed and refreshing as they should be. We take 20 minutes or an entire evening to visit with our neighbors and reconnect with friends that we see less frequently when the weather draws us indoors and makes impromptu visits more of a challenge. We send cards and letters to family and friends who are dear to us, in an effort to stay connected though time and space separate us. We write hand-written notes of thanks to our children's teachers and those who are coming alongside us to raise our children up.

And because people are important, we choose to share our love and appreciation through gifts. A thoughtful and heartfelt gift is a way to express love or gratitude to others. Many gifts are homemade and prepared with love, with the recipient in mind throughout the process of creating the gift. Those that are not are gifts that the recipient has specifically expressed as something that would be useful or valued by them.

This includes gifting our children. We don't want them to adopt the perspective that "more is more". In striving for simplicity, going overboard at Christmas can seriously undermine this value in our home. We choose a few meaningful gifts that either we know to be useful to them or something that they have expressed interest in that we perceive to have long-term value to them. We select beautiful toys that we hope that they will play with for years to come, crafts and activities that will stimulate and engage them, perhaps igniting a passion, and books and magazines that they will read again and again. I also create at least one hand-made gift for each child to teach them that gifts do not always have to come from the mall.

When our budget is larger, these gifts can be pricier, and when our budget is tighter, these gifts are less-expensive, accordingly. But quality and thoughtfulness do not have to be expensive, and often can be found at a sensible price. I've seen (and purchased) some very expensive junk toys, and have seen (and purchased) some very inexpensive, superior-quality toys in my tenure as a parent. My challenge to parents, in particular, is not to get so caught up in "what a great deal XYZ toy is!" and overlook its value. Yes, it may be 1/2 off, but if it's just "more" and not meaningful, then it's still money better saved than spent.

While the world around me is all abuzz and in a frenzy over the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, choosing to celebrate simply has done my heart good. For me, it all comes back to one not-so-silent night, in a dirty, smelly barn when a baby boy was born to an unwed and nervous teenage mother. Keeping Christmas simple helps keep that in the forefront of my mind, where the pomp and circumstance does not.

Now, if you'll forgive me, I must get back to enjoying November while it's still here. There are leaves left to crunch, turkeys to roast and a host of gratitude to share before I hang the mistletoe and trim my tree.

Black Friday

I was reminded today by the morning news that Black Friday is less than 11 days away.  It stood out to me, mostly because whom ever is in charge of the twitter feed placed the > mark facing the wrong direction, so it came across as 'Black Friday is > 11 days away.  It's only 140 characters people, proof reading does not take that long.  This got me musing on Black Fridays past, and how the day really has lost my interest.  Let me rewind a decade or two.

Growing up, Black Friday was always this time for my Dad, Mom and Grandma to head out for the shopping deals.  These are the days before all of the Internet specials and stores had to lure you in and keep you inside for awhile to buy their junk.  One of the many ways to do this was to offer the 'Valid 6 am to 10 am' coupons that they passed out, one to each person.  So, in the spirit of Christmas, my Dad would take me along so that I could get another one of these coupons for him to use.  If my memory serves me correctly, I would wait in line with him in the cold, bum rush through the doors in the midst of a crowd and then wait off to the side so that I did not see what was being purchased.


And I went back with him year after year.  I guess it was the thrill of the hunt, that male thirst for conquest.  Or it could be that I am an early riser.  Meh.


Once again, going from my memory, which as a child can be polished and silver lined, I recall being able to hit a few stores for these coupons and then go back around to each of them to pickup whatever items were needed.  It was fun, and after a few years I began to make my own purchases to cross others off of my shopping list.


I continued this trend for many years, eagerly devouring the Thanksgiving day ads to find those "must have" items. Maybe not what the main stream was looking for, but the "must haves" to complete my shopping list.  Soon, this habit began to wane.  What used to be a shopping palooza from before God wakes up until the noon lunch of leftovers has turned into a day to hang around the house and stay away from the crazies.  Last year I ventured out first thing in the morning (if you can call it morning at that time of day) for one "must have" item:  synthetic motor oil.  I'm getting old.


More so, I don't see it so much as me getting too many candles on the cake.  I see that my outlook has changed.  I can't really say that I have broken away from the chains of commercialism and being a good consumer (BUY BUY BUY!), but I definitely don't see the need to go and get some more junk just to fulfill some holiday mandate started up by three wise guys a millennium or two ago.


For those of you who keep tabs on my wife's Facebook, you probably understand how we are making the effort to live more simply.  This involves getting rid of the periphery stuff that you don't need or use, and also stopping the accumulation of said stuff.  I will admit, it has been hard.  I have donated/sold/thrown away some things, making room in the house and some money from it, and I have found it hard to not immediately fill in those holes with more 'stuff'.


So, to tease for another time, Stephanie soon will be writing down her thoughts on keeping things simple for the holiday season. In the meantime, what is your take on Black Friday and holiday shopping? Feel free to discuss in the comments section.