When life gives you lemons…

…make soup stock.

Today’s truck load of lemons were practically ordered by me specifically.

But everything else in my world is right as rain so I really have nothing to complain about.  Best of all, I’ve spiced up my chicken stock and figured out how to keep fresh chives around all year without buying a new plant or starting new seeds every two months.  I still haven’t come up with a catchy name for it but if you’ve got ideas (or have seen this before), let me know.



The idea of using lemons in the chicken stock was born from a lack of white wine in the house.  The chardonnay I usually pour into the stock right before I pull it off the stove has a distinct sweet lemon flavor and a nice rich buttery aftertaste (it’s a $6.00 bottle by the way).   Here’s what I ended up using:

1 picked-clean chicken, 1 Vidalia onion, 2 carrots, 5 large fresh basil leaves, 3 garlic cloves, 2 tsp fresh chives, 5 cups of water, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 Tbsp butter, 1 tsp lemon zest, 1/2 tsp orange zest, salt/pepper.

I threw it all in a pot and simmered for about an hour until there were about 4 cups of liquid left, strained everything out, divided it into two containers and put it in the freezer.

Now I was left with the question of what to do with the leftover chives.  Chive plants do not do well over here, no matter how hard we’ve tried or how well regulated we keep the environment they just don’t last more than two months.  So I decided to freeze them, but I didn’t just want to chop them off and then wrap them in parchment, foil and plastic wrap.

Suddenly I was inspired by Seed Bombs I had seen on Etsy.  They’re little packages of wildflowers and rich soil you just throw and grow.  So I made Chive Bombs… just minus the fertilizer.   After chopping my chives into nice little bits I put them into the bottom of the ice cube trays, filled them with water and then (once they were frozen) tossed them into Tupperware to save for later.

Now, I thought this was a really great idea until it became a fabulous idea.  My Sausage and Potato soup wouldn’t have been nearly as good without throwing two of those suckers into the stock while it was boiling.  They melted perfectly, the 2 teaspoons of water it added didn’t make a bit of difference and the chives were as bright green and fresh tasting as ever.

That’s enough waxing poetic about chives.  Our Lemon Saga continues next time with a fantastic Lemon Chiffon cake.  Coming soon? An embroidery project that is taking way longer than I had anticipated.