I made a really yummy soup that my family is eating as i write. i am calling it lurker soup, for all the lurkers reading this message, and also because i made it based on all the food that was lurking in my refrigerator and kitchen

I will tell you how i made it now

lurker soup

I saved all the bones and skin from a roast chicken we had for dinner the other night, using left-over raw stuffing inside it that i had made too much of for christmas dinner. i just took all the meat off and ate that for lunch, and threw all the bones into a pot, and covered that with water. i didn't add anything else as there is flavour from the stuffing.

i put on a low-burning woodstove for 17 hours. i don't let it boil, usually, just simmer. 17 hours is how long i cook bones for stock.

i took a designated chicken stock hand-towel (unbleached cotton) and wet it. then i placed it over a collander. then after the bones cooked for 17 hours i strained it into a large soup pot.

(then i put the chicken shit into a pot with rice and cooked that for the dogs who love it when i make stock. the bones are so soft they won't hurt the dogs when they eat them.0

then I moved the clear chicken stock into a bowl and let it sit by

then i got the same pot i just rinsed from making the stock (i don't like veins and coagulated parts in my soup... that's why i strain it the way i do... i am like a toddler that way. don't like mixing things too much and unidentifiable things, and don't like eating in the dark )

in that pot a tablespoon of coconut oil. i put half a diced onion, and threw in 2 peeled and diced carrots, and l also put in half a diced, peeled, butternut squash and let it cook and brown, if possible. best is to bake and brown the squash, but i didn't want to waste the propane. so mostly steamed it with the onions etc. and put the lid on the pot to make it happen faster.

then i added the stock. if you do decide to throw in some spices do it before adding the liquid. spices, like fresh ginger, need to fry for about 30 seconds, at least, to release the flavours. i didn't do that this time because i was too lazy to peel and finely mince the ginger.

then i added 2 very little amounts of barley into the pot. i threw it in as if i were sowing it. it might have been about 4 tablespoons. it really soaks up the liquid, so if you like it liquid be very conservative when you use grains or you will end up with thick soup-like stew, and not a consomme.

Ok, so i added the stock, oh, maybe about one and a half gallons. i looked in the fridge and found 1 potato. So i took it out and washed it and grated it into the pot. i looked again and found a mushy apple. i took it out and peeled and cored it and then grated that into the pot.

i decided to add some cayenne pepper. about a teaspoon.

and then i looked in the fridge again, and i found a half an orange and a half a lemon. i took the juice out and put that into the pot.

then i tasted it and decided it needed some salt. everything needs salt, according to my taste buds. i use Himalayan salt. so i added some.

so hope you try the recipe sometime, and just use what you have in the fridge, based on the families of foods that i include here. no lemon, use lime. no barley, use rice. no celery, use lovage. no chicken stock, use water.

i like to have a soup or something similar ready for my daughter when she gets home from school, and she really liked this one today.