Snail Spirals

We finally got our Christmas tree up yesterday. This year, for the first time, we cut our own. The Forest Service here sells $5 permits to cut Christmas trees in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, so we got ourselves a permit and ventured out to the woods. After a hairy ride up a Forest Service side road, that required us to use our spiffy new tire chains in order to get unstuck from the slippery ice patch and back down the road, we located our tree off the main Forest Service road.



I feel somewhat better about having this tree than other Christmas trees I have had in the past. This tree was not grown on an intensively managed monoculture plantation, where excessive chemical fertilizer/pesticide use is the norm (you'd be appalled at how polluting a Christmas tree farm is to the soil and nearby streams), and trucked halfway across the state. This tree was naturally seeded, grew without chemicals, and was in water in our house about thirty minutes after it was cut. Without a doubt, the freshest tree I've ever had. We cut it from a thicket of small trees, and hopefully the space opened up by removing it will help the other trees. It's somewhat Charlie Brownish, but I like it.

I'll close with a shot of the most excellent soup I made for dinner last night. Emma requested chicken noodle soup, and since Shaun was at the gym (Shaun doesn't do soup), I made some, sort of. No noodles in the house, so I made chicken rice soup instead. Judging from the speed with which it disappeared, it was a hit.



Chicken Rice Soup

1 1/2 C broth (I actually used some of the delicious turkey stock I made after Thanksgiving and tucked away in the freezer)
1 large carrot, in 1/2" cubes or smaller
1 chicken breast, in 1/2" cubes or smaller
1 C frozen peas
3/4 C uncooked rice
1 T dried parsley, left over from the fresh bunch I got for Thanksgiving and dried myself
a strip of lemon rind (remove before serving)
a piece of fresh ginger, about 1 cubic inch (remove before serving)
water as needed

Combine everything except water, bring to a boil, and simmer until rice and chicken are cooked (~15 minutes), adding water as necessary.

The lemon and ginger were impulse additions, but added a lovely layer of flavor that was almost floral, but subtle enough not to overpower the other flavors. The starch from the rice gave the broth a nice consistency.