Farmboy - Year 1 Is A Tough Gig.

Farmboy finished the school term on Tuesday (which seemed a weird day but anyway....) This term has been almost 12 weeks long and Farmboy was getting pretty tired by the end.  Entering Year 1 had been a bit of a culture shock after the relatively relaxed pace of Pre Primary. He also had a few little stresses along the way with some of his class mates and the usual little day to day dramas that occur.  Overall though, we have officially decided that he rocked Year 1 this term.  In celebration of this fact, I offered to make him whatever he wanted for dinner on Tuesday night.

And this is what he chose.

Very Unattractive Chicken Soup

Yep - Farmboy wanted plain old chicken and vegie soup.  Now being the uber Mum I am, I immediately got into the kitchen.  What a worn out and slightly frazzled (can you be frazzled at 6?  I think so.) Farmboy wanted, he was going to get.

This soup is almost a poached chicken stew but not quite.  I cut up the entire contents of a soup pack (the  packs that usually have celery, carrot, onion, parsnip, swede, turnip and other random unidentifiable root vegetables) and fry it gently in oil in my big pot.  Then I pour in 1L of chicken stock. Now I would love you to think that I am an uber farmer's wife and have little dinky containers of frozen home made chicken stock - however I just wander into my pantry and grab a tetra pack of chicken stock. After this has been poured in, I add about a kilo of boneless chicken thighs. To make it slightly more gourmet I throw in a few sprigs of fresh rosemary.  Then I simmer the lot for about 40 mins to an hour.  Ten minutes before I am due to serve this, I throw in a handful of those soup pasta thingies.  Normal pasta works too, but I have been reliably informed that this does not meet Farmboy's strict standards for comfort food. The soup pasta thingies with the little love hearts are what is required.

Basically the whole thing ends up as a cross between soup and a sloppy casserole.  Attractive - no.  Yummy - yes.

So there you have it.  My gorgeous son's favourite food "in the whole world".

On Tuesday night the poor little man ate two bowls of his soup and then was so excited it was the start of the holidays he bounced around the house for hours.  The Farmer was still hard at work on The Farm and I was quite tired so eventually I suggested to Farmboy that he hop in bed with me for a quick cuddle.  He immediately got in, snuggled down, and said to me

"I just needed a big cuddle." And went straight to sleep...