Vegetable soup

The chicken made one more appearance--it's like a houseguest that knows exactly how long to stay. On Tuesday evening it got boiled up:

I covered the chicken carcass (now pretty much just bones!) with water and set it to boil. Roughly chopped 2 unpeeled carrots, 2 stalks celery, 3 cloves unpeeled garlic. Added 2 bay leaves. Boiled it, then simmered for about an hour. Strained stock into container and set aside. I pulled out the chicken bones and tried to strip more chicken meat off, but it was pretty much cashed from the previous evening. You never know though. I put the now-empty pot back on the stove and melted butter and chicken fat. Added 1/2 minced sweet onion, 2 diced carrots, 2 diced celery. Sauteed until soft and fragrant. Added 1 small, diced yukon gold potato, 1/2 diced sweet potato. Added about 1/2 cup barley, some dill, red pepper and a little salt. Added the few bits of scavenged chicken. Skimmed off the top of the stock then poured it all back into the pot. Brought it to a mellow boil, then reduced the heat and covered. After about 15 minutes I added 3/4 cup of lima beans and a bouillon cube. Let it go for about another 30 minutes, then turned off heat and added 2 splashes of champagne vinegar.

Heated bread up to eat alongside--however, I think this piece had been in the freezer longer than some of the other ones and it was not holding up so well.

As we were eating I realized that I had meant to dice up a beet that I had roasted last week and add that to the soup. It was just sitting there in the fridge.