Classic Chicken Soup
Stock options: water
Recipe source: Kitchen Princess
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 split chicken breast (bone in- should be about 3/4 lb.)
2 chicken drumsticks (skin on)
2 chicken thighs (skin on)
6 cups water
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves
3 celery stalks, peeled (just peel off the outer fibrous edge) and chopped into 3-inch pieces
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into 3-inch pieces
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into 4 chunks
1 parsnip, peeled, and cut into small medallions
Optional:
dill garnish
salt and pepper
Directions
1. In a large pot or dutch oven, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium heat. Cook 1 garlic glove for 2 minutes. Add the chicken pieces, skin side down, and cook without disturbing for 3 minutes.
2. Add 6 cups of room-temperature water and turn the heat to high. Bring the chicken and water to a boil. This should take about 15 minutes. Then turn the heat down to a low simmer and cook for exactly 45 minutes. Using a spoon, skim off some of the foamy fat on top. Remove the chicken breasts and set them aside.
3. Add the cut celery, carrots, parsnip, onion, and garlic and return to a boil. Add a dash of salt (like 3 shakes or 1/4 teaspoon). The soup should boil in about 10 minutes. Once again, turn down the flame to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes.
4. Using a fork or your fingers, separate the reserved white breast meat into small edible pieces.
5. When the soup has finished simmering, remove the other chicken parts and either save for another use or discard. Add the reserved white meat pieces back to the soup and serve.
The other kind of stock options:
I have very cheap ISO shares where my strike price is like $1.00 and the stock is now trading at $100. I don’t like the idea of paying 28% AMT and then 15-20% capital gains on top of that a year later. Wouldn’t it be better to just disqualify them and pay regular income tax?
It might be if you don’t have the stomach for a large AMT bill. But it’s important to keep in mind that any AMT you pay this year, you will get back as a credit in the future. So it will take longer, but you’ll almost always come out ahead if you preserve the holding period of the ISO shares.