There is very little so satisfying as
opening the freezer door and pulling out a jar of chicken broth that I
made. I often resort to purchasing commercial chicken broth. My broth
of choice is Kitchen Basics though I will also take Whole Foods 365
broth. But the best broth is mine.
Before I started the makings of a tasty,
healthy, healing broth I quickly prepared home made muffins for the
family. Today's muffins are holiday ham and cheese and I used leftovers
from the past few days. Once the muffins were in the oven I turned to
the real work of the broth.
A few days ago I purchased a package of
whole cut up chicken which I thoroughly washed today before using. I
added 1/2 of the pack of chicken to a 5 quart dutch oven. I very
coarsely chopped a stalk of celery, a carrot and half an onion. I added
3 turns of salt and 3 turns of pepper from my Pampered Chef grinders
and filled the pot with water - leaving approximately an inch of room
from the top.
I brought the pot to a boil and then
turned the chicken down to simmer with the lid on. The chicken simmered
for 45 minutes. After allowing the chicken to cool for approximately
15 minutes, I removed the chicken from the pot and set aside. Using a
mesh strainer I strained the broth into a large Pampered Chef mixing
bowl with a handle. Next I poured the broth into 4 quart jars and
placed on the counter until cooled. Once cooled, the broth went into
the freezer for later use.
So...what happened to the chicken? The
chicken will be used tonight in an Asian marinade and be stuffed into
rice paper for spring rolls. Sounds like a lot of work? It's not. It
is also a very inexpensive way to prepare stock. Normally for that
amount of stock, I would pay around $3.00. By preparing my own stock
(keep in mind I still have half of a pack of chicken remaining) I am
cutting the cost of my broth by half. How? I will get the equivalent
of at least 2 boxes of stock plus the meat from the chicken (a $16.00
value) for the $4.92 I paid for the entire pack of whole cut up
chicken. What a deal!!!!
Food for thought:
We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.
-Adelle Davis
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