life changing chicken broth

Anna and Justin instructed me on how to do this. Apparently they have been doing this for quite some time. Maybe you do too. I didn't even know it was possible, was ever conceptualized. If any of you ladies don't do this yet, you should: making your own chicken broth.

Last week I bought a whole chicken. I immediately cut off the breasts; I grilled them that night with some tomatoes and green beans for a delicious dinner.

Then I boiled the crap out of the rest of that chicken in a big monsty pot. Upon Justin and Anna's suggestion, i added some yummies like a cut-up onion, carrots, salt and pepper... I let it boil for a long time (anything else i'm forgetting?).

(photo by Bour3)

Then i strained the liquid into a bowl and let it cool (I covered it and put it outside while we watched a movie).

Then I scraped the condensed fat off the top of it once it had cooled.

My recycling company takes plastic and paper but not glass, so I try not to buy glass, but if i do buy glass, I try to keep every bottle and reuse it. So i have many portion-size (12oz) bottle jars with lids that I poured the chicken broth into (from salsa and jalapenos and spaghetti sauce, etc...). I refrigerated one and put the rest in the freezer (I didn't fill them all the way so they were fine).

Now I have free-range chicken broth stacked in my freezer. Enough to last me the next month or two, and it was a very easy and hands-free process!

I refrigerated the rest of the chicken and just peeled the meat off of the bones a few days later to put in a Chicken Cilantro soup. It was wonderful to get so much use out of one happily-raised chicken.