One Chicken Two Chicken

Last week when I had a million things going on Farmer Johnson thought it would be a good idea to boil up a chicken for soup.  I said, well if I am going to go through the mess might as well do two!

One Chicken

Two Chickens in a very LARGE stockpot.

Fill almost to cover the chickens.  My chickens are frozen from a local Hutterite Colony down the road.  Since they are frozen they take up more room in the pot at first, but once they start to thaw, they will settle into the pot better.

Time to season up that water and chicken!!!

I don't measure, sorry!  A few bay leaves, a dash of minced garlic, a lot of black pepper, and some minced onion.  If you have a fresh onion use it, I happend to be out, so I used the dry minced.

Cut up some celery

Like my pretty carrots from my garden??

Cut them up!

Add it to your pot!

Cover your pot and bring your goodies to a boil!

Keep it covered, and turn your heat down to medium and let it cook for a couple hours. 

It is done when your chicken will fall apart and away from the bone.  If you use a fresh chicken, this won't take near as long, maybe 30 minutes.

Carefully take your chicken out of your stockpot and put on a large sheet pan or cookie sheet.  Let cool completely.  Your fingers will thank you later!

Let your stock cool for a bit.  Then strain your stock.  Carefully.  It is HOT!!

See....you'll catch all the goodies you put in your pot!  Put them in your "scrap bucket".....that is what we call it at our house.  I think Rachel Ray calls her's a "garbage bowl."  Or discard how you like.

My "scrap bucket(s)".....they get taken outside to my garden compost pile.  Can't just throw out all those good nutrients for next years garden crop.

These are 2 - 1 gallon ice cream buckets full of chicken stock!  That is a lot of stock....imagine what you could make with that!

Chill it so you can scoop the fat off when it solidifies.

See.....yucky!  You don't need that stuff!

All cleaned off!

Ready to use or ready to freeze.  Make sure you label it, or you might think it is ice cream during one of those late night cravings.  That may or may not have happend the last time I was pregnant ;) !

BACK TO THE CHICKEN

Clean all that meat off those bones!  Look at all that meat from those 2 chickens!

All cut up......this is about 10 cups of diced chicken.  That is enough for 5 recipes! 

I used 2 cups for a chicken spaghetti recipe, and then I froze the rest in quart freezer bags - 2 cups/each.  Just take out a bag when you are ready to make dinner!

 

If my grandmothers were still alive they would be so proud of me.  They used to do this all of the time.  They would even re-boil the chicken bones again.  That is a little much for me, but still like to pay tribute to that generation and their great cooking skills. 

Until next time.