Chicken Stock and Soup

I've been buying cans and boxes of chicken stock from Costco and Ralph's as well as their ready-made whole chickens. Lately, I've been baking whole chickens in my Pampered Chef Covered Baker and started making my own chicken stock using the carcass of the whole chickens. It's so easy and tastes much better than the store-bought stuff. If I'm not using the stock immediately, I measure out 3-4 cup portions and freeze in ziplocs or snapware for later use. I'm finding that chicken stock is used in lots of recipes so I'm going through it pretty quickly.

Quick Pampered Chef tangent...

I LOVE my Pampered Chef Covered Baker! I can cook a whole chicken (5 lb or less) in 35 minutes in the microwave. Yes, that's right...the microwave...and it's juicy and tasty, too. I love that thing! The baker is expensive stoneware but it's paid for itself with the numerous meals I've cooked in that thing. It's such a time saver! Oh, and it's also oven safe.

Back to the chicken stock post...

The house smells so good when stock simmers for 4+ hours...

Chicken Stock:

Ingredients:

• Leftover bones and skin from whole chicken.
• water (enough to cover chicken bones)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp sage
• 1/4 tsp marjoram
• 1/4 tsp parsley
• 1/4 tsp rosemary
• 3-4 celery stalks, cut into 2" pieces
• 1 onion, quartered
• 2-3 carrots, cut into 2" pieces
• Italian parsley, handful chopped
• 6-7 garlic cloves
• bay leaf

Directions:

1. Put chicken carcass into large pot. 
2. Fill pot with water to cover carcass. 
3. Add seasonings, celery, onions, carrots, parsley, garlic and bay leaf. 
4. Simmer for ~4 hrs. Skim fat as necessary. 
5. Strain and discard bones and veggies. 
6. Bring to room temp (or chill in ice water bath) before storing in fridge/freezer.

Notes: Enjoy in soups, stews and pot pies. My favorite recipe using chicken stock is definitely Chicken Pot Pie. What's yours?

Chicken Vegetable Soup

Strain out the bones and veggies. I always throw out the soup stock veggies as I feel that the flavors of the veggies are gone by the time the stock has simmered for hours on end. Plus, they're too soft and over-cooked. You decide if you want to keep or discard the veggies. If adding fresh veggies, be sure to simmer soup long enough to cook them. Then add cooked, shredded chicken and you have Chicken Vegetable Soup. So easy, quite healthy and very tasty. What's great is that you can add anything to the chicken stock for a delicious and hearty soup. :)

Add some crushed red peppers...YUM!

Source: My Mom