We're an ordinary family, complete with picky eaters, budget concerns, and time management issues. But to prove that "eating local" works - even for busy families in cooler climates - we're trading Chick-Fil-A and goldfish crackers for grassfed meat and local produce. Join our adventure in learning to eat (sort of) sustainably for the summer!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Busy days = barking dogs

Yesterday, I made strawberry freezer jam, cleaned and froze 2 extra quarts of strawberries, baked a chicken, made the rest of dinner, made homemade ice cream, and used the crock pot to make chicken stock overnight**.

Today, I used leftover juice to make Popsicles, made peanut butter cookies and tried out my new bread maker. I still need to cook dinner.

I'd like to sit down now, please.

** Don't remember where I read the idea, but here's what I did to make about 6 cups of stock:
- Take the leftover chicken carcass, including all the juices and skin and gross bits but with all the usable meat picked off, and stuff it in the crock pot.  Add all of the following, roughly chopped:  one carrot, one stalk of celery, one onion or shallot, a couple cloves of garlic.  Throw in about a half a teaspoon of salt, maybe four peppercorns, and a bay leaf or two, plus a couple sprigs of whatever fresh herbs you've got around (I used thyme).
- Add water to get to about 1/2" below the top of the crock (I think it was about three or four pints for mine).  Cover, turn the crock pot to low, and let it go overnight (or all day if you want it to be ready when you get home from work).
- When it's done, shut off the crock pot, use a fine strainer to pull out all the gross stuff, and transfer the stock to storage containers.  If possible, refrigerate it for a few hours so that you can skim the congealed fat off the top before you freeze it.  Use it within a few days if you keep it in the fridge, or freeze it for a month or more.

No comments:

Post a Comment