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Advantage Kitchen #1- Chicken Stock

Brian Sipotz • Jan 27, 2017

Here is a superfood my kids can’t get enough of. They drink it by the mug full, and love the soups we make with it.  It’s a great way for them to get valuable vitamins and minerals, and when we add the cooked chicken and some vegetables to the stock, it makes a completely healthy meal they will be excited to eat!

There really is no replacement for homemade chicken stock when it comes to making soups, grains, and sauces. The benefits and taste of the real thing simply cannot be matched by the gels, cubes, and powders sold in the store.  The best part? You can put the ingredients in a slow cooker when you go to bed, and have rich healthy stock ready to go when you wake up. All you have to do is strain the liquid and pull the meat from the chicken and you have the main ingredients for countless dishes.

 

The benefits of Your Own Chicken Stock…

  • Anti-inflammatory- it feeds, repairs, and calms the lining of the small intestine which can often be inflamed due to stress or unnatural food additives.
  • Packed with vitamins and minerals, especially the electrolytes magnesium and potassium that are lost when you sweat during exercise.
  • Aids in hydration, for those who don’t drink enough water.
  • Nothing goes to waste! You will get everything you can out of the chicken, gaining flavor and nutrition out of the meat and the (often unused) bones and joints. The dogs will love the soft chicken skin and vegetables from the pot, too. Nothing wasted!

 

Your Own Chicken Stock

  • 2 whole free-range chickens cut into pieces (including splitting the breast and back) I get my free-range chickens from our very own member, Nicole Ivey. They are pasture raised heritage breeds and they make a stock that can’t be touched by commercial fowl ! Get more info at  http://www.theiveyfarm.com/   Email Nicole at [email protected] when you are ready to make Your Own Chicken Stock, and she will set you up with some tasty birds.
  • 8 Cups water
  • 2 carrots cut into chunks
  • 1 medium onion, quartered
  • 3 stalks celery (use the ones in the middle of the stalk that have the leaves on them)
  • ½ of a lemon (the acid will help pull minerals, especially calcium, from the bones)
  • 1 tbsp peppercorns (optional)

 

  1. Put all ingredients into the slow cooker and set to medium-low (275 in a roaster) and cover.
  1. Go to bed
  1. After 8 hours, strain and keep the stock, pull the chicken from the bird and set aside, and treat the dogs to the skin and carrots from the pot.
  1. Add 1-2 Tbsp salt to the stock and enjoy as is, use to cook rice, or create your favorite soup. Use it right away, refrigerate for up to a week, or freeze for later use.

 

 

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