Adventures in the Kitchen: DIY Chicken Broth

You may remember a few weeks ago I posted the recipe on how to make a whole chicken.

 Lemon Herb Chicken

In that post I mentioned that I like to use the leftover bones from the chicken to make my own chicken broth. 

Here are the specifics about 

DIY Chicken Broth

What you will need:

A stock pot with a lid

chicken carcass (a yucky word, I know, but that is what it is)

water

veggies and spices (if you want ~ today I used 1/2 onion, 3 carrots, 1 T of parsley, basil, oregano, and garlic)

Directions:
(I didn't take that many pictures, because can you honestly say you want to see a pot of water with a chicken carcass in it! Yucko!)
After you have removed the meat you want to eat from the cooked chicken carcass, save the rest of it and put it and everything else into the pot. 
Cover with water, and simmer for 3 hours. 
After 3 (or more hours) strain broth and put into containers. 

That's it!

Really, that is all there is to it!

Here are some tips:
1) If you add 2 T of vinegar to the water it will draw the calcium out of the chicken bones. This means more nutritious broth! (I learned this from my friend Mrs. Iler!) 
2) Put a lid on your pot so all of the water doesn't boil away.
3) Freeze broth in empty sour cream containers - they are easy to stack in your freezer. When you need to thaw some broth, just run the container under warm water and it will pop right out. 
4) If you leave the broth sit overnight in the refrigerator, any fat will come to the top and solidify. You can scrape it off the top and then strain the rest of your low fat chicken broth!


What is your favorite recipe that uses chicken broth?