Lots 'O' Chicken Stock

I know it has been forever since I posted to my blog but, I have been super busy. The biggest change is that I am working. Not that I didn't work before . . . what I mean is, I got a job teaching at a new private school. My children are now attending the same school and we are all doing really well. I finally have time to sit down and post something. It has only taken me 3 months!

The other day after church, we had a couple over for lunch. I made roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and our guests brought a salad and a dirt cake (which my kids loved!!). I didn't take pictures of that meal but, I make roasted chicken alot so here is a picture from another time I made roasted chicken. YUM!

I made two 4 pound chickens at one time in my turkey roaster. They cooked while we were at church - 250 degrees for 5 hours. We had the equivalent of 1 whole chicken leftover so, I picked the meat from the bones and made some stock. That's nothing new. I always make stock after I make roasted chicken but, this time was different. It was different because of this beauty!



My mother bought me this wonderfully heavy 22 quart stock pot for my birthday back in October and I broke it in tonight. THANKS, MOM!!! I put all the bones and drippings from my roasted chickens into the pot with a few cloves of garlic, a few onions, a couple of carrots, a couple of celery stalks (with leaves) and a handful of grape tomatoes. I filled it up to within 3 inches of the top with cold water and left it on low heat for a few hours. I then strained the stock. I put the veggies into the blender with some stock, pureed the veggies and added it back into the stock. I measured out 6 cups of stock to make homemade Chicken and Dumplings. I used the leftover chicken meat and made a dough of flour, milk, baking powder and salt for the dumplings. It was delicious! This is what was left after we ate . . . just enough for me for lunch tomorrow! I put a little shredded cheese on it!

Including the 6 cups I used for tonight's dinner, I made 49 cups of chicken stock!!! That's a little more than 3 gallons! I measured it all out into containers in recipe sized portions. I just hope I have enought room in my freezer for all of it. I will be using some of it fairly soon. I will use some on Thanksgiving for my stuffing and for basting the turkey.

I plan on posting more often now that we are used to our new routine. If not sooner, I will post all of my Thanksgiving recipes.