Chicken Broth

I've been making my own chicken broth lately; for some reason I feel very productive and healthy when I make it myself. :-) So, here's what I do:

I usually start with a whole chicken, my veggie scraps from the week (onion tops, celery tops, tomato peelings, etc.) plus any extra veggies I want, and a crockpot. I put everything in the crockpot and cover with cold water. If I remember, I put in vinegar (helps extract minerals) and soak for thirty minutes. I cook everything for 4-6 hours then debone the chicken. I keep the meat for a meal and place the chicken bones and fat back into the crockpot. I cook this for another 20 or so hours. I strain the broth into jars and place in the fridge. It's extremely easy to skim off fat once the broth has gotten cold. Usually I use some of the broth then freeze the rest either in bags or in ice cube trays. The veggies, bones, and fat that are left over are crumbled/crushed and fed to the dogs. Most of the bones just crumble to pieces after being cooked so long, although a few of the bigger bones are still too sharp and hard and have to be removed.

Why? My broth contains absolutely no MSG. Homemade broth is better, hands down, than store-bought broth. I love knowing all the wonderful nutrients (ha ha, makes me think of Nacho Libre) that are in the broth whenever I cook or make soup with it.

Science validates what our grandmothers knew. Rich homemade

chicken broths help cure colds. Stock contains minerals in a form the

body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium,

phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. It contains the

broken down material from cartilage and tendons--stuff like

chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive

supplements for arthritis and joint pain. From this site.

Another site has a lot of information about broth. Look on page 3 of the article to find a reason that serving meat with gravy may not be so bad after all. :-)

I think I'm going to buy a whole chicken from the co-op this month and see if the broth actually gels better (as some say it does) with a free-range chicken.

Universal Health Care

This article was quite interesting. I saw a debate once between two very educated professors about universal health care. Although the professor who supported universal health care was much more popular and probably more educated overall, he clearly lost the debate once all was said and done. The guys in front of me who were from Germany were not very happy with the outcome. ;-) My thoughts: the government does a bad enough job with everything it is responsible for now, why give it more responsibility? Yes, change is definitely needed, but I doubt universal health care is the answer.

Co-op

We recently joined our local co-op and are trying a few things here and there. I thought I would share my most humble opinion... ;-)

Organic, pasture-fed beef -- Hormones and antibiotics were my main concerns in regular nonorganic beef. However, I also have a strange notion that God made cows, put us in charge of them, and probably doesn't like the way they are treated in the huge factories. ;-) I should probably explain myself better, but that is probably enough for a whole post in itself. ha We tried it; we liked it. My brother could tell a difference, but I honestly couldn't tell so much. At least he said it was good! Evan didn't really have an opinion. I do like the knowledge that we are buying locally and eating beef that has not been antibiotic-fed.
Raw honey -- Very, very good. Evan and I could tell a big difference between the raw honey and the store-bought honey. Also, buying local honey means that you are buying honey made from local pollen. I have heard but not really researched that eating raw local honey can help people with allergies build immunity to local pollens.
Raw-milk cheddar -- I love cheese, but this cheese is a bit too strong for me to eat by itself. :-) However, cooking with this cheese is wonderful. I put it in our eggs with some salsa...yummy!!
Smoked cheddar -- This cheese was not made from raw milk but from pasture-fed cow's milk. The cheese was good, but it has smoke flavoring in it. ??
Beef soup bones -- I used these bones to make my beef broth since I don't usually buy beef that has bones in it. I cooked the bones and my vegetable trimmings from the week in a crockpot for a day, and the broth turned out well. I used some and froze the rest in ice cube trays. Once again, I liked the fact that I was using organic.

Reason for such a long post -- It is 8:08 a.m., and my son is still sleeping. Wow.

Weekly Menu 08/18

Breakfast

Eggs with salsa and raw cheddar
Muffins
Buttermilk pancakes and sausage
Oatmeal with raisins (or some other fruit)

Lunch

Leftovers - I generally do leftovers for lunch, although I will sometimes cook a different vegetable or make the leftovers into something a little different.

Dinner

Roast Chicken, tomato-avocado salad, mashed potatoes
Broccoli-Cheddar Quiche, I'm not sure on a side
Cornish game hens, peas, carrots
Leftover steak from the weekend, green salad
Green Enchiladas, black bean soup, corn (company's coming!)

Dessert

Fruit Pizza (company)
Jello
Fruit

Weekly Menu 08/11

Here is last week’s menu:

Breakfast

Oatmeal with raisins
Eggs with salsa and raw cheese (very good)
Raisin muffins (frozen from a previous batch)

Lunch

Leftovers :-)

Dinner

Spaghetti, green beans, corn
Tacos, Mexican rice, refried beans
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Hamburgers, baked potatoes

Fat, anyone?

The Weston A. Price Foundation website has lots of interesting information (I actually linked an article on children's health). The president of the foundation is also the author of Nourishing Traditions, one of my favorite cookbooks/information books.
Weston Price was a dentist who traveled worldwide and began trying to find connections between people groups who had the best health (and, amazingly, the best teeth). His findings are quite interesting.
Anyway, this article has an interesting story about an experiment done on lab rats. Scroll down the article to read it. From what the article says, three groups of rats were tested: one group was given normal rat food and water, another group was given Cornflakes and water, and the last group was given the box in which the Cornflakes came and water. Care to guess which group died first?? ;-)
That reminds me, I need to go put my oats on to soak. :-)
1 cup oats (oatmeal), 1 cup water, 2 tablespoons buttermilk---soak overnight at room temperature
In the morning, bring one cup of water to a boil, add oats, and cook for 10 minutes. Add butter, raisins, honey, blueberries, flax seed, or whatever suits your taste. :-)

Walgreens 8/05/08

Exclude the OneTouch2, and my total after rebates will be $4.08!! I don't know about the OneTouch, I could just get it free, or I could make $20 on it...I'll have to wait and see. This usually wouldn't have worked for me since we don't eat pop-tarts and such, but my brother is here and eats such things...sooo... :-)

This is actually from Wal-mart...

Irish Spring on clearance for $0.75
Two $0.30/1 coupons

Equals $0.45 each!!!