Chicken Stock

Chicken stock is one of those things that you can easily buy at the store, but I've found that, in a Paleo kitchen, the ingredients are usually around, so why not just make it yourself? You really aren't going to find a much easier thing to make and I can't tell you how handy it is to have a bunch of little ice cubes of stock that I can pull out of the freezer and throw in a recipe.

Chicken Stock

Whole chicken carcass or bones
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into one inch chunks
1/2 onion, cut into one inch pieces
2-3 stalks celery, cut into one inch pieces
1 Tbsp peppercorns
water

*check out the notes at the end of this post for some helpful hints on how to make this from leftovers in your kitchen, so it ends up virtually being free!


Instructions:

In large soup pot, place all ingredients and fill pot with water. Bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for about an hour. Let cool.

Once cooled, strain through a colander and ladle into ice cube trays. Freeze and then place cubes into ziploc bag. Take out one or two or more when needed.

*A few notes...
-For the chicken carcass/bones, I have used anything from the remains of a home roasted chicken to a rotisserie chicken purchased from the grocery store to leftover thigh bones. Anything will do. When we have chicken for dinner, I just throw the bones in a ziploc bag and toss it in the freezer until I'm ready to make stock.
-For the veggies, I usually use whatever we have on hand. Last time around, we had some leeks in our CSA basket, so I threw those in. I also keep a bag in the freezer for random bits of veggies that we don't usually use (ends of carrots, broccoli stalks, etc.) that work great for stock.
-Our soup pot usually fills about 7 ice cube trays, which we have laying around from when our kiddos were little and I used them to portion and freeze baby food. You can snag them at the Dollar Store for pretty cheap (like, a dollar maybe? :)). Otherwise, you can use jars or small ziploc bags with pre-portioned amounts.