When I brought all the groceries in on grocery day, I cut open the package of hens and was pleasantly surprised to find they were individually wrapped after cutting away the exterior plastic wrap. I put one hen away in the freezer with the rest of our month's meat supply and the second hen in the meat drawer in our fridge. Sunday morning, in the midst of getting ready to go the church service, I unwrapped the hen I had left in the fridge, cleaned out the gizzards from the cavity and have her a good rinse. I made a simple herb paste in a small bowl using olive oil, salt, pepper, herbed poultry mix and a couple others that were close by. I separated the skin from the meat of the bird by slowly sliding my hand between the two. Go slowly, or you will tear the skin. Dip your hand into the herb-oil mixture and coat the meat under the skin of the bird. It's best to do this on the breast side, but I went ahead and did the back of the bird also. Doing this will keep the meat of the bird from becoming dry, but, more importantly, will trap the flavors close to the meat. I especially love this trick when cooking poultry in the oven. Rub any of the extra herb-oil mixture all over the outside of the bird and place it into your Crock-Pot.
This next part is just basically add whatever vegetables you would like! I poured about a 1/2 cup of homemade chicken stock in and then added four halved-potatoes, garlic, two stalks of sliced celery, and 2 sliced onions. I topped the mixture with season salt and a little sage. Seal 'er up and go about your day for the next 6-8 hours!
By the time we had gone to church and visited my Momma at the farm, we came home to a completely cooked lunch. However, my Husband loves chicken and rice so to finish it off I cooked some brown rice and made a mushroom cream sauce to go over it. After we had eaten, my Hubby finished separating the good meat of the bird from the bones, skin, fat and any other undesirable bits which he left with the cooking juices in the Crock-Pot. We went about the rest of our day until right before bed when my Hubby filled up the Crock-Pot with tap water leaving a little space at the top to prevent any spills (about 1/2") and he turned the cooker on low. The next morning, our kitchen was smelling wonderful! I placed my large stainless steel bowl in the sink and a fine strainer over top of it. The cooker can be quite heavy when completely filled so it may be best to let the pot completely cool before executing this next step. Using two pot holders, I poured the whole contents of the Crock-Pot into the strainer so that only the juices landed in the bowl beneath. I left the stock to cool a bit in the sink while disposing of the pot's contents and cleaning up.
When I was finished, I came back to the stock and poured about half the bowl's contents into a plastic bowl with a spout (one of my favorite kitchen tools!), but, depending on how you choose to store your stock, you can also use a funnel. I choose to store our stock in glass canning jars because they store easily in our freezer and they are easily re-sealed from use-to-use when in the fridge. You can use any glass jars with lids that you have on hand, ice cube trays or plastic tubs in varying sizes with locking lids. I prefer to use glass whenever possible because of BPA and other horrors in plastic, but to each their own! Using my spouted bowl, I was able to fill up three wide-mouth glass canning jars and leave about an inch of space at the top for expansion once the stock freezes. I re-used the lids and rings I had on hand and put them on while the jars were still quite hot from the stock. Every time I have done this, the jars have "popped" meaning that they are sealed. I would NEVER trust this seal to store the stock in the pantry because it wasn't sealed in a hot water bath, but it makes me feel more confident for freezer storage. I leave the stock to cool to room temperature and then simply put them in the freezer door! Easy peasy!
Look how beautifully dark!
Reasons I love this recipe & process:
1. We get a really delicious and nutrient-rich lunch and all I have to do is put the ingredients in and forget it!
2. Because it's just the two of us, the rest of the good meat that was stored away can be used throughout the week for sandwiches, salads and combined with other leftover dinners where we have eaten all the protein and all that is leftover are the sides. This makes packing lunches easy and fast (and still healthy)!
3. I can re-use the original pot to make the stock which makes me happy because it limits the number of dishes I have to put in the dishwasher and I can again load up the pot with all the goodies and forget it for 6-8 hours!
4. Minimum input and maximum output. The chicken cost me $5.17 (after separating it from its original counterpart), a few veggies which cost about $5 for the whole lot and I only used one or two from each package so I'll estimate the cost at about $1.75, plus the items I already had on hand- herbs, tap water, glass jars. From this simple combination, we get a delicious, healthy, easy-to-prepare lunch that was ready when we came home to it, 4-5 extra servings of protein for quick lunches later in the week and 3 qts. of nutrient-rich chicken stock where I was able to control the ingredients that went into it. The grand total for all of these meals and cooking ingredients is $6.92! $6.92!!! I would dare to say that you would be hard pressed to find even ONE lunch for that price and good luck if you want it to be a nutrient-rich meal!
Give this process a try- your body, your budget and your time will all thank you! :)
-BrittLeah <3
