Waste Not, Want Not: Making a Beautiful Chicken Broth

Look at what I just made...from GARBAGE!! I hate to waste food, which is why soups and broths are pretty much my favourite thing to cook. I never throw away a chicken carcass, especially one from a deliciously flavoured roasted chicken. Mmmmmm. I made up this bone broth last night after I carved our chicken chicken dinner. I quite literally threw the carcass (garbage) into my slowcooker with the drippings from the meat...I was in a rush, I had no time for gravy. Rush or not, I had time for a chicken broth. 

To the slow cooker, I added this bag of garbage...

I kid you not, garbage. I keep all of my veggie ends in a bag in the fridge. If you look closely you'll see, lots of carrot shrapnel, zucchini ends, bits of mushroom, broccoli, tomato stems and partial onions. I make soup a few times a week, so I've never worried about these vegetable bits going bad, I simply throw them back into the fridge instead of into the garbage. There is still so much nutrition in these veggies, they can't help it if they didn't make the dinner cut! They sure can be showcased in a delicious broth. 

After all of my garbage is loaded into my slow cooker, I top it up with water, I add garlic, ginger, a couple of seaweed sheets, about two table spooons of apple cider vinegar and an onion.   I can never resist a few bay leaves, a bit of sea salt and some delicious tarragon or some herbs de provence. I turn the slow cooker onto low and leave it happily cooking all night. When we awake, the house smells heavenly. I leave it cooking for the rest of the day or turn it warm. As I prepare dinner that evening, I strain off the broth. 

 

Now those veggies are actually garbage. If I'm making a soup right away, I'll pick some of the meat off of the carcass. If not, I toss it, most of the flavour has been absorbed into the broth. Tonight I'm tossing it! I'm on a cleanse, no chicken soup for me!!  My beautiful broth is going to cool at room temperature and find its way into the freezer. I'll use it later in recipes, soup, rice dishes, you name it! 

Can we just admire the colour of this beautiful broth? 

 

Thanks for reading!!  If you have any questions or you just liked this Big Idea, please feel free to comment below!!

The Couldn'ts

 

"The Couldn'ts." This is an expression my husband uses from time to time.  Growing up in Newfoundland, Canada, he has been known to have colourful language. "The Couldn'ts" are the leftovers from your meal, the night before. They can easily be repurposed to make the most wonderfully delicious recipes.

Yesterday's dinner was Prime Rib, with oven roast potatoes, steamed carrots and broccoli and Yorkshire Pudding. Today, I need an appetizer for a Super Bowl Party. Stuffed Mini Yorkies seems perfect!!  And while I'm at it, a healthy bone broth to be turned into a beef and barley soup. I have a head cold. I need to build my immune system!

 

STUFFED MINI YORKIES

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of oil

2 eggs

1 cup of flour

1 cup of milk

1 tsp of salt

For Stuffing:

Approximately 1 cup of cooked beef, chopped. 

1/4 cup of sautéed mushrooms, chopped. 

1 tbsp of garlic butter 

1 tsp of horseradish, optional. 

Finely chop leftover beef and leftover fried mushrooms. Melt down a tablespoon your favourite garlic butter and if you love it, add a tsp of horseradish. 

 

Add the chopped mushroom and beef mixture to your melted butter. Sauté for 1-2 minutes. Top with grated Parmesan Cheese. 

 

Stir the cheese into the mixture and set aside. 

 

Preheat the oven to 400 F. 

Add approximately 1tsp of oil to each muffin tin. If you have leftover beef drippings, add to the tins. Once the oven is preheated, place the muffin tin into the oven for 3-4 minutes. You'll hear the sizzle of the oil. 

While heating the oil, prep the batter. 

Beat two eggs and cup of milk with salt and flour. 

 

Remove the tin from the oven. Fill to 3/4, with the batter. Add approximately a teaspoon of the beef and mushroom mixture to the top of each muffin cup. 

 

Return the muffin tin to the oven, which is still preheated to 400 F. Cook for 16 minutes. 

After removing from the oven, allow 2 minutes to cool in the pan and then transfer with a spoon to a platter. 

 

As my mini muffin tin is rather small, I had extra batter and meat mixture, so I threw together a small casserole dish, with 1/4 cup of oil. Increased the oven temperature to 425 F. I heated the oil in the oven. 

When heated, I removed it from the oven, added the additional batter to the heated oil and topped with the remainder of the beef and mushroom mixture. I baked this larger Beefy Yorkshire Pudding for 18-20 minutes. 

 

This can all be completed as you build a healthy Beef Bone Broth!!!  Check out my recipe here:

http://melsbigideas.blogspot.ca/2017/02/bone-broth-benefits-least-of-which-beef.html?m=0

If you have any questions or you just liked this Big Idea, feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!!