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Archive for the ‘Budget’ Category
Okay, so I decided to not write about vegetable oil or raw milk. I’m going to pick on canned chicken broth instead.
I was big on canned chicken broths for years, until I realized that MSG gives me headaches and makes my ears ring. So, I started looking for canned/boxed broths that have no MSG – and that’s damn hard to find, because even if a label claims it is MSG free (Swanson’s, for example), it still has MSG in it. If a list of ingredients says “autolyzed yeast extract” or “yeast extract” or “natural flavors” it contains MSG, and the USDA labeling standards allows the manufacturer to claim their product is “MSG free.”
Don’t you love it.
In fact, pick up a can of chicken broth and read the label – you’ll very likely see an ingredient list that looks like this:
Chicken broth, salt, monosodium glutamate, dextrose, flavoring, hydrolyzed soy protein, carrots, hydrolyzed corn protein, celery, onion, chicken fat, sugar, disodium guanylate, autolyzed yeast extract.
Mmm, mmm – what a tasty way to get your daily allowance of chemicals and genetically modified food organisms.
Making your own chicken broth is not hard at all, although it is a tad time-consuming. But what you’ll have when you’re done is a pot of wonderful, healthy chicken stock that is so tasty you’ll wonder why you ever bought the stuff in a can or box (I know I do). It is every bit as convenient, too. because you can freeze it in different amounts so you’ll have exactly as much as you need. Just need a little? Freeze some in ice cube trays and bag the cubes – the average ice cube is about 2 tablespoons, so two chicken stock cubes would be fine for a recipe calling for 1/4 cup of chicken broth.
Along with a good-sized stock pot you’ll need cheesecloth, but that’s inexpensive easy to find – it’s one of the few things I still buy at the grocery store.
Note: You can use the carcass of a chicken you’ve roasted or use a whole chicken, which is what this recipe calls for. Reserve the meat for recipes that call for cooked chicken.
Chicken Stock
Chicken Stock
1 two to three pound chicken, or bone-in chicken parts with skin
3 carrots
3 stalks celery
2 onions
2 tablespoons peppercorns, cracked
4 bay leaves
2 teaspoons sea salt
Water to cover
Thoroughly wash carrots, celery and onions – you don’t need to peel them, but you may want to trim the ends. Cut them in half (quarter the onions); they’ll be easier fit into the stock pot.
Rinse the chicken well with cold water and remove any giblets, if necessary.
Combine chicken, carrots, celery, onions, peppercorns, bay leaves and salt in a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot. Add enough water to cover; bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.
Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for two hours.
Remove the chicken from the pot; carefully pull the meat off of the bones and return the carcass and skin to the stock. Continue simmering for another hour; taste. If the stock is not rich enough, continue to simmer, tasting every 15 minutes.
When stock has reached desired richness and flavor, turn off the heat and allow to cool for one hour. Strain the stock through the cheesecloth into storage containers, label with the date and freeze.
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Posted in participation of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday
It took me awhile to recover from so many days off, but I have recipes again! LOL
Actually, I was quite busy this weekend – on top of grilling some filets from Chuck and smoking a free-range chicken we picked up at the farmer’s market, we pitted and froze five pounds of sweet cherries I found on sale for $.199/lb, made homemade chicken stock from a “soup chicken”- an old laying hen past her prime – and (believe it or not) made dog food for Scooter, using the meat from the old hen and a kidney from Chuck.
Yes, I guess we’ve gone off the deep end. I should have never read the ingredients on the bag of kibble we’ve been feeding him; it was simply appalling. I wouldn’t eat that stuff; why feed it to my furry, four-legged child?
At any rate, since we’ve got the grill/smoker cranked up full throttle for the summer, salads are still the order of the day. We’d picked up some lovely tomatoes and cucumbers at the farmer’s market this last weekend and have been trying to consume a seedless watermelon for several days (there’s only so much watermelon you can eat at any given meal, and I’ve been resisting the urge to pull the ice cream maker out and make a sorbet with it), so voilá! A Tomato, Watermelon and Cucumber salad.
Quick, easy, tasty, refreshing and oh-so-good for you, too. What more could you ask for?
Note: A mandolin will make quick work of the cucumber and onion.
Tomato, Watermelon and Cucumber Salad
Tomato, Watermelon and Cucumber Salad
4 to 6 servings
4 cups cubed watermelon
1 large, ripe tomato, chopped
1 large cucumber, sliced very thinly
1/2 large, sweet onion, sliced very thinly
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
3 teaspoons sugar or Splenda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
freshly ground black pepper to taste
Combine the watermelon, tomato and cucumber in a large bowl; toss with the sugar or Splenda and salt. Let it stand for 15 minutes.
Stir in the onion, thyme, vinegar and olive oil. Cover and chill for 2 hours. Taste; season with pepper. Serve on lettuce leaves, if desired.
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Well, here it is, Monday again.
Oh, and I’ve lost 11.5 pounds in a little over a month. Just by changing the diet (I have yet to go down to the basement and confront the treadmill and Bowflex…don’t push me, it’s coming). Yay, me.
(Beloved has lost 12 pounds in like 3 weeks, but we won’t go there right now.)
Anyhoo. Monday. Boooooooooo. Well, that’s all right – we’re going to take a mini-vacation and leave town Wednesday afternoon to go to Wisconsin for Beloved’s family reunion, returning Sunday. We’ll be stopping overnight in Chicago on our way there – anyone know of any good restaurants in the downtown area?
Today’s recipe is easy and delicious – Pan Roasted Asparagus. We love asparagus and you can still find it relatively cheaply at the store and farmer’s markets. It is particularly good pan roasted in a hot, cast iron skillet, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper, fleur de sel or kosher salt and a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Nomilicious stuff.
Pan Roasted Asparagus
Pan Roasted Asparagus
serves 3 to 4
1 pound of fresh asparagus, trimmed, washed and well-dried
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional
Heat a small, cast iron skillet over high heat until it is almost smoking. Add the asparagus to the dry skillet, stirring it occasionally, until it begins to brown but is still crisp. Remove the skillet from the heat, drizzle the olive oil over the asparagus, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle it with the cheese if desired. Serve immediately.
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Here’s an easy, warm weather and delicious dish for you – good ol’ chicken salad.
Since any salad that has chicken as its main ingredient is called chicken salad, and I have several readers outside the United States, I’m talking about American chicken salad, which is chopped chicken combined with a fat-based binder (usually mayonnaise or salad dressing) and often served as a creamy spread in sandwiches. Any number of things can be added to the chicken and fat – commonly chopped raw vegetables, fruit or nuts.
Mine happens to use all three.
I make chicken salad nearly every time I roast a chicken, especially in warmer weather. You can use canned chicken, of course, but I’ve never cared at all for the taste/texture of it (or the price – the stuff is stupidly expensive) and it’s just as easy to use chopped, leftover chicken. I get at least two extra meals out of a roast chicken when I make chicken salad, even though I rarely eat it on bread – I usually put it on top of a bed of lettuce and eat it like a conventional salad. The last time I made it, though, I just ate it alone.
For breakfast.
Anyhoo, this is my basic chicken salad recipe. You can jazz it up any way you like it; I often put chopped apples or pears in it, and use toasted walnuts or pecans (once I even used diced mango and chopped macadamia nuts – Oh. My. Gawd. It was wonderful!).
Note: I used homemade mayo, apple cider vinegar and raw, unfiltered honey the last time I made this, and it was absolutely to die for. You can, of course, use a commercially prepared mayo, plain white vinegar (a white wine or champagne vinegar would be good, too) and sugar or plain clover honey and it will be just fine.
Chicken Salad
Chicken Salad
Serves 4
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken
1/2 small red onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared, coarse-grained mustard
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar or honey
2 tablespoons sweet or dill pickle relish, depending on your preference (optional)
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, sugar or honey and relish together. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring to blend well. Cover and refrigerate for an hour to allow the flavors to meld.
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I am tired today – even Tech Guy here at the office mentioned how tired I look. He’s a sweetheart, and as a Type II diabetic who struggles with his diet was quite sympathetic when I told him that although I’d tried very hard to eat right this weekend, we ate out so much that it knocked me all out of whack – Bob Evans and Cheesecake Factory don’t exactly do local and sustainable. I further botched things up last night; we stopped on a whim at our absolute favorite restaurant in Ohio. They do serve locally obtained, unprocessed food, but if you throw alcohol and dessert into the mix, well…
Cut me some slack – I’m paying for it this morning. (It sure was tasty, though.)
At any rate, I’m back on track today and will remain there until I’m seduced once again by the siren song of a four-star restaurant. Which doesn’t happen with any regularity, thank goodness.
So – pico de gallo. There’s some debate about the origins of the name, but it’s basically a fresh, uncooked salsa often served with Mexican dishes. It’s easy and delicious and has the added bonus of being extremely good for you, too. I don’t care much for cooked tomatoes, but I love them raw and this is one of my two favorite ways to eat them (I’ll get to the other way later in the summer when my own tomatoes ripen).
Note: Seed the jalapeños unless you like it really spicy.
Pico de Gallo
Pico de Gallo
makes 3 – 4 cups
2-3 medium sized fresh tomatoes, finely diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
2 jalapeño peppers, finely diced
Juice of one lime
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine all of the ingredients except the salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl; taste and season. Let it sit, covered, for an hour or so at room temperature, to allow the flavors to combine.
Can be served as a condiment, side dish or as a dip with good quality tortilla chips.
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