this weekend i visited summer kitchen family farm. i was so inspired by the quality & care of their animals & thought i would share a bit about our thoughts on eating meat. of course, i never want this space to leave anyone feeling uncomfortable. i do my best to make this space inviting & warm, but today we are talking about consuming meat. if this topic makes you feel uncomfortable, i ask that you go ahead & skip this post for today & come back on wednesday. thanks so much!
we recently purchased a whole chicken from the farm & although it was a significant part of our food budget for the week, it was well-worth the extra expense. we trust these farmers. we appreciate every bit of hard work that goes into raising these precious animals & getting them to our plate. also, i know that these animals lived a happy life & that’s very important to me.
we don’t eat a lot of meat in our home because it is expensive compared to other protein sources. additionally, we only purchase ethically-raised meat from farmers we know & trust so that limits when & where we purchase our meat. our choice to only eat meat from farmers who raised their animals in a comfortable environment & sustainably makes us, at times, appear to be total weirdos. portlandia has come up a couple of times in conversation. still, we aren’t aggressive toward others in our decision & we feel good knowing when others sit at our table to eat, they are being fed well.
although the cost of our bird (around $16) did keep us from purchasing a couple of other things at the farmers’ market, i was able to use every single bit of this precious animal in four meals for the week. first, i roasted our chicken in the oven with onions & fresh herbs for a couple of hours on sunday evening. we each had a considerable piece of meat on the side that evening along with asparagus spears & a large salad. we also made chicken quesadillas for dinner one evening & salads topped with chicken for lunches a couple of days throughout the week. in order to make our meat & dollar stretch, i always pair a smaller amount of animal protein with a large portion of vegetables. finally, we made chicken stock. this is such an easy practice so i thought i would share our simple recipe with you.
crock pot chicken stock
1. once you roast your chicken, remove all of the meat from the bones. place the meat in a container (we use a large mason jar with lid) for using throughout the week & place the bones in your crock pot.
2. chop up vegetables & place on top of meat in crock pot. if we have thought ahead, we like to save our vegetable scraps for this purpose. if not, we usually add green onion, carrots, celery or whatever we have on hand. i will usually add some fresh herbs from the garden, including sage, parsley & thyme.
3. once all of my ingredients are added to the crock pot, i fill up my crock pot with water until there is about an inch left at the top.
4. turn the crock pot on low & allow to simmer for 18 – 24 hours. some do not simmer their stock for that long, but i have noticed that the bones make a really dark, rich stock when i simmer it for longer.
5. once your stock is done, strain the liquid into a bowl. i like to do this by placing my colander in a large bowl. i place a piece of cheese cloth around the colander & pour the liquid, bones & vegetables into the colander slowly. i then gather the cheese cloth with large bits included & set aside for the compost.
6. once my bowl is filled with a rich, dark stock, i measure two cups of the stock & pour into a large-mouth mason jar. the large-mouth mason jars tend to shatter less often in the freezer. i sometimes take my chances, like this time, & pour the stock into a small-mouth jar, if i don’t have enough large-mouth jars on hand. i also prefer the plastic lids for the freezer.
7. once you have several jars of stock, label & store in freezer for later meals.
how do you make stock or broth? what are your thoughts on stretching your dollar & meat? i would love to hear your thoughts!
love,
natalie