Using a Whole Chicken

A while ago I posted about cooking a whole chicken in the crock pot. And I was SO excited! It smelled good, and tasted good, and it was so simple!!

Well, this time I decided to go even further with the chicken! After cooking it for about 8 hours in the slow cooker (making the house smell scrumptious!) I let it cool for just a bit. Then starting pulling off all the meat.

I put some of the meat into a soup that was on the stove-top waiting. I also had some more meat left over that will go great on a salad with the fresh lettuce from our garden!
Then I took everything else, everything that was left after I got the meat I wanted. Kinda gross, but my husband did this part, so that made it a little easier for me. All of that went into a pot, along with a bunch of celery leaves and a few stalks, a couple of whole (including the skins) onions, a couple of bay leaves, and water. I would have put in some carrots (unpeeled) but didn't have any left after my carrot mac and cheese and making baby food.

I brought all this to a boil, then turned it down and let it simmer for an hour or two (don't totally remember, didn't set a timer, just checked on it occasionally and then eventually decided it had been long enough).
Then poured it through a strainer so all the pieces and veggies and such would stay separate, of course! And poured and poured until I got all the broth out I could get.
I have these containers in the fridge for now. I will go back and scrape off the top (fatty part), then used some to make some homemade pea soup for my little one, some will go in the freezer for a later date, and some will stay in the fridge to have on hand.

SO, I got (A) meat for a soup (B) meat for salad (C) broth for pea soup (D) broth for the freezer (E) broth for now and (F) a wonderful feeling knowing that I did it all myself (with husband's help, of course) and made the best use of a whole chicken that I could! And the cost of all of this? The whole chicken was $3, the celery leave and inside stalks I probably would have thrown away otherwise, a few cents for the onions...by far under $5 for all of this!!

I'll post more about the pea soup later. For now, this is what works for me, head over to We Are THAT Family for more great ideas!

Homemade Baby Food is Cheaper!

I've been reminded again today why it is that I take a little extra time to make my own baby food for my infant. Not only do I know exactly what he is getting, but it is SO much cheaper!

I bought 2 lbs of carrots at Wal Mart for $1.66.

The whole process took me maybe 30 minutes (I don't count the time while the carrots were cooking and I could be doing other productive things).

I got about 40 oz of food out of this!

That is $.04 an oz! Can't buy pre-made food in the store at that price.

This is why I choose a little extra time in the kitchen. My son is worth it!

Homemade Baby Food

I started looking into making my own baby food a while back, well before my son was ready to start eating food, but I figured I needed to start understanding the process for when the time came.

The time is now!

I just made carrots for the first time for my son! Had some carrots I did not want to have to toss, so I decided to cook them up and give it a try. Put most of it into an ice tray to freeze, but thought I would try some while it was warm and fresh. It was so easy to remove the skin, chop, steam, and puree, adding water for the right consistency. Faster and cheaper than going to the store to buy in a jar!

He ate it all and didn't make any disgusted faces either! We've done cereal and some avocado mixed with cereal, but this is a first for a vegetable on it's own.

I am so excited about the possibilities as well as saving so much money this way!