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!