Chicken Stock

We've been trying to save money around here, or at least not waste what we've got. Sometimes we are successful at this and sometimes we're not. The other day after making a delicious batch of Chicken Tamale Casserole (click here for recipe), I decided it would be wise to suck it up and make some chicken stock with the left-over carcass.

Just saying the word "carcass" creeps me out, so this really was an attempt on my part to be a resourceful and frugal consumer. Here are the bones. Yuck.

While I'm not a fan of handling the innards and skeleton of my food, I did feel a sense of pride as I watched my water and bones simmer after having spent zero dollars and zero cents. It was all very frontierswoman. I'm sure there are more interesting stock recipes, but this one worked fine with just salt and pepper and was free.

After simmering for about 4 hours, the stock should be ready and you can strain it. A word to the wise....if you use an old juice container to keep the stock, remember to tell your spouse it's not "Simply Apple."