Homemade Chicken Broth

On New Years Eve this year (I know it was a few months ago!) our friends gathered to ring in the new year. A few minutes before midnight, one of my friends asked the others what their new year's resolutions are.

I resolved to lose the baby weight (boring....)

One friend resolved that she was bringing sexy back. She had a child in the previous year and was now a stay at home mom. She found herself all too often staying in sweats and a ponytail and resolved to put a little more effort into her appearance. I thought this was a great idea.

My friend, Julie, resolved that she and her husband were going to eat intentionally. She elaborated that they were trying to be more aware of where their food came from, what was in it and how they could get better control of their food. We have talked about splitting up a cow for beef so we know where our meat comes from. I know she rocks the bread machine for homemade bread. She also told me that they had made some homemade broth and it pretty much made everything they used it in awesome.

Julie's resolution got me thinking about all the processed foods in my life. Although I'm not willing to give it all up (and I don't think she is either...) I could make some changes in the foods that I am able to make my own. For this reason I thought I'd give homemade broth a try.

I purchased a small little roaster chicken and prepared it based off of the Pioneer Woman's recipe. After serving the chicken, I saved the carcass and remaining meat that was on it for some broth. (recipe below, adapted from here).

When all was said and done, I made 8 cups of super flavorful broth! I packaged them up into 2 cup servings (about the size of a can) and laid them flat in the freezer for future use.



A typical one cup serving of chicken broth has 754 mg of sodium. That's a quarter of your daily value in just one cup of broth!!! I'm not quite sure how to calculate out the nutrition facts on this but my best guess is that the homemade version has less than 100 mg of sodium per serving. YET has more flavor from all the other goodies.

Homemade Chicken Broth in a slow cooker

Carcass of roaster chicken or rotisserie chicken
1 chopped onion
2-3 stalks celery, chopped into large chunks
3 carrots, chopped into large chunks
3-4 whole garlic cloves
8 cups water
if desired, additional seasonings such as bay leaves, Italian seasoning, etc.

***My roaster chicken still had a bunch of meat on it as well as remaining skin which had a lot of seasoning on from the original cooking process. For this reason, I didn't add a ton of seasoning. You be the judge of what you need.

Put chicken carcass into large crockpot. Add chopped vegetables and seasoning. Add water. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Place a wire strainer over a large tupperware container. Ladle contents of slowcooker into tupperware, allowing the strainer to catch all the solids. Cover tupperware and refrigerate overnight.



The next day, the fat will have risen to the top and solidified. (its ok to gag a little). Scrape the fat layer off the top. Portion out remaining broth into desired servings and freeze until ready to use.

***Original recipe makes a blenderized version utilizing all the scraps in the slow cooker, except the bones. I chose to make more of a clarified version.

Whole Crock Pot Chicken

Sometimes people make traditional meals that I never have made before. I want to try them but I'm afraid. I've never made a pot roast or a turkey or a whole chicken. I decided to break that up by trying a whole chicken when my sister-in-law and her husband were coming up for Sunday dinner.

I found a recipe here for a whole chicken in the crockpot. I thought this looked good since you skinned the chicken first and wouldn't have all that extra fat floating around in the pot.

I have to admit, I'm a little squeamish when it comes to raw chicken. After I gagged about 5 times while ripping the skin off the chicken in the sink, I became mesmerized by the anatomy of the chicken. I kept pointing out things to my husband. "Look at this tendon structure....". Anyway, I got over the gross-ness of it and proceeded on.

The chicken didn't come out how I expected it, but it was delicious anyway. I thought I would be able to pull it out of the crock pot and carve it. Nope. It pretty much fell apart when it was done. So it was almost shredded chicken but it was awesome.

I forgot to take pictures of it on the night it was served but the leftovers made awesome chicken on top of a salad ;)

Rotisserie Style Whole Chicken

1 whole chicken (4-5 pounds), skinned
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 whole garlic cloves
1 yellow onion, quartered

Skin the chicken and make sure the cavity is empty. Rinse the chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

In a bowl, combine all the dried spices. Rub the spice mixture all over the bird, inside and out. Put the whole garlic cloves and quartered onion inside the bird. Put the bird breast side DOWN in a 6 qt crock pot.

DO NOT ADD WATER.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8 hours (I did low for 8 hours and that was plenty!!!). The meat is done when it is fully cooked and has reached desired tenderness. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat.

Setting Yourself Up for Success

My husband is home from his two week trip... and so is my camera! Woo hoo! So hopefully I'll have some posts with pics of real food this week ;)

In the meantime, lets talk chicken. Chicken is one of those foods that can provide you with some muscle-building protein without a whole lot of fat or work, for that matter. I've been trying to incorporate more protein in my diet and chicken is my new best friend. BUT I'm a busy lady and I don't have time to be cooking up chicken every night. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to give you some ideas of how to cook chicken ahead of time. I buy frozen chicken breasts at GFS so I always have good uniform sized chicken breasts ready to go.

BAKED CHICKEN
Thaw chicken breasts and add Italian dressing for marinade. After marinading in the fridge for 2-3 hours, place chicken breasts in a single layer on a 9x13 pan. Grind fresh pepper and sprinkle garlic powder lightly over top of chicken breasts. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

GRILLED CHICKEN
Thaw chicken breasts and add Italian dressing for marinade. After marinading in the fridge for 2-3 hours, heat grill to medium heat. Brush grill grate with olive oil to prevent sticking. Place chicken breasts on grate in a single layer. Cook for 4-5 minutes then flip. Cook on second side for 3-4 minutes or until heated through.

CROCK POT
Place frozen chicken breasts in crock pot with 1/4 cup water. Grind fresh black pepper over the top. Sprinkle with garlic powder. Place lid on crock pot and cook on low 4-6 hours or high 3-4 hours.

BOIL (not my favorite, but fast)
Boil water. Add thawed chicken breasts for 8-10 minutes or until heated through.

Last night we had baked chicken (option #1) for dinner. Instead of cooking up 2 or 3 breasts I cooked 6. I put the remaining chicken breasts in a tupperware container in the fridge for future use.


Here are some ways to use your precooked chicken breasts:

• Cut up on top of a salad or bed of spinach for lunch.
• Chop and make chicken salad.
• Cut up and use in a wrap.
• Shred to use as a filling in enchiladas or tacos.

How would you use precooked chicken?

Creamy Crockpot Chicken

I don't have a picture of this one as the camera has resided at my husband's office for the last couple days. Instead I'll give you a random picture.

View from my front porch in winter time.

This is one of those many recipes that I see all over the blog world and I was never introduced to until recently. I'm not a fan of alfredo and this is as close as I get to it. It's super easy and perfect for taking a dish to pass at a function. The recipe that I originally used is from The Girl Who Ate Everything. As originally posted, this provides (Just the topping, not the pasta):

305.5 calories
20 g fat
8.3 g carbohydrate
0.0 g fiber
22.7 g protein

I make just a few changes. First I use reduced fat cream cheese and a little bit less than the original recipe. Second, I add a bag of frozen vegetables. I like it with broccoli best but often make it with green beans since the husband isn't a huge broccoli fan. Adding vegetables to pasta dishes can help decrease the portion of pasta that you use and add extra vitamins and minerals.

Overall, this is a regular staple on our meal plan. Give it a try!


Creamy Crockpot Chicken - BETTER

four 4 oz chicken breasts
1 packet dressing mix, I like Good Seasons' Garlic & Herb
6 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
10 oz bag frozen broccoli or green beans

Place the chicken in a crockpot and sprinkle dressing packet over it. Cover with cream of chicken soups and cream cheese. Cook on low for at least 4 hours. About 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, take out chicken breasts and shred. Put back into the crock pot and give the sauce a good stir. Add frozen vegetables. Cook for additional 3o minutes.

Serve over whole wheat pasta or spaghetti squash.

Makes 6 servings, each serving provides:

261 calories
13.6 g fat
10.6 g carbohydrate
1.4 g fiber
24.1 g protein

Sour Cream Pork Chops

Apparently its slow cooker week here on Great Blog Food, Made Better as I am on day number 3 of posting slow cooker recipes. I love using my crock pot(s). It is so much easier to throw the ingredients in then go about my day.

One thing that I had never made in a crock pot before was pork chops. My mom always made pork chops with Shake-n-Bake coating and I loved them as a kid. So the few times that I have made them in my adult life, I have used some sort of coating. I know that many people use the crock pot to cook pork chops so off I went in search of a recipe that fit the bill.

I found a recipe for Sour Cream Pork Chops on allrecipes.com. A 4 oz. pork chop from the original recipe provides:
331 calories
20.5 g fat
9.8 g carbohydrate
0.3 g fiber
25.4 g protein

I think that sometimes pork gets a bad rap from it's fattier counterparts like bacon. But a lean pork tenderloin that has been sliced in to chops with all visible fat trimmed is a leaner protein option. My local grocery store often has pork tenderloins on sale and I just take the whole loin up to the meat counter and ask them to slice it for me... way cheaper than buying pre-sliced pork chops.

For this recipe I only made a couple changes. I used 3 oz pork chops instead of 4 oz pork chops. I also found that I didn't need nearly as much of the sour cream sauce as the recipe calls for so I cut the ingredients for the sauce in half. I also used reduced fat sour cream instead of the full fat version. It was delicious! Very tender and fell apart with my fork. It was a great change of pace from our usual chicken.

Sour Cream Pork Chops - BETTER

six 3-oz pork chops, all visible fat trimmed
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 tsp chicken bouillon
1 cup boiling water
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
4 oz (1/2 cup) reduced fat sour cream

Season pork chops with salt, pepper and garlic powder and then dredge in the 1/2 cup flour. In a skillet over medium heat, spray skillet with nonstick spray and then brown the chops on both sides.

Place the browned chops in the slow cooker and top with onion slices. Dissolve bouillon in boiling water and pour over chops. Cover and cook on low 7 to 8 hours.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

After the chops have cooked, transfer the chops to the oven to keep warm. In a small bowl, blend 1 Tbsp flour with the sour cream; mix into meat juices. Turn slow cooker to high for 15 to 30 minutes, or until sauce is slightly thickened. Serve sauce over pork chops.

Makes 6 servings, per serving:
220 calories
11.6 g fat
9.0 g carbohydrate
0.3 g fiber
18.7 g protein

Vegetarian Crock Pot Black Bean Soup

stock photo

I love having soup. I frequently throw a can of Healthy Choice or Progresso soup into my lunch bag for lunch during the winter months. But when I can make my own soup that is hearty and stands up as a meal... I'm a happy camper.

Black Bean Soup is something that I've been making since I got out of college and was working and living on my own. I would make a big batch of it and have it for lunch and dinner every day for a week! Things haven't changed so much now that I have a family, I still try to make a big batch of foods so I can bring leftovers to work for lunch but now I resort to my crock pot much more often.

So I went in search of a black bean soup for the crock pot recipe. I found a recipe kind of what I wanted on food.com but it had a couple of ingredients I did not want. The original recipe had the following nutrition facts:

251 calories
1.3 g fat
49.1 g carbohydrate
11.3 g fiber
13.2 g protein

I omitted the lentils and rice. Maybe that is more of a Cuban flair, but I didn't really see the point in adding more starch to my starchy beans. I also substituted half of the chili powder with chipotle chili powder for a little extra heat. It turned out delicious! Give it a try!
Vegetarian Crock Pot Black Bean Soup - Better!

1 pound dried black beans (soaked overnight)
1 1/2 quart water
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
1 (28 oz) can peeled and diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp chili powder (sub in some chipotle chili powder if you wish)
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
3 Tsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp salt

Soak beans overnight in water to cover. Drain and rinse.

In a crockpot, combine soaked beans and 1 1/2 quart fresh water. Cook for 3-7 hours on high, depending on how hot your cooker gets. You want your beans to be soft once cooked.

Stir in carrot, celery, onion, garlic, bell peppers, jalapeno and tomatoes. Season with chili powder, cumin, oregano, black pepper, red wine vinegar and salt. Cook on low for 2 to 3 hours.

Puree half of the soup with a blender or food processor, then pour back into the pot before serving.

Serve with lime wedges, sour cream and cilantro.

Makes 10 servings. Each serving provides:
145 calories
1 g fat
27.3 g carbohydrate
9.4 g fiber
8.8 g protein

Don't forget to check out Hungry Runner Girl's Birthday Giveaway.... but feel free not to enter so my chances of winning are better ;) I really just want the coffee mug.

Crockpot Marinara

Last weekend, I had both my family and Paul's family over for Finley's dedication. We all went to church together then came back to our house for lunch. I wanted to have a hearty meal but I wanted it to be ready when we got back from church, so I knew I would use a crock pot. I kept brainstorming for what to serve but all I could think of were BBQ Pork sandwiches (which are kind of cliche) and a big roast (which I'm afraid of buying big cuts of beef, I'm scared). So I was at a loss.

After a week or two of brainstorming, I came up with an idea. I would have a pasta bar! I had marinara and bolognese sauce cooking in my crockpots while we were at church then when we got home, I quickly boiled some spaghetti, bowtie and cheese ravioli.

I got the original recipe for the marinara from food.com and didn't really make any nutritional alterations. I couldn't find my head of garlic (weird, I know) so I resorted to garlic powder.

Crockpot Marinara Sauce

2 (28 oz) cans Italian-style crushed tomatoes
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
1 large onion, chopped
2 tsp garlic powder (or 8 cloves of garlic)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Splenda
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients in a 3.5-6 qt crock pot.

Cover and cook on low 8 to 10 hours or high 4 to 5 hours.

Serve over pasta.

Makes 12 servings, per serving provides:
73 calories
1.6 g fat
14.4 g carbohydrate
3.4 g fiber
3.0 g protein

Chicken and Black Bean Tacos on Flatbread

I love my husband with all my heart. But I truly believe that couples are brought together to complement each others' strengths and weaknesses. Thankfully, I enjoy cooking us dinner as my husband's culinary skills are....um....limited.

I like to stick to my mealplan as much as possible. Last week I thought that my husband was going to be late in the evening so I didn't plan anything for dinner. Much to my surprise, I found out late the night before that he would indeed be home for dinner. So I told him that I would figure out something for dinner and let him know via email so he could throw something in the crock pot before he left at 2:00pm. This might sound like the perfect plan but I was trying to keep it as simple as possible. So I sent him with the following recipe:
Chicken and Black Beans Taco filling

4 small chicken breasts, frozen
1 16 oz jar your favorite salsa
1 Tbsp taco seasoning
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

Combine chicken breasts, salsa and taco seasoning in crock pot. Cook on high for 3 hours.

Shred chicken with two forks. Add drained black beans to crock pot. Continue to cook on low for 1 hour.

Use as filling for tacos, quesadillas, on top of a salad, etc.

Makes about 8 servings. Each serving provides:
128.4 calories
1.1 g fat
12.4 g carbohydrate
3.8 g fiber
17.3 g protein

With this chicken concoction, I decided to try a variation of a recipe that I saw on Real Mom Kitchen. Instead of tortillas, she made "flatbread" out of refrigerator biscuits. I used the same method and came up with my own variation of flatbread tacos.
Flatbread tacos - BETTER

1 package reduced fat refrigerator biscuits (I used Grand's)
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 cup 2% shredded Cheddar cheese

Roll each biscuit into a 6-inch circle. In a dry skillet over medium heat, cook each biscuit for 30-60 seconds on each side until browned. Keep warm in a tortilla warmer.

Spread each flatbread with a Tbsp of sour cream. Pile chicken/blackbean filling on top. Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp shredded cheese.

Enjoy!

As prepared, each flatbread taco provides:
343 calories
9.9 g fat
39.4 g carbohydrate
4.8 g fiber
21.2 g protein.

Minestrone

I forgot to take a picture of my minestrone. So I found a picture online of one that closely resembles my soup. Thanks kraftfoods.com!

I love soup in the winter time. I live in Michigan and it is pretty much cold and snowy from November to April so there are lots of opportunities for soup night. Soup is versatile because many soups can be made ahead of time and frozen or cooked low and slow in the slow cooker if you have a busy afternoon.

I have had this recipe for Minestrone from Allrecipes since November of 2004 (according to the date that I printed the original recipe). This was the first thing that I ever made for my now husband. He is not a huge vegetable eater but LOVES this minestrone. I have since passed on this recipe to my mom, who always gets requests for it from her friends. I have also put it in my work cookbook, etc. So needless to say - this is pretty much the best minestrone ever.

Last week, one of my friends had a baby and I wanted to bring her some meals. I knew we'd be eating minestrone later in the week so I made an extra large batch on Sunday afternoon. I froze a gallon ziplock for her and froze a big plastic container for my family so it would be ready to eat later in the week.

I did not make many nutrition changes to the recipe. I do not add Parmesan or extra olive oil on top of the soup (does anyone else find drizzling olive oil on top of soup weird?). This is the first time I have ever put the red wine in the recipe, and thats just because I happened to have an open bottle of wine. If you were watching your sodium intake, you may consider choosing reduced sodium chicken broth and tomato sauce.

Minestrone

3 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 cups chopped celery
5 carrots, sliced
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
4 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup red wine (optional)
1 cup canned kidney beans, drained
1 (15 oz) can green beans
2 cups baby spinach, rinsed
3 zucchinis, quartered and sliced
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup dry seashell pasta

In a large stock pot, over medium-low heat, heat olive oil and saute garlic for 2 - 3 minutes. Add onion and saute for 4 to 5 minutes. Add celery and carrots, saute for 1 to 2 minutes. (You can also do this in your crockpot. Turn it to high with the oil in. Add the garlic. Let that cook while you are cutting your onion. Add the onion. Let that cook while you are chopping your celery and carrots. Add to crockpot and give a good stir. Allow to cook in crockpot for 10-15 minutes or until the veggies appear to cook a bit.)

Add chicken broth, water and tomato sauce, bring to a boil, stirring frequently (Or cook in crock pot on high for an hour). If desired, add red wine at this point. Reduce heat to low and add kidney beans, green beans, spinach, zucchini, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, the longer the better. (Turn crock pot to low, cook for at least 2 to 3 hours).

***If you are preparing this for the freezer. Transfer to freezer containers at this point and freeze***

When ready to eat. Cook seashell pasta according to package directions. Put 2 Tbsp pasta shells in the bottom of each bowl. Ladle soup over the pasta. Top with Parmesan if desired.

Makes 8 LARGE servings. Each serving provides:
195 calories
5.9 g fat
30.3 g carbohydrate
7.4 g fiber
6.2 g protein

Cheesy Potatoes

I'm pretty sure everyone has some version of this recipe. I've seen it with a variety of toppings, like corn flakes, potato chips or French fried onions. Most recipes are baked casseroles. I remember the first time I had a recipe like this. I was in middle school and we went to a family from church's house for New Years brunch. Mrs. Potts served this as a casserole with crushed corn flakes on top.

Do you have a special way to make cheesy potatoes?

Since that time, my mom found a similar recipe and used it for many years. She passed it on to me when she created a family cookbook for me around the time I graduated college. Since then, I have made a few changes to the recipe, which hopefully you enjoy.

I'm not going to post my mom's recipe on here but lets just say it calls for a full stick of butter, full fat cheese and full fat sour cream. I figured out the nutrition facts for it and each 1/2 cup serving provided:

215 calories
13.9 g fat
17.6 g carbohydrate
2.1 g fiber
5.5 g protein

Over the years, I have made a few changes to the recipe. In fact, now I was requested to bring this to my parents for Christmas. First big change is that I like to make it in the crock pot. I figure a lot of times this dish is used for special occasions when there is likely to be a lot of other pans going in and out of the oven. If I can decrease the oven traffic by one dish, then why not?

I also like to use the O'Brien potatoes which have diced onions and peppers in them for a little extra flavor. I also omit MOST of the butter, only using about a teaspoon. Lastly I use reduced fat (not fat free) versions of cheddar cheese and sour cream to further decrease the fat content.

Cheesy Potatoes - BETTER

1 tsp butter
1 medium onion, diced
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup reduced fat sour cream
2 cups reduced fat cheddar cheese
2 bags O'Brien hash brown potatoes

Microwave butter and onion in microwave safe dish until onions are translucent.

Combine microwaved onions, cream of chicken soup, sour cream and cheddar cheese in a large bowl. Stir until well combined. Add in both bags of hash browns and stir until well combined.

Pour mixture into large crock pot. Cook on high for 1 hour. Turn to low and cook for addition 2-3 hours, stirring mixture occasionally to prevent browning around the edges.

Makes 18 servings. Each 1/2 cup serving provides:
134 calories
4.7 g fat
17.8 g carbohydrate
2.1 g fiber
5.3 g protein