A few weeks back I promised I would post the recipe for chicken stock made from stockpiles of frozen chicken carcasses I accumulate from making roast chicken.
Some of you might ask why one would bother making stock from scratch, when it can be easily purchased in cans, tetra packs, concentrated in small bottles, powdered and in gummy little cubes. Truth be told, I keep stock in all of its various incarnations because it come in really handy. I swear, 8 out of 9 recipes call for stock. But I always prefer my homemade one for these reasons:
•It is devoid of creepy additives like MSG and HVP (hydrolyzed vegetable protein for which in Canada there is a currently salmonella advisory. Fun!).
•The taste, when done right, is superior to store-bought.
•I know what kind of or grade of chicken I used.
•From an ecological perspective, it just makes sense to me to try to make as many meals as possible and find as many uses as possible for something that a) died so I could eat it b) probably didn’t have a great life c) required an insane amount of the earth’s resources to be created, brought to maturity, slaughtered, packaged, transported, merchandised, advertised and then stored in my fridge and later cooked.
•It fills your house with aromas that to most people* conjure up feelings of happiness, nurturing, and well-being. My grandmother’s house smelled like that and you just can’t beat that.
*For some people, like those who are or were at some point vegetarian, these aromas conjure up images of slaughtered, mistreated animals being boiled in a vat of onions. If you live with this kind of person, make stock when they are not home or when you can open the windows.
So here is the recipe. You may now free your carcasses from the depth of your freezer. It is not a standard recipe and I have not tested it because it comes from my head and it changes every time. So if you make it and don’t like it, I apologize. If it is too diluted, try it again and reduce the amount of water.
Stock Recipe (Makes about 4 to 6 cups of stock)
2 or 3 chicken carcasses** with some meat left on the bone.
Cold water (2 cups per carcass)
1 large onion
3 large carrots (peeled or scrubbed clean)
3 celery branches
3 cloves of garlic
Salt
Pepper
•Place the chicken carcasses in a large pot
•Cover with 2 cups cold water per carcass. There should be enough water to barely cover the carcasses; put burner on medium high
•Cut all the vegetables into large chunks and throw into the water.
•Remove skins from garlic cloves and then gently squish the cloves with the side of your knife; pitch the garlic into the water.
•Add 2 teaspoons salt, pinch of pepper (you can add salt throughout the process too if you don’t think it’s enough).
•When the water is boiling, reduce to simmer and cover the pot.
•Simmer for 2 hours.
You’ll know your stock is done when the colour is nice and gold and it tastes chicken-y. One it’s done, remove from heat and strain as follows:
•Place a strainer over a large enough food storage container, pot or bowl to hold all the stock you made.
•Using tongs, retrieve all the bones, meat bits and vegetables from the pot and place in strainer. Dump contents of strainer into the garbage when full (this is the last stop for this chicken, I’m afraid). Pour rest of stock through the strainer.
•Use immediately, or cool at room temperature if storing for later use.
Fancypants 1: I once read a recipe for stock from Matha Stewart that used actual 2 whole chickens instead. I guess you could do that, but then you are using up more of the world’s chicken and resources and not putting into effect my whole stretch it out theory, but hey, I bet it’s really tasty.
Fancypants 2: You can also get creative with your vegetables and use odd and ends up: zucchini, green beans, red peppers, asparagus stalks, squash, potatoes, broccoli. In fact, I keep a freezer bag full of vegetable scraps that I can just toss into my stock.
Hot Stock Tips (haha! Get it? Hot stock tips, as in stocks sold in the stock market?)
•My mom used to make a big deal out of the fact that my grandmother didn’t skim the fat off her stock. So what? It tastes better that way. But if you are concerned about your fat intake, then wait until the stock is completely cool, refrigerate it for several hours and then skim the fat of the top.
•I freeze stock in 2-cup portions in little freezer bags that zip close.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Blogging? Check the Time Zone
OK--last night I realized that when I started this blog, I didn`'t specify what time zone I was in. To my horror, I think I was in GMT -8 or something, and it therefore looks like I've been posting to this blog during business hours or in the middle of the night. Not the case. Anyway, I fixed it and now you'll see that it is 9:35 on Saturday night.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Master the Art of Dealing With a Few Extra Pounds
It’s uncanny how a few extra pounds can drastically alter your mood and your perception of yourself and your life. No matter what weight you were before, a few extra pounds can make you feel a gamut of annoying things, like unattractive, sad, unorganized, or like an all-around loser.
Well, you aren’t any of those things (or if you truly feel that you are, chances are you were before you gained a few pounds. No offense—extra weight sometimes exacerbates an existing crisis of confidence). You are just a few pounds heavier. No harm done. You can either live with and celebrate the extra pounds, or lose them. Here’s some advice on how to do both gracefully.
ACCEPT THE EXTRA POUNDS
Who says that just because you gained a bit of weight you have to lose it? You can in fact just keep it. Make peace with it. Or deal with it later. Remember that you are a free agent in the matter. You can make a choice to not worry about it. If you do, take my advice.
Go up a size or two—We usually look and feel bad with extra weight because our clothes don’t fit right. Nobody can feel good with muffin top going on, it’s impossible. If you choose to live with the extra pounds, invest in some clothes that fit better. You can look fabulous at any size in clothes that fit right. A couple of pairs of pants and a new shirt or two will make a big difference to how you look and feel.
Discover shapewear—A little shapewear also goes a long way. It helps hold you in a little and creates a nice, smooth surface for your clothes to hang beautifully on. You’ll look curvy in all the right places, and feel really put together. In fact, before you go out and buy new clothes, buy some shapewear: the clothes you thought didn’t fit you anymore might look just fine. And it’s not your granny’s girdle anymore. Shapewear comes in lots of great colours and patterns, is light and super comfortable. Many trendy clothing chains carry their own brands, and you can always find it in lingerie stores. There’s shapewear for virtually every curvy spot on your body, from tummies to thighs.
Accessorize—Things like chunky necklaces, bold earrings, rings, bracelets and structured handbags all add pizzazz an outfit and put the focus on your lovely face or hands, taking it away from spots you feel sensitive about.
CHOOSE TO LOOSE
If you’d like to lose the extra pounds, take my advice and you’ll see results quickly. But first, get into the right frame of mind:
Rule #1: To lose a few pounds, you need to change what you eat or increase your physical activity, or ideally both. It’s that simple. Change the food; move more.
Rule #2: If you gained a few pounds (barring some health problem) you may have added something (or several things) to your diet that caused you to gain weight. So don’t think of this as going on a “diet.” You’re just going back to how things used to be, in a sense. And you were just fine then, weren’t you?
Rule #3: Changing what you eat is like slashing a budget. It means changing some comfortable habits. This may suck at first, but eventually, new habits replace old and feel just fine.
OK. Now try this.
Cut out or reduce:
•Carbohydrates—remove or greatly reduce them from lunch, dinner and snacks. Make lunch and dinner protein/vegetable combos (meat, poultry or fish with a side of vegetables or salad; salad with tuna, and cheese, lentil soup, for example). Snacks can be nuts, yogurt, cheese, vegetables with hummus, fruit.
•Beverages—you should never have these. They serve no purpose. Drink water. Juices, sodas, “vitamin water;” ice tea…just forget about them, you don’t need them. Not even unsweetened orange juice for breakfast. It does nothing for you. It’s pure sugar as far as your body is concerned. Milk? Forget about it. You can get calcium from cheese, yogurt, broccoli, almonds and supplements if need be. Don’t OD on diet or sugar-free drinks in exchange because they are full of chemicals and also they mess with your body’s natural ability to feel “full.” Use these as once in a while treats though.
•Cheese—Limit your intake of this delicious, salty fat. That said, a sprinkle of parmesan, a handful of shredded low-fat mozzarella or some feta can really make a salad go from ho-hum to yummy.
•Alcohol—sometimes out of the blue I start having a glass of wine with dinner with some regularity. No big deal but when I’m looking to shave a few pounds, I lose the wine. It’s just empty calories, after all.
Eat:
•Protein and vegetables—Your protein can be a legume, eggs, poultry, any red meat, fish, or tofu. For lunch, make a quick green salad and put a protein mixed in. At dinner, steam some veggies and serve a protein on top or on the side.
•Flavour. You can use herbs, flavoured oils, garlic, flavoured sea salts, spices on most proteins or in salad dressings to ramp up the flavour volume.
•Breakfast: Splurge and have carbs with breakfast (bread, oatmeal, cereal). But make sure there is protein in your breakfast (egg, or peanut butter; milk alone, be it cow or soy, are not enough). This will stabilize your hunger and you will not want to pig out mid-morning.
•Fruit! When your stomach is empty (generally, 1.5 hours after you’ve eaten something), that is the perfect time to have fruit. It’s a great pre-lunch and bedtime snack. Fruit is detoxifying and takes only 30 minutes to digest, so it requires little energy from your body. Avoid eating fruit with anything else or on a full stomach. This slows digestion down and will make you feel bloated (which is exactly what we are trying to avoid).
•Treats. I kid you not. Eat a treat for god’s sake at least once a day so you don’t feel deprived. Lots of snacks are available in 100-calorie packs (cookies, chocolate bars, popcorn, even soft drinks come in those little cans). 100 calories won’t make or break you. Nor will the odd chocolate bar, doughnut, or bread with dinner. Just think of these things as occasional treats (note the key word in this sentence is “odd,” as in once a week).
Check the Calories
•Read the nutrition panel—Often, when I’m debating whether or not to eat something, I check the nutritional information on the package: the calorie count, the percentage of fat, sugars and protein. This information is often surprising: some “health food store” cookies and muffins, for example, have an exceptionally high fat content and calorie count, while some dark chocolate bars (Lindt, for example) come in at less than 200 calories. Knowing exactly what I’m about to eat often changes my mind, or my choice.
•Google it—Wondering whether you should help yourself to bagel and cream cheese at an office breakfast, or add a bit of bacon to your salad, or whether you can “afford” a slice of pizza for lunch? Google it. I Googled “how many calories in a slice of bacon” just yesterday and was shocked to read the answer (286--Today, I actually changed my lunch plans thanks to that little nugget of info).
Last piece of advice: Read the part about keeping the weight. If your efforts to lose the extra pounds are making you miserable, consider simply accepting it gracefully. Nothing should make you miserable. You can always lose it later or try a more established regimen than my little made up one.
Well, you aren’t any of those things (or if you truly feel that you are, chances are you were before you gained a few pounds. No offense—extra weight sometimes exacerbates an existing crisis of confidence). You are just a few pounds heavier. No harm done. You can either live with and celebrate the extra pounds, or lose them. Here’s some advice on how to do both gracefully.
ACCEPT THE EXTRA POUNDS
Who says that just because you gained a bit of weight you have to lose it? You can in fact just keep it. Make peace with it. Or deal with it later. Remember that you are a free agent in the matter. You can make a choice to not worry about it. If you do, take my advice.
Go up a size or two—We usually look and feel bad with extra weight because our clothes don’t fit right. Nobody can feel good with muffin top going on, it’s impossible. If you choose to live with the extra pounds, invest in some clothes that fit better. You can look fabulous at any size in clothes that fit right. A couple of pairs of pants and a new shirt or two will make a big difference to how you look and feel.
Discover shapewear—A little shapewear also goes a long way. It helps hold you in a little and creates a nice, smooth surface for your clothes to hang beautifully on. You’ll look curvy in all the right places, and feel really put together. In fact, before you go out and buy new clothes, buy some shapewear: the clothes you thought didn’t fit you anymore might look just fine. And it’s not your granny’s girdle anymore. Shapewear comes in lots of great colours and patterns, is light and super comfortable. Many trendy clothing chains carry their own brands, and you can always find it in lingerie stores. There’s shapewear for virtually every curvy spot on your body, from tummies to thighs.
Accessorize—Things like chunky necklaces, bold earrings, rings, bracelets and structured handbags all add pizzazz an outfit and put the focus on your lovely face or hands, taking it away from spots you feel sensitive about.
CHOOSE TO LOOSE
If you’d like to lose the extra pounds, take my advice and you’ll see results quickly. But first, get into the right frame of mind:
Rule #1: To lose a few pounds, you need to change what you eat or increase your physical activity, or ideally both. It’s that simple. Change the food; move more.
Rule #2: If you gained a few pounds (barring some health problem) you may have added something (or several things) to your diet that caused you to gain weight. So don’t think of this as going on a “diet.” You’re just going back to how things used to be, in a sense. And you were just fine then, weren’t you?
Rule #3: Changing what you eat is like slashing a budget. It means changing some comfortable habits. This may suck at first, but eventually, new habits replace old and feel just fine.
OK. Now try this.
Cut out or reduce:
•Carbohydrates—remove or greatly reduce them from lunch, dinner and snacks. Make lunch and dinner protein/vegetable combos (meat, poultry or fish with a side of vegetables or salad; salad with tuna, and cheese, lentil soup, for example). Snacks can be nuts, yogurt, cheese, vegetables with hummus, fruit.
•Beverages—you should never have these. They serve no purpose. Drink water. Juices, sodas, “vitamin water;” ice tea…just forget about them, you don’t need them. Not even unsweetened orange juice for breakfast. It does nothing for you. It’s pure sugar as far as your body is concerned. Milk? Forget about it. You can get calcium from cheese, yogurt, broccoli, almonds and supplements if need be. Don’t OD on diet or sugar-free drinks in exchange because they are full of chemicals and also they mess with your body’s natural ability to feel “full.” Use these as once in a while treats though.
•Cheese—Limit your intake of this delicious, salty fat. That said, a sprinkle of parmesan, a handful of shredded low-fat mozzarella or some feta can really make a salad go from ho-hum to yummy.
•Alcohol—sometimes out of the blue I start having a glass of wine with dinner with some regularity. No big deal but when I’m looking to shave a few pounds, I lose the wine. It’s just empty calories, after all.
Eat:
•Protein and vegetables—Your protein can be a legume, eggs, poultry, any red meat, fish, or tofu. For lunch, make a quick green salad and put a protein mixed in. At dinner, steam some veggies and serve a protein on top or on the side.
•Flavour. You can use herbs, flavoured oils, garlic, flavoured sea salts, spices on most proteins or in salad dressings to ramp up the flavour volume.
•Breakfast: Splurge and have carbs with breakfast (bread, oatmeal, cereal). But make sure there is protein in your breakfast (egg, or peanut butter; milk alone, be it cow or soy, are not enough). This will stabilize your hunger and you will not want to pig out mid-morning.
•Fruit! When your stomach is empty (generally, 1.5 hours after you’ve eaten something), that is the perfect time to have fruit. It’s a great pre-lunch and bedtime snack. Fruit is detoxifying and takes only 30 minutes to digest, so it requires little energy from your body. Avoid eating fruit with anything else or on a full stomach. This slows digestion down and will make you feel bloated (which is exactly what we are trying to avoid).
•Treats. I kid you not. Eat a treat for god’s sake at least once a day so you don’t feel deprived. Lots of snacks are available in 100-calorie packs (cookies, chocolate bars, popcorn, even soft drinks come in those little cans). 100 calories won’t make or break you. Nor will the odd chocolate bar, doughnut, or bread with dinner. Just think of these things as occasional treats (note the key word in this sentence is “odd,” as in once a week).
Check the Calories
•Read the nutrition panel—Often, when I’m debating whether or not to eat something, I check the nutritional information on the package: the calorie count, the percentage of fat, sugars and protein. This information is often surprising: some “health food store” cookies and muffins, for example, have an exceptionally high fat content and calorie count, while some dark chocolate bars (Lindt, for example) come in at less than 200 calories. Knowing exactly what I’m about to eat often changes my mind, or my choice.
•Google it—Wondering whether you should help yourself to bagel and cream cheese at an office breakfast, or add a bit of bacon to your salad, or whether you can “afford” a slice of pizza for lunch? Google it. I Googled “how many calories in a slice of bacon” just yesterday and was shocked to read the answer (286--Today, I actually changed my lunch plans thanks to that little nugget of info).
Last piece of advice: Read the part about keeping the weight. If your efforts to lose the extra pounds are making you miserable, consider simply accepting it gracefully. Nothing should make you miserable. You can always lose it later or try a more established regimen than my little made up one.
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