Mon, Sep-24-07, 07:18
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Senior Member
Posts: 2,011
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Plan: Protein Power
Stats: 190/169/140
BF:
Progress: 42%
Location: New York
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Congrats on sticking to the budget! It can be really hard to make and stick to those kinds of changes.
Here's how I make my chicken soup (which we have every Friday night): First, I roast a chicken every Friday night, serve the roasted chicken for dinner, and save the bones. Any meat leftover from Friday night gets used for lunches later in the week.
All week long, whenever we use fresh veggies I save the peelings and cuttings in a plastic bag in the fridge. We use a lot of carrots in the soup, so I save the peelings and the ends.
Thursday nights, I put the chicken bones, leftover veggie peelings, a fresh onion or two, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar into the crock pot and fill with water, and turn on "low" overnight. The vineger helps get more flavor and nutrients out of the bones.
Friday mornings, I strain the soup and pour into glass jars (formerly containing pickles or gefilte fish, washed and saved for food storage) and put the jars in the fridge. None of the veggies or bones that were cooked in the broth have any flavor left- those go right in the trash.
A few hours later, I skim off the fat and save that in a smaller glass jar, and heat up the broth with freshly cut veggies (and save the peelings in a fresh plastic bag for next week's soup.) If I'm REALLY organized, I make the chicken broth Thursday morning and let it chill in the fridge overnight, so it's easier to skim off the fat. I save the fat to use for cooking in place of oil or margarine (we don't use butter with meat meals.)
I don't really like the taste of boiled chicken, so I find it more efficient cook and eat the chicken FIRST and then use the leftovers for soup. Sometimes I buy "chicken bones" (ie, the stuff leftover after they make chicken cutlets) and make soup with those instead of or in addition to the leftover cooked bones.
Instead of buying cream, sour cream, AND cheese, you could buy a small container of cream to use in coffee- that shouldnt' be too hard to use up in a week and only costs about $1 if you buy the store brand, not organic.
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