Chicken Stock

It is the perfect time of year for soup! Stock is the flavor starting point for many soups, and making your own is actually very very easy. Having chicken/beef/vegetable stock on hand will make any soup taste like its been boiling away all day. Taking a little bit of time to make this ahead will save tons of time later. To make this a beef stock use the same amount of bone in beef, or to make it vegetable stock double the amount of all vegetables. Stock freezes very well!

-1, 4-5 pound whole chicken (all insides removed) some skin removed. Removing some skin helps to reduce the amount of grease your left over with at the end.

-3 stalks celery

-1 head garlic cut in half

-2 dried bay leaves

-1 lemon cut in half

-3 large carrots

-1 large onion cut into quarters

-1 sprig rosemary

-2 tsp salt (add more or less depending on what you prefer)

-1 Tbs ground pepper

-Enough water to cover the bird and to come up to the top of the pasta pot

Boil all ingredients together for 45 minutes; once slightly cooled remove chicken very carefully and place in a bowl. You can then take the chicken meat and pull it off the bone and use for recipes all throughout the week, or you can even freeze the meat to use at a later time. Strain the stock to remove the vegetables, and ladle into freezer safe containers or freezer bags. I like to portion it into 2 cup servings. When you want to use the stock pull it out and place in a bowl of warm water to help thaw.