Friday, August 22, 2008 Using all of the chicken. - Posted in Preserves Abbey wanted chicken pie for her birthday tea. We don;t eat many pies as it's not a meal James can eat - so pie in this house is a treat. Put one large chicken in a pot. (James has really shared his heart of not wanting to eat battery hens - I listened & will from now on only buy free range organic chooks  - it is sad when you think of how chickens are raised for our tables. James' chickens are his pets & we only collect the eggs - never for the table.) Add 2 chopped onion 2 - 3 carrots - whole not peeled - tops n all 3-4 stalks celery - including leaves. Some thyme, sage, parsley or any herbs that go with chicken. 2 bay leaves plenty of pepper & some salt. Cover with boiled water Let this all boil away for a few hours. Once chook cooked - take her out. And begin I have one bowl for cats - on this goes all skin & fatty bits & brown meat - Mother cats need a bit of fat. A paper towel for bones A plate for white meat. In an ideal world if you had time you would put back the bones into the juice & veges & cook for a further 30 minutes. I didn't have that time yesterday - so bones just went in bin. Then I strain th juice & veges - feel around for any stray bones. The veges then go to the chooks - or into your compost pile. You are left with chicken stock. ( I forgot to take a photo) - You let this settle & the fat will rise to the top just scoop this off & either use for animal food - eg in dog biscuits or in their boil up) I put mine in small containers in freezer - some people freeze then into ice cubes. It is way nicer than shop brought stock & not hard to make. Leave some stock to use for following recipes.- Chicken soup & chicken pie. • Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link Monday, April 28, 2008 Feijoa ginger Lime Jam Posted in Preserves My quilting friend has two large feijoa trees - and for the kids to make some pocket money they bag them & sell the surplus - so I got some at $2.00 per kg wacko!! - Annette even delivered them to my door - what an awesome mum she is encouraging her kids in their pocket money venture. I LOVE Feijoas - and our tree has some on that we should be able to eat this autumn yippie...... Feijoa Jam 2 kg Feijoas 100g ginger peeled & grated. 2 cups water 3 limes - zest & juice. 2kg sugar. Roughly chop feijoas - just top n tail them - don't worry about peeling - so this recipe is a beauty for the small wind fallen ones. - Cook them with water & ginger until soft. (about 45 minutes) Blend with hand blender, add lime zest, juice & sugar. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Watch that jam doesn't stick as it thickens. Pour into clean jars. • Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link