Homemade Chicken and Vegetable Broth

It has been weird to not have any animals here. I had no idea how much food scraps the dog and chickens ate back home! I started saving all of my vegetable cuttings, like the ends of carrots, brocolli stems, celery base, etc... in freezer bags in the freezer and just kept adding to it for about a month with the plan to make vegetable broth with it. Then I got a chicken back from Sea Breeze Farms (which is basically just what is left of a chicken once it's breasts, thighs and legs have been cut out to sell separately), so I decided to throw that in too. I didn't have any seasonings so I didn't add any, but I would have at least put in Bay Leaves if I did it again. But it tastes great.... smell's DELICOUS! And it was so nice to make use out of vegetable scraps that would have otherwise been thrown away.

I filled this pot about half full of water, brought it to a boil and threw all the vegi scraps and chicken back in. I turned the temp to low and cooked it for about 6 hours. (I read you want to do it for at least 4). 

Then I placed a strainer over a large stainless steel bowl and scooped it all out and poured into that, straining all the solids.

It has nice deep color, full of all the nutrients from many vegetables and the chicken, smells incredible and tastes delicious... I added some salt after- which maybe I would add during the cooking process next time- I had no idea how much they must salt the store bought broth to get it to taste as salty as it does. This was not salty at all... so salt to your preferred taste.

I would have loved to pour this into Mason canning jars to store, but I can't find a store here that sells them, so I just poured it back into the big pot and put it in the fridge. I will use as much as I can in my cooking in the next three days and then freeze the rest. I read that it will keep in the fridge for 5-7 days and can be in the freezer about 3 months or longer. A great idea I came accross was to let it cool and then pour it into ice cube trays to freeze that way, then once frozen you could put them in a bag and easilly just grab a few for a recipe...

Super easy, smell was heaven, tastes delicious and perfect for the season... even if we are in Miami...