Giraffe Stock.....tastes like Chicken

Now that I have your attention.......I didn't really make giraffe stock, that is just silly. I don't have a pot big enough to boil one of those! Ina always talks about how easy it is to make your own stock and I have seen different people do it different ways. I saw Ina do it with 2 or 3 chickens, veggies and water. I have seen others do it with chicken carcasses. I always like to march to the beat of my own drummer, so I had poached up 6 huge chicken breasts and then pulled the meat off to use for a couple different meals-one of which includes the stock which I am making here. I put the six breast bones with some meat and some of the skin in my large stock pot, threw in 2 onions that I just sliced in half, a head of garlic that I sliced in half, two carrots that I washed but didn't peel and chunked it up in 2 inch pieces and 2 stalks of celery that I washed and also chunked up like the carrots. I added 10 cups of water and simmered on the stove for a couple hours. I let it sit to cool and then poured it through a fine mesh strainer that I had lined with cheesecloth (I took the veggies out before this step). I let it cool down to room temp and covered and put in the fridge. The next day I went to scoop the fat off the top, but there wasn't that much there since I didn't boil whole chicken and some of the fat rendered off when poaching. I ended up with about 8-1/2 cups of stock after all was said and done and put it into 4 freezer containers and put it in the freezer. I don't know that I'm convinced it is better than the boxed kind, but it did taste pretty good. I didn't add salt because I had added a little to the poaching water and figured I would add some fresh to the recipes I used the stock for.

We received news today that my brother's Dad is in the hospital and they don't expect him to make it through the day. My Mom was married before and yada, yada, yada-we have different fathers. I feel bad for him; they were never very close and had been making strides in the last few years to fix that. If you think about it or have a chance, please say a little prayer for Hans-he is having a rough year-it is his son that just went to Kuwait in December.

Off for the weekend-think I may tackle taxes....then drink vast quantities of wine!