Making my own chicken stock today...

I happened to have a whole chicken (which I rarely do... good grief, I must've had something special in mind when I bought it), and decided that once we used the meat I'd make chicken stock. I put chicken, onion, celery, a carrot, and some fresh herbs into a large pot, and presto! - two hours later I had chicken stock!

So, now you're wondering why on earth someone would bother to spend two hours making something you can pick up at the store for a few bucks (although if you're buying organic free-range broth you could be looking at $4-$5). And here's the thing... I looked at the label on my organic free-range broth and realized that there's a lot of salt in it (duh)... but there's also a lot of stuff I can't put my finger on. Reading this label made me wonder what was wrong with the organic chicken broth that caused them to think, "this needs more organic chicken flavor", and so to make that a second ingredient... what? Then that wasn't enough, they had to add more natural chicken flavor, and at the VERY end they put in more "organic flavor". What???


Next up, did you notice the sugar? I'll repeat myself... What???

I followed this video by Derek Allen on YouTube which was awesome... he suggests something I think is even MORE brilliant than just making your own broth... but reducing it afterward to a glace and freezing it in ice cube trays. Then, you can reconstitute your broth with 1 cup of water per ice cube! GENIUS, I say!

Turns out this is a recipe that takes some time, but is REALLY easy. I say... let the kids play and boil those chicken bones!

High fructose corn syrup...

OK, so I know it's not cleaning related exactly, but it's along the lines of reducing processed chemicals that my family comes in contact with.

Now, I've been avoiding high fructose corn syrup for a long time... but I've finally found the study that confirms my suspicions that it's bad for you... (actually a friend brought it to my attention - thanks Laura).

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

The sad thing is that it won't change unless the government stops subsidizing corn products. HFCS is actually cheaper than sugar, so if you're on a budget (there are so few of us that aren't), then healthy food has to be something you really think about and prioritize. I know that (should anyone be reading this) I am preaching to the choir, but I've been thinking a lot about food lately. School cafeteria food is on my radar for future work... and we've started doing a lot to eat organic and local over the last two years.

Preservatives in food...

I found this article online about preservatives in food... not necessary to read it unless you're interested, but it sure made me think about some of our food.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/8045/8045sci2.html

I like gardening, and I like to grow our food, we get a box each week during the spring/summer/fall from a local Community Supported Agriculture farm, and I buy organic whenever possible. But I've also taken a liking to the idea of preserving a bunch of our own food. This is new for me, but I like the strawberry jam we're still using from last year, and we recently made applesauce. I think I'll take a class on canning over the summer!

I did find this great online tutorial for making your own applesauce if you're interested...
http://www.pickyourown.org/applesauce.htm

For now... here's our applesauce from our family canning adventure a few weekends ago...