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A whole chicken (the best and easiest thing you’ll make all week!)…

I love cooking a whole chicken. It’s so easy, pretty cost effective (I’ll get Trader Joe’s or Whole Food’s Organic Free Range Chicken), and it’s delicious by itself or in any dish, soup, stew, for chicken salad, etc!  So for this one, I paid $11.65 for 4.68 lbs ($2.49lb), and once it was done cooking, the bones collapsed and the meat just fell off the bone. And there was so much of it!!  It was almost double the meat I would have got from a rotisserie chicken (for $7.99), not to mention the fact that it was an organic free range chicken.  Here’s how you to do it:

  • 2 teaspoons celtic sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 large roasting chicken (with pop-up timer if possible)
  • 1 cup chopped onion (optional)

Directions:

  1. In a small bowl, combine the spices.
  2. Remove any giblets from chicken (usually nicely wrapped in a bag in the chicken) and rinse the chicken.
  3. Rub spice mixture onto the chicken.
  4. When ready to cook, put chopped onion in bottom of crock pot.
  5. Add chicken. No liquid is needed, the chicken will make it’s own juices.
  6. Cook on low 4-8 hours.
  7. Let the meat fall off the bones and enjoy!

By they way, can you tell how heavy this chicken is?  Alice was having a hard time holding it.  She’s not in crossfit…well, not yet anyway.All done, right? No, no, wait just a second.  Don’t trash them just yet!  Now you can make the super food, bone broth, with those lovely bones! Did you know….

Bone broth is one of the most nourshing things we can put in our bodies! Homemade broth is rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and other trace minerals.   The minerals in broth are easily absorbed by the body.   And, it even contains glucosamine and chondroiton – which are thought to help mitigate the deletorious effects of arthritis and joint pain.  Furthermore, homemade bone broths are often rich in gelatin.   Gelatin is an inexpensive source of supplementary protein.   Gelatin also shows promise in the fight against degenerative joint disease.  It also helps to support the connective tissue in your body and also helps the fingernails and hair to grow well and strong.  And lastly (I’m trying to keep this condense), it can also heal leaky gut, a cold, inflammatory diseases, and, get this, it can reduce cellulite!  WHAT?! Yep, I thought that might get some people’s attention. Here’s a little more information on the subject. Cate Shanahan’s book is one of my favorite books!  It’s full of great information.

To make your bone broth, once you pulled all of the meat off, put the bones back in the crock pot with about 4-6 cups of water.  Add about 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, salt, some pepper and any spices you might like and let cook for 4-24 hours. Honestly, I figured, the longer the better so let my broth slow cook for 24 hours, and well, my butternut squash ended up tasting a little too much like gravy or chicken so make sure you add enough water if you’re going to cook it that long. But, all I can think is how great this is for my body. And, you know what, my stuffy nose, is completely gone!

 

  • inaxachBrarne - Hello! Just want to say thank you for this interesting article! =) Peace, Joy.ReplyCancel

    • landriav - Hey there, thanks so much for your post and thanks for reading! πŸ™‚ReplyCancel

  • Cathrine halliburton - H Landria!
    Thank you for the ideas! I wanted to ask about the neck and giblets. Do you add them to the bones for your broth. What about the skin?
    CathrineReplyCancel

    • landriav - Hey Catherine! Long time no see! Thanks for your post. So I just toss the neck and giblets. I keep the skin on as it adds flavor and locks in moisture but take it off when we are eating the chicken. Once I get as much meat off as I can, I’ll let the bones continue to cook and maybe even add a little extra water. You also can get bones (beef) at The Cathedral Farmer’s Market too for broth. Hope you’re doing well!!ReplyCancel

  • JillP - Dumb question….do you clean out the crock before adding the bones back in for broth? Tons of “drippings” are left from cooking the chicken, and I’m not clear on whether to keep this in with the bones. Thanks!ReplyCancel

    • landriav - Hey Jill, not a dumb question at all! I actually don’t, but that might actually be a good idea. I just use a strainer before I pour the broth in a container and that seems to help.ReplyCancel

  • JillP - Good point. Thanks so much. πŸ™‚
    The chicken was great, BTW.ReplyCancel

    • landriav - Oh good! Glad y’all liked it!!ReplyCancel

  • Pam Loomis - Do you skim the fat off the broth? I’ve seen both sides of this online – to skim or not to skim??? Thanks!ReplyCancel

    • landriav - Hey Pam! Sorry for my delay but just saw this. I don’t skim the fat off as that is where a lot of the collagen and nutrients are.ReplyCancel

  • DORIS CLAPPIER - I STARTED MAKING BONE BROTH BASED ON ARTICLE I READ IN CALIF.–HAD GINGER IN WATER WITH CIDER VINEGAR. ARTICLE ALSO SAID TO KEEP USING THE BONES UNTIL THEY FALL APART–HAVEN’T DONE THIS YET BUT COOKED SOME BEEF MARROW GRASS FED BONES TWICE, AND IT WAS ALMOST AS RICH SECOND TIME, COOKING FOR ANOTHER 24 HRS.IN NEW WATER & INGREDIENTS.ReplyCancel

  • Rob - When making the bone broth… do you leave all of the chicken’s natural juice and onions, etc in the crock pot with the bones and additional water? I probably have 2 cups of the juice from cooking the whole chicken already in the crock pot. Or do I start over with only bones and water? Thanks!ReplyCancel

    • landriav - Hi Rob!
      I will usually just add water to our bones and whatever broth is leftover in the pot. It adds good flavor but don’t want to dilute it too much so maybe take some out. Hope it turns out well!ReplyCancel

  • Camy - I hope I can make this one of these days. I’m too busy to make my own broth which is why I bought Au Bon Broth. I’m surprised coz it’s really delicious. It’s the right one for me.ReplyCancel

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