Homemade Chicken Stock

You can always use canned stock or broth for your soup but homemade stock really does add a wonderful flavor. There are two types of stock, commonly called "light" or "dark". For a "light" stock being lighter in color make the stock using the meat of a chicken but not the bones. For a "dark" stock, which I prefer, use a leftover cooked roast  chicken carcass, making sure to include the skin and especially the wing and leg bones. You can also use the giblets if you want to mess with that nasty stuff!

Ingredients:

leftover chicken carcass, (you can make stock from a raw carcass, but I prefer to use an already roasted bird.) OR chicken meat if making a light stock.

1 onion, chopped
2-3 celery ribs with leaves
2 carrots, cut into chunks
2-3 sprigs of fresh parsley
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 garlic clove or a couple dashes of garlic powder
6-8 cups of water

Place all the ingredients into a dutch oven, cover and simmer 2-3 hours. Remove the meat and bones and pour the stock through a strainer.  You can then either use your stock right then to make your soup or you may refrigerate it for up to 3 days or freeze in ice cube trays or serving size freezer containers.  Yield: 6-7 cups.

*I prefer to refrigerate my stock overnight prior to use, the fat will rise to the top and can be scraped off before using the stock. The stock will appear gelatinous but will turn back to liquid upon heating.