Bonding with Dad

This Father's Day I was not able to celebrate with my Dad, however, I had the honor to celebrate my Father in Law. He is one of the smartest men I know. He seems to know everything about anything! His knowledge amazes me. What also amazes me is the way he sacrificially gives up his time to help us and teach us the skills we need. And has a happy heart doing it. What better way to bond and celebrate everything he does for us than to learn how to kill and dress three chickens together! Nothing says love like chopping and plucking chickens in 90 degree weather.

Now I don't have any pictures of the day to show you, nor do I think you want to see pictures from Sunday. However, I do want to share one particular way I took advantage of fresh chicken bones, necks and all that other gross stuff you really don't want to eat.

Homemade Chicken Stock

Let me encourage you this was so easy and I am thrilled, this will be preserved and not in my freezer. I save vegetable scraps in a ziplock bag in my freezer until I have enough to make stock so I was ready to roll when they told us we were going be getting some fresh chicken.

In a nutshell, find a stock recipe. It's fairly simple, chicken bones and/or meat, celery, carrots, onions, peppercorns, 2 bay leaves and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours. Strain and let chill over night. Skim the fat from the top and discard. Bring stock back to a boil and follow basic canning procedure - you know sterilize jars, keep hot, boil lids and rings. Using your pressure cooker, process jars at 10 pounds for 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts. Let cool, wipe down jars and store away for that perfect soup day.....or until your dad comes over and you are cooking for him.