Frugal Friday – Chicken Broth / stretching chicken w/ gumbo

Today I’m joining Biblicalwomanhood for Frugal Friday. Thank’s Crystal.

Whenever I make chicken, I save the bones and make chicken broth. You can still occasionally find whole chickens for 59 cents / pound. I love to slow roast a chicken in the oven. Season, place in a pan uncovered and back at 300 degrees for at least 2 hours. It is wonderful.

Serve to your family. Right after your meal debone the chicken. To all my girlfriends who don’t cook, stop making a face and let your fingers get dirty! It will save so much money.

Then boil the bones with any extra root type veggies (carrots, garlic, celery, onions) you have that need to be used right away. I cook on med low for about an hour. Then strain out the liquid and let cool. It is great to put in an ice water bath, but I never have time for that. I put in an extra fridge, which is bad if you have a lot of other stuff in there b/c it heats up the fridge. If you have a full fridge you should prob put your bowl in a sink full of ice water so it will cool quickly.

Or you can leave hot and make gumbo. It is so easy. Take 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of veg oil. Put in your pot and heat on med high. Don’t leave the pot and keep stirring. It will take about 15 minutes at the most. Let it get dark brown. And turn on your overhead vent b/c it will smell like roux. Once it is really dark dark brown, add one cup (or more) of frozen veggies. Kroger’s sells them in a package precut. I get the Cajun blend which is celery, bell pepper and onion. They also have gumbo blend which includes okra, but I don’t like okra in my gumbo. Add two (or more) cloves of chopped up garlic. Cook for less than a minute once garlic is in b/c it will burn.

Then add in chicken broth. Before adding try to skim off the fat that settles on top. Start with two cups. Then add seasonings to your taste. I use a cajun seasoning like Tony’s. If you don’t have that, then add Tabasco, pepper, bay leaf, ground Cayenne pepper. Season just a little and let it cook. Then taste and add more if needed. Be careful not to add too much salt. If it is too thick, add more broth. And adjust seasonings. Once the liquid is a good consistancy, which is a med thick liquid – thicker than a soup and a little creamy in texture. Add your meat. You can use the leftover chicken from your roasted chicken. Serve over rice and add gumbo file.

The chicken should have cost less than $4 if on sale. You get one meal from roasted chicken and another with gumbo. The gumbo is great leftover for lunch. It reminds me of my eating out days at Landry’s Seafood. If you get your roux really dark, it is very close to the gumbo they serve.

Enjoy!

See this for my second post on stretching chicken:  Stretching chicken #2:  Chicken Spagetti, Chicken and Wild rice, Chicken Florentine.