2012!!!

I'm baaaaaack! The craziness of the holiday season is FINALLY over, so I will hopefully start getting back on track with a lot of the things that fell by the wayside in October through December. This post is going to help with a couple of those things. 1) It's a post on my blog for the first time in close to forever. 2) It's going to help me plan out my meals to make sure I don't spend unnecessary money and calories on eating out.

I decided to go majorly cliche with my 2012 resolutions. My friends took me on my very first hike a few weeks ago and I loved it! I decided one of my resolutions this year would be to do one hike per month.



Makapu'u Lighthouse Hike 12/26/11

 I am also NOT going to eat any fast food whatsoever this entire year. I will also be going to the gym 4-5 days per week. That one should be easy enough because I did that the majority of 2011 besides my two weeks of pneumonia and when I got kidney stones. Let's hope no ailments prevent me this year!

Jon and I have also committed to planning out and cooking our meals ahead of time. I am going to continue cooking and eating foods I love, just cut down on portions and increase our veggies intake.

So, I decided I would make my first pot of homemade chicken stock. I know you're probably sick of me declaring my love for Costco's rotisserie chickens, but I can't help it. For $5, you get 3 lbs worth of chicken, which can be turned into so many meals. This time, I picked up 2 of those bad larry's. I used the drippings to make homemade gravy. I have the chicken meat saved for a soup, some chicken soft tacos and chicken salad for sandwiches. Then I took the carcasses (worst word ever by the way) and am doctoring up some chicken stock. That's $10 worth of awesomeness if you ask me.

So here's what I used to make the homemade chicken stock. It's really one of those "a little bit of this, a little bit of that" recipes so don't be scare to increase or decrease with your favorite flavors.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and wish you all a happy and healthy 2012!

Chicken stock

2 3 lb chicken carcasses
7-8 carrots, not peeled, cut into large chunks
5-6 celery, cut into large chunks, including leaves
1 1/2 large onion, cut into large chunks
1 head garlic, chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp whole peppercorns
2 tsp salt
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried dill weed

Fill a 16 qt stockpot with 7-8 quarts of water. Add all ingredients, cover and bring to boil. Once boiling, uncover, reduce heat to medium and allow to simmer for 3-4 hours. Strain the stock and chill overnight in refrigerator. Remove surface fat. Use immediately or freeze for up to 3 months.