Slow Cooker Whole Chicken and Broth

My very least favorite part of cooking is dealing with meat. I'm not sure it will ever be easy for me to pull the gizzards out of a chicken, or if I will ever be able to pat out hamburgers or not cringe when breading fish. I still use wooden spoons and gloves to get a meat loaf put together. Go ahead and laugh, my husband laughs at me for that too. You would think that after 9 years of marriage and experimenting in the kitchen I'd already be over my meat issues, granted I am better, well a little better than I was 9 years ago. I used to bypass the meat section at all costs, and just go for frozen chicken breasts and send my husband to Sharps (local grocery store) just to get ground beef. Now, I do pass through the meat section, grab what I need and get out..that's an improvement, right. Alright I'm sure you will read more about my issues with meat in later posts now back to that chicken. Note that every time I do a chicken in the slow cooker its different than the time before so feel free to tweak it to what you have on hand.

Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

• 1 whole Chicken, thawed (be sure to pull out the bag of 'goodies' from the neck, it will ruin the whole chicken if its left in, yeah I learned that the hard way)
• Raw Carrots (whatever you have on hand, I ususally add about 10 baby carrots)
• Poultry Seasoning or Season Salt or Grill Seasoning
• Minced Garlic (optional, or about 2 tbsp)
• Salt and Pepper
• Water
• And if your adventurous you can add butter under the skin (I've only managed to do that once, and it wasn't a pleasant experience, wooden spoons and gloves did not make it any easier)

Place chicken in slow cooker, toss in carrots, garlic, sprinkle with seasoning, salt and pepper. Add enough water to cover half the chicken, turn on low and cook all day. Shred the meat for a couple meals that week. Save the bones for free broth!

Broth

Place the bones back into the slow cooker with the carrots and other juices from the chicken, add 6 to 8 more cups of water. Turn the slow cooker on low and cook all night, in the morning let it cool a little and strain out the chunks and bones. Pour it into jars or plastic containers, put lids on and let cool on the counter for a little bit, place in the fridge. If you have a grease separater use it, if not just scrape off the gelled fat from the tops after its cooled in the fridge. I fill my containers with 1 or 2 cups to make it easier to use in recipes. Then freeze them until your ready to use them.

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Making FREE Broth is so rewarding! Try it and you will see what I mean!