canny granny

continued from Chicken Soup part one
The chicken carcasses simmered overnight and most of today in my slow cooker. After pouring everything into a large bowl, I cooled it down on the kitchen bench and then popped the bowl into the frig for an hour. Long enough for the fat to form a crust on the top, which makes it easier to skim off.

I then transferred the liquid into plastic containers, one for the freezer and one for tonight’s chicken soup. (I always grab a cup to pour over my cat’s dried pellets before I start to season the stock.)

Soup

• one container of stock
• 2-3 cups of water
• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 3-5 garlic cloves
• 2 carrots, chopped
• small pkt of instant noodles (throw away the little flavour sachet)
• the cooked chicken meat from the stock-making process
• Salt and pepper
• parsley, finely chopped

• Put the vegetables into a soup pot, pour 2 cups of water over them and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.
• Pour in the chicken stock and the bits of cooked chicken, add the noodles.
• Season with salt and pepper. Let it simmer another 10 minutes, adding more water if necessary.
• Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving

Total cost to me $4.20

It’s easy enough to save the bones from your chicken, but I get lazy and buy a couple of chicken carcasses. I bought 3 this morning for $2 from the market.

At the moment they’re in my slow cooker as I can’t be bothered setting up a soup pot on the stove and checking on it for the next 4 hours. By this time tomorrow I will have a cooker full of chicken stock waiting for me.

Then I will strain out the bones as I pour the stock into a large bowl and shove it in the frig for a few hours. Easier to skim off the fat that way.

I will finish this recipe tomorrow when the stock is ready.

Simple, and spreads the tuna over 2 meals. The cat gets a little treat too.

I use a small can of tuna, a packet of Dutch Curry and Rice soup mix, a couple of cups of uncooked rice and some water.

If you like oil, keep the oil in. I drain off the oil and pour it over my cat’s dried food pellets. He gets 2 meals from the oil that’s in a small can and in this way both of us get a tuna treat.

* Throw the can of tuna into a casserole dish

* Add the contents of the soup packet

* Add 2 cups of uncooked rice

* Cover with water and stir all the ingredients through each other

* Cook in a medium oven for 20 -25 mins.

After you’ve eaten a meal of this there is enough left over to have as a cold dish the next day, or to use as spread for 2 thick sandwiches. (Makes a change from vegemite).

It’s basically a light curry-flavoured, tuna-flavoured rice dish with some tuna chunks in it. I would suggest serving it with a tomato but the drought has made the tomatoes too pricey for me at the moment.

About $6