I am making my first home made batch of chicken stock- I am looking for ideas of what to do with it. so... could ya share?

OMG. Girl, there is so much you can do with it! Egg drop soup , gravy, broccoli cheese soup , pot pies, chowders, you name it!

cauliflower/leek soup!!!

cook cauli and leek in a pan with some oil till soft
add broth and cook down with two bay leaves (you might have to add more broth or a bit of water)
spice with white or black pepper to taste

run soup through food processor, add back to pan
add 1/2 cream
cook through

it keeps for a week.
I don't have exact measurements, I kind of eyeball everything

When I eat it, I add a bit of hot sauce and some shredded cheese on the top. MMmmmm

How do you make chicken stock?

I know I could look it up, but I wonder how you make it...

(the editorial "you")

Here's my recipe/method for chicken stock:
http://vesnavuynovich.blogspot.com/...cken-stock.html

Coincidentally, I posted a recipe for Egg Drop Soup about a week before Cleo did.
http://vesnavuynovich.blogspot.com/...-drop-soup.html

See, that's sorta what I wondered. I knew that restaurants cooked a whole chicken, but I didn't want to do thatjust for stock. But I do end up with a lot of waste chicken that I hate to throw away, and I wasn't sure it would make good stock.

Thanks for the link!

What I did was this:
I baked some chicken thighs and my dd and I ate them for dinner and lunch over a few days. I and my dd saved the bones in a baggie. Basically, I was experimenting with the "waste" from meals. (The tops one cuts off from celery sticks, the top from the carrots when one cuts carrots down to sticks, the root end of the onion, the bones from chicken...). I put all these leftovers in a pot, covered with water, added a bit of sea salt, and put a lid on the pot and cooked the stock for around 2-3 hours. I strained out the veggies and bones, (which I gave to my dogs, sans bones but left the cartilage), and put the stock in cup size containers and froze it for future use. I am so excited you all were able to give me some ideas... I love the thick, creamy soups and plan on making some beef stock today in the same fashion as the chicken stock. I have some short ribs in the fridge just calling to become stock! Any ideas for beef stock

Oh, and I forgot my thanks to all of you for your suggestions... I will definitely try them!

I save the parts of a chicken that don't get eaten -- necks raw, backs or whatever cooked, and put them in the freezer until I have enough to make stock. I am very careful to include no liver -- it strongly alters the taste -- but other innards are okay.

Carrot tops work, but I avoid carrots not only because they are carby they give an unpleasant (to me) sweet taste to the stock. I generally use celery, some onion, parsley stems, and whatever veggie scraps, avoiding cruciferous veggies as the taste is too strong. Some of the lettuces work well, but if you use spinach it should be added at the end because if cooked for long periods it tends to give a "grassy" taste. I also have a veggie scrap bag in the freezer. I'm basically getting the stock nearly free since I would throw out or compost the ingredients.

I roast a chicken and carve it up. I throw all the bones with any bits of chicken stuck to it as well as some other parts like the necks (btw turkey neck soup is awesome) and some veggies until its all yummy and then I deglaze the roasting pan with some dry white wine. Then I dump it all in a good pot and I boil it all and add some more greens and herbs to it and then cook the heck out of it skimming any foamy stuff off as it cooks and gets a really intense flavor and then I strain it and use/freeze.

I do the same with beef stock. I use beef shanks and start the roasting etc. I deglaze with red wine or sometimes cognac... all depends on what I am making. You can also just deglaze with water of course.

I only make stock about once a month and only during the autumn and winder months. Its an all day project... usually I make it when I plan on making something special like my french onion soup.