Ruth - I do that with the bones/carcass too! I make two kinds of stock depending on what I am making with the chicken meat. I'm ok with the boiled meat if I'm using it an dish with a strongly flavored sauce like a chicken mole. But usually I roast the chicken, save the carcass adn the pan drippings and make stock with it. Its something I used to do all the time at the restaurant because we roasted chicken for salads. I save my peelings and bits of veggies in the freezer - but usually I just put in whole onions, carrots, garlic, and celery which we have sitting around in the fridge. These days we make it in the slow cooker instead of on the stove too. So much easier.

Even a small container of cream goes bad in our house since we don't drink coffee. I'm finding that its easier this time around to give up the dairy (although I've not gone so far to refuse it when I'm not the one preparing the food - folks have a hard enough time with that low carb thing...lol)

Did you figure out what to make for the harvest holiday? (I can never remember how to say/spell that one but I remember our friends building the structure outside every year.) . I ahve a bunch of crockpot ideas but no real recipes: I like chicken stewed with artichokes and sundried tomatos, or a chicken/turkey/beef chili this time of year is great too. The ground meat can be made into small meatballs and cooked in a spanish or mexican tomato sauce. The recipe I have calls for mixing grated zuchini and mexican spices into the meat which makes for a moist meatball.