Lemon Chicken and Vegetables

Chicken is by far, my favorite 'meat.' I often buy whole chickens to roast, then I remove all the meat, returning the skin and bones to the roasting pan. Add 3-4 quarts of fresh, cold water, 1/4c white vinegar, celery tops, a couple chopped carrots and simmer on very low for 4 hours. You can also add garlic and onion if you want, but NOT if any of the broth will go to your dogs. Strain it several times until all solids are removed, then strain one last time through an old dishtowel or cheesecloth. This bone broth is full of collagen which will be apparent after you chill it. The best and healthiest bone broths are the ones that are very jelled. Scrape off the rendered fat and use it for cooking or melt a couple tablespoons and drizzle it over your dogs food. They'll love it!

Your body stops producing collagen at about age 25, so after that, it's important to supplement it however you can. Homemade bone broth is my favorite way to do this. I've also bought a dozen or more chicken legs to roast and I think those and thighs make the best bone broth of all. This time, when I shopped, I bought a big bag of frozen skinless-boneless thighs. These are also excellent for when you just want things quicker and easier.

I thawed these then cut the fat off, added a little water, EVOO and vegetables, Rosemary Seasoning then roasted the whole pan for a couple hours varying the temperature to get the degree of browning I wanted.

I only used 2/3 of a fresh lemon, but it was actually too much. I'd recommend using lemon zest and the juice from one lemon, not whole slices of lemon.

• 24oz. frozen skinless-boneless chicken thighs
• 8oz. mushrooms, washed and quartered
• 3 big carrots - rough chopped
• 3-4 stalks of celery
• lemon zest and juice

I had a bowl right out of the oven when I quickly realized. . .too much lemon can be a bad thing! It was really bitter!

Tonight, I cubed 1 med.-lg. potato, simmered it until crisp tender, then removed all but 1/4c of the starchy water, added EVOO, 4oz. of the chicken all chopped up, 3 cloves of chopped garlic, 1/4 chopped red pepper, a small onion, and about 1t chicken Better Than Bouillon. At the end I also added some of the mushrooms, celery and carrot from the original recipe. It was excellent and balanced out the lemon.

Just because you've made something that didn't turn out well, don't pitch it! Play around with it, adding other ingredients, until you get it right.

Remember, cooking is Art. . .not an exact Science. . .🙃. . .Lin