Homemade Chicken Stock

I enjoy watching Ina Garten on Barefoot Contessa. I don't get recipes from her necessarily, I just enjoy watching her cook. It seems so effortless and do delicious. Ina always uses homemade chicken stock in her recipes and makes comments about the taste and quality being superior to store bought. That got me thinking...

I could make my own chicken stock. Why not? I've started roasting whole chickens (which is a new favorite meal for us) so I can use the extra bones and parts to make the stock. It was really an experiment, and sure looked like some weird experiment. Here is the pot in the beginning.

Here it is after simmering for 4 hours.

As a bonus it smelled wonderful and made the whole house smell like Thanksgiving. I took a nap while it was cooking and dreamt that it was Thanksgiving day.

I also wanted to make my own stock so I could know for sure what the ingredients are. This is an ingredient list from a can of stock:

chicken broth (water, chicken, stock), hydrolyzed soy and corn protein, salt, monosodium glutamate, onion powder, chicken fat, vegetable juice concentrate (carrot, celery, onion) disodium insosinate, and disodium guanylate. 

Here's my ingredient list:

12 cups water, bones/parts from 2 chickens, onion halved, carrots, 3 garlic cloves, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, basil, salt, pepper. 

There's something to be said for homemade anything. I feel better putting things into my body when I know exactly what's in the food. 

Now, I don't know if I'll always make my own stock. I only got 5 1/2 cups of stock at the end. But maybe after tasting the dishes using this stock I'll change my mind. I can't wait to taste it.