how to raise more free-range eggs than you can possibly eat for $50 a year

first eggs from our first flock

(everything you ever wanted to know about backyard chickens but were afraid to ask)

A while back, I saw someone had posted about raising chickens and getting free-range eggs for only a couple bucks per dozen. While that is an accomplishment, we raised backyard chickens WAY cheaper than this and we're planning to do it again.

We are receiving our new batch of chicks August 9th, as I'm well enough to start raising chickens again. I thought I'd post about how we did it with our original flock and what we're doing differently this time around.

Stage 1 meatball soup

Meatballs for Soup by Helga's Lobster Stew, on Flickr

Unlike the other stage 1 recipes, I expect this one may have to be shared with my non-GAPs hubby.

This one is a bit lower-carb than I'd like, but hits the calorie mark well.

Stage 1 Chicken Soup

slow food: slow roast chicken dinner
by ebbandflo_pomomama, on Flickr

I've decided that since I have been successful at "hiding" organ meats in the broth I use to make my turkey stuffing for years, that I'd try to "hide" some liver in this soup.

Thus I begin by making chicken liver cubes before starting the soup.

vintage post: boeuf bourguignon

The point of "vintage" posts is to highlight older posts than in my monthly favorite post feature.

I don't want to ignore really kewl stuff just cause it was posted before I began blogging!

But this is REALLY vintage, in that it is from a time before blogging... before the Internet... before BBSs... before home PCs... before even electronic calculators...

It's ALMOST before me, as I was a year old when the show started, from a time when food shows were live with mistakes and all and actually intended to teach the viewer to cook. Before there were any foodies, there was Julia Child.

Stage 1 Chuck Roast

Slow-Cooker Pot Roast: 3lb Beef Chuck
Roast by I Believe I Can Fry, on Flickr

Stage 1 is pretty much broth, boiled meat and boiled vegetables.

While I don't know how long I'll need to be on stage 1, my meal plans are done a week at a time, as I need the assistance of my HHA to shop and cook. So I'm committed to at least a week.

So I have several large recipes planned for stage 1 and this 6-serving pot roast is the first.

basic good steak

2006-04-12-19-04-41zoomed by WmJR, on Flickr

Like most of you, given the high price of pastured meats, we tend to eat a lot of cheap cuts around here. Still, once in a blue moon, I splurge and get a good steak, especially if I run across a sale. To me, a really good steak is a strip steak, a club steak, a delmonico, a ribeye, a T-bone or a filet mignon. I buy one when we're relatively flush and stick it in the freezer. Then when Steve is tired or had a particularly bad day, I can spoil him a little. And spoil me too!

Having spent more than we can afford, I'm very picky about making sure it's cooked to absolute perfection.

chicken broth

chicken broth by Muffet, on Flickr

Normally, I prefer making broth after roasting a whole chicken, as I'm fond of the flavors that develop from the Maillard reaction. I'm just not crazy about boiled meat.

But a while back, one of my local farmers had a deal going on pastured chicken necks & backs if you bought 20 pounds, so I figured I'd make broth and chicken meat.

Twenty pounds is a lot more than I thought it was. So my first go-round, before I'd decided to start the GAPS protocol, was the rather standard way of making chicken broth.

vitamin A

Retinol or Vitamin A 3D space model (balls model), by YassineMrabet, on Wikimedia Commons

There is just so much confusion on this topic that as a chemist, I decided to set the record straight.

Vitamin A comes in a number of forms:

retinol

vitamin A; the normal form that is stored in the body; chemically it contains an alcohol functional group

retinal

the form actively used by the eye; chemically, a reduced form of retinol containing an aldehyde functional group

retinoic acid

acts as an important hormone-like growth factor; chemically, an oxidized form of retinol containing a carboxylic acid functional group

retinyl palmitate

the form found in animal foods; chemically, an ester function group joins retinol to palmitic acid (the most common saturated fatty acid)

alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, gamma-carotene and cryptoxanthin

the provitamin A forms found in plant foods; the thesis of this post is that these are not "real" vitamin A, though useful nutrients on their own

So first, let's take a look at the various forms of vitamin A...