This post is not vegetarian-friendly.

I feel obligated to add that disclaimer because it seems that half of my friends have become passionate vegetarians or vegans over the past year or so. The other half of my friends have gone the other way and embraced a life dedicated to sourcing out the absolute tastiest meat from happy animals that are raised on spa-like farms where they are indulged with wild grass smoothies and deep-tissue massages each day of their blissful, pastured lives. Or something like that.

On any given day, my Facebook feed looks positively schizophrenic:

“Look at these cute baby lambs! Animals are our friends, not our food!”
“Look at these cute baby lambs! Is it too early to marinate them?”
“Look at these fresh vegetables from my garden! I can’t wait to eat them for dinner!”
“Look at these fresh vegetables from my garden! I can’t wait to wrap them in bacon and stuff them in a duck!”

Ironically, all of these friends are passionately against factory farming, though I don’t expect to ever see them at the same activist events. Maybe PETA needs to start a paleo chapter…

Our family is never going to be either vegan or paleo because, quite frankly, we don’t want to live in a world without butter. That doesn’t mean I’m not sympathetic to the cause though. I was vegetarian for a year or so – not so much because I love cows in any great capacity but because I was frustrated by the ridiculous amount of resources that a meat-based diet consumes.

I’m not sure what got me started – it was probably a David Suzuki challenge to regularly replace a meat-based meal with a vegetarian one. Looking back, I have to laugh at how hard that was for me! I remember finally getting the hang of it by replacing fast food burgers with fruit smoothies and salads. I felt fantastic – because daily fast food burgers? EW! It didn’t take long for me to give up meat for an entire day each week, then finally then switch to a full-blown vegetarian diet.

However, the vegetarian food phase ended the day I found out I was pregnant with River – suddenly I understood why visions of spareribs were dancing in my head – clearly I needed some protein. That night I devoured a basket of chicken wings and never looked back.

Besides, I had done the math and decided that my vegetarian diet had actually increased the amount of meat that our household was consuming! My husband dutifully ate whatever veggie masterpiece I prepared for supper, but then he would go on to top up his meal with frozen chicken fingers or frozen Jamaican beef patties or frozen burgers – all of questionable taste and quality and sodium levels. I had already realized that by adding a small amount of fresh meat to our meals, he wouldn’t need to supplement with prepackaged “food”. He would eat healthier and our overall meat intake would decrease – which was my goal in the first place.

Since then, we’ve abandoned the vegetarian diet and focused on whole foods made from scratch whenever possible.

Which is why I woke up to the heavenly scent of homemade chicken stock wafting through my house this morning. Thank you, sweet slow cooker.

I’ve been cooking up my own chicken stock for about a year now. At first, I was terrified I’d poison the family – just like I was convinced that I’d poison the family by cooking a whole chicken or by preserving fruits and vegetables.

I decided to try making stock after reading up on traditional diets and their role in dental health back when River needed fillings in literally half of her teeth. The idea of healing teeth through a traditional diet was made popular by Weston A Price, a dentist that encouraged people to consume a diet high in mineral-rich broths, high quality meats including organ meats, raw dairy and fermented foods, among other things. I couldn’t see River chowing down on chicken livers or drinking fermented cod liver oil – a simple stock seemed to have the highest chance of success.

And, of course, it was the easiest thing to make in the world. And, of course, I can’t get River to try it to save my life. No, not even in rice.

But now I’m hooked. There are a ton of different recipes but I keep it simple (ie lazy): chicken bones, an onion, some carrots and some celery. Yesterday I added the cobs of corn that we’d eaten for dinner too. I like to use the stock for soup and I’m trying to get used to drinking a warm mug of stock in the evenings, replacing my normal cup of tea (I did better in the winter – not so well through the summer).

Even though River won’t try it, I make it whenever I can. Last year I discovered that our favourite family-run chicken farm gives you a free bag of chicken bones with every purchase. Now we head out to the farm two or three times a month to buy eggs, a whole chicken, and bones.

After a year of stock success, I knew it was time to try cooking a whole chicken in the oven. For some reason, I saw a roasted chicken as some sort of milestone in homemaking – one that I was afraid to attempt. Because, you know. My fears of poisoning the family.

Yet I knew that buying a whole chicken is far cheaper than buying a couple breasts at a time. For example, at the farm we shop at, the antibiotic-free whole chicken is $3.99/lb while the antibiotic-free boneless chicken breast is $10.65/lb. Potential food poisoning or not, I wanted to give it a shot. I was just waiting for the right time.

Then one cool summer day, I saw a fresh chicken in the farm’s refrigerator. “You can do it,” it seemed to said. “I’m so tasty”, it seemed to said. Who am I to argue with a talking dead bird?

I brought it home and stuck it on my counter. There was no turning back – this sucker had cost me nearly $20. We were committed. But I wasn’t sure where to start. So I did what I always do when I’m unsure about what I’m doing: I went on Twitter, looking for reassurance.

I’m about to cook a whole chicken for the first time. I’m kind of nervous about it.

— Tamara of Daisy Days (@tea4tamara) July 10, 2014

Luckily my dad happened to see my tweet and gave me a pep talk in 140 characters or less. I ended up giving him a call and he coached me through it, even the part where I freaked out because the neck was still attached. He was right though. It was ridiculously easy and SOOO tasty!

Of course I didn’t write down a word that he said and so the next week I just searched the Internet for a recipe. For the past three or four roasts I’ve followed the famous Thomas Keller recipe, using just salt and pepper. Yesterday I tried stuffing it with lemon and garlic too, which was a nice change.

The best part is that my WHOLE family enjoys the chicken – even my picky daughter.

And even better? No one else in the family likes the skin so I get it ALL to myself. Hello, salt. Yum.

But the best BEST part is that one chicken easily lasts for two to three meals. I’ve tossed some pieces in broth with carrots and celery for a quick chicken noodle soup. Tonight I’m going to heat some up for a lemon-basil stir-fry. Tomorrow we’ll reheat what’s left for chicken sandwiches. I’d love to try chicken fajitas too if I can find a gluten-free wrap recipe that doesn’t make me want to tear my hair out.

Chicken stock – check.
Roasted whole chicken – check.

Next on the list is preserving fruits and vegetables. And given the amount of pears about to ripen in our backyard, I better figure that one out soon.