homemade chicken broth in your crockpot

with fall in full swing and winter fast aproaching i have found myself making lots of soups and chilis.... so of course i have been using lots of chicken broth. i figured it was about time that i started making my own! my local grocery store had chicken breasts on sale for only $1.49/lb so i stocked up. the only problem with these chicken breasts is that they aren't cleaned very well (as a former vegetarian this still grosses me out and i am very picky about any fat or veins in my chicken breasts). the first thing i do when i buy packages of chicken breasts is clean them and freeze them individually. i figured that since i cut off alot of good pieces of chicken while cleaning the breasts that i might as well use it to make chicken broth.

homemade chicken broth in your crockpot
from http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/02/homemade-chicken-stock-from-your-crock.html

leftover chicken pieces from cleaning or 3 chicken breast halves
1 onion, quartered
1 tomato, quartered
2 carrots, cut into chunks
2 celery stalks
2 cloves garlic
handful of cilantro
pepper to taste

Place all ingredients into crock pot and cover with water. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

When it's done, strain the liquid into a container and discard vegetables and chicken pieces . if you used chicken breasts, remove and store for later use.

If you're not using the stock right away you can store it in containers and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for several months. When the stock is chilled, the fat will rise to the top and harden and you can easily remove it.