Have you ever bought one of those already seasoned and ready to roast birds from the grocery store? Or better yet, one of the already roasted birds? I highly recommend starting this three-part series that way, depending on your personal confidence levels.

You absolutely could roast your own chicken, and for those willing to do so, please feel free. I did, but there's no shame in letting someone else do the work.

For the purposes of this series, it doesn't matter how you ended up with a "frame" of a chicken, meat removed and leftovers stored for future consumption. We'll use that lovely meat tomorrow.

Now, you could be wasteful and throw away that frame of bones, but you're foregoing a very tasty opportunity for two more meals from those bones and tattered remains. You see, those bones contain a very essential ingredient called collagen. It's a thickener for soups! You know it. You've seen that disgusting jelled substance on cooled plates just before you threw it out with the garbage. That was the collagen.

You have on that counter the ability to make your own "Condensed Cream of" soups for your recipes. Incidentally, you eliminate quite a bit of the excess carbs, calories, preservatives and sodium.

How do you know when you've cooked out all the collagen from the bones? They'll practically crumble when you try to break them. The fact that you can break a leg bone all by yourself is a clue you've gotten all the condensing collagen out. Remember, you can use the frame in place of the bony meat in the recipe. Here's the recipe:

Tomorrow, I'll post the recipe for using that chicken meat. It's mushy enough for Chicken Salad!

Remember! This is the basis for many recipes. Freeze it in about 10 ounce increments. You should end up with about 4 containers. Double the batch if you like, and add el cheapo chicken wings if you just need broth.

See you tomorrow!

there's no shame in letting someone else do the work

Bless you for that one! Can't wait for part two!

I set up the next week with you in mind, BG. You asked for mushies, and I posted them for you. You're getting all I learned while I was in the liquids and mushies phase.

Once I'd had the band installed, I wasn't starving. Far from it! I could barely choke down my soups and other foods recommended by my doctor. However, I knew I could have done better in the way of preparation.

Now in 20/20 hindsight, I'm helping you by doing what I didn't think of then-- gathering up delicious mushies recipes so that phase is a treat to the taste buds, even if only a few ounces are consumed.

Thanks for doing this Lena! I'm sure others in this phase will find these recipes as well. I'm a gal who likes variety and Campbells broth, jello, pudding, applesauce, and veggies purreed in my Magic Bullet would get pretty old LONG before the 5th week of mushies. My NUT didn't have any recipes; just a list of my items above. I could probably freeze some of this ahead couldn't I? THANK YOU!

Lena- I want you to know I've got 3 small whole chickens going in the oven right now (house smells great). I'm so proud of myself and I'm only at step one (I'm a terrible cook)! I've cooked a turkey, but never a whole chicken (had to call Mom to ask how long). DH doesn't eat anything that's on a bone (he's a freak of nature), so I'll be carving his off for dinner tonight. Can't wait to start my broth! We bought stuff for the chicken salad and the vegetable, mushroom, cheese, and tomato soups as well. It's going to be a week of soup making and freezing (I was ready to eat my shoe after one day of jello and boullion for my colonoscopy...can't wait for some good broth!). Thanks! -BG

Hehehe! I adore you, BG. You keep me going. While I was okay with the liquids phase, admittedly by the end of the mushies phase I was ready to actually chew something with taste. LOL!