Beastie Treats

What do you do with the chicken innerds when you buy a whole chicken? OK, now I have to veer off and tell you a funny story before I tell you what we do with our chicken innerds...
When I was a teenager, maybe 15 years old or so, one day Mom told me to start the chicken in the oven for dinner before she got home. She instructed me to turn the oven on at 325°, wash the chicken, put some salt and pepper on it and put it in the oven...sounds easy, right?
Well, that night while carving the bird, Dad found the innerds still in the package inside the chicken. Mom said, "I told you to clean the chicken!" I replied, "You told me to wash the chicken, and I did...you never told me that I had to look inside!"
Anyway, now on to Beastie Treats...as part of our CSA from JenEhr Farm we get chickens each month and they come with, you guessed it, innerds in a bag. I'm not all that into meat to begin with, but I'm really not into some of the more interesting insides, like heart, gall bladder, liver, etc. I used to throw them out, except for the neck, which always goes into the pot with the carcass to make broth. The neck bones have a good deal of gelatin, which is super healthy, so even though nobody at my house eats the neck bone, we always save it for the broth. The rest of the innerds...we boil them at a slow boil for about 40 minutes, then puree and feed it to the kitties...super healthy, good for their coats and bones and geeze, they love the stuff! So, next time you're going to toss that package of innerds, think about your babies and cook some up for them. Dogs love them too---what animal can't pass up chicken!