figuring out points for stew

[sarahyu]

I make a huge pot of vegetable soup at the beginning week. I usually take pork chops or a side of pork ribs and make a pork stock, remove the meat, separate the fat out as much as possible and then add a bunch of vegetables and tofu for me and hubby will add the meat back into his soup.

If I put it all together into the recipe builder-the pork has a whooping 3 digit number of points for roughly 3 # of meat/bones. So it makes the soup ~ 1/3 of my daily points per serving

I guess all the fat from the meat goes into the stock-but after it cools I take all the hard fat and discard it. So I'm wondering how to calculate the points. Should I do it without the meat? I'm thinking some points should be adding because it's a meat stock but not sure how many.

Any opinions?

[nancylmrn]

I don't know how to help you really, but when I make my stock I always clarify it and that will pretty much take out all fat. Then I use the nutritional information on sodium free stock I find online then plug in all the other ingredients

[Munchy]

I clarify mine too, and use the nutritionals for canned low fat stock - (not nonfat).

[sarahyu]

Hmmm, honestly, I hadn't thought about that.

How do you clarify? I just pour the liquid into a fat separator. Then pour it back into the pan and add my vegetables.

When it's completely cooled I'll scrap off any solids I find (usually not much)

[nancylmrn]

Remove as much of the visable fat as you can by cooling the liquid then lifting off the hard layer on top. Then to clarify stock for clear soup, and removing solid flecks that are too small to be strained out with cheesecloth, follow this method. Use 1 egg and separate the egg white from the egg yolk, and reserve the shell. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup cold water, egg white, and crushed eggshell. Add to strained stock, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes. Strain again through a sieve lined with cheesecloth.

Hope this helps