Excellent recipe! I think one should try to give the recipe an "as is" a before rating so the rating is fair, but since I make chicken broth all the time and in the crock pot I am going to violate my rule. I am dying to try basil in the broth having never tried it before. It should be wonderful and why didn't I think of it myself as it is a natural for chicken? lol! As a tip to others, I buy whole chickens when they are on sale, throw them in the freezer and whenever I need chicken meat for a recipe I cook one in the crock pot. I don't bother thawing, I just remove the outer plastic bag. Also longer cooking concentrates the broth and makes it more flavorful, so those who had problems with flavor could improve it by longer cooking. I usually start mine at night before I go to bed so it is ready to finish when I get up the next morning. I use a large glass to hold a quart freezer bag open while I ladle the broth into it. I do two sizes; a 3 cup and a 1 cup. The one cup is handy for when a recipe only needs a small amount of both. I remove the air from the bags and lay them flat on a cookie sheet. Once they are frozen hard, stand them up on end and put in a shoebox sized plastic basket.

Reviewed On: Apr. 24, 2010

I noticed the salt went in right along with the other ingredients. This causes the beans to be tough. I never add salt to beans until they are cooked. It makes a big difference. My mother-in-law taught me this many, many years ago when I was first married and asked why my beans didn't turn out as good as hers.

Reviewed On: Dec. 23, 2009

You are gonna love this recipe. It makes the best sauce, better than what you can purchase and easy to do. I make pizza sauce with the same mix by adding it to tomato sauce and not quite as much water as for spaghetti sauce.

Reviewed On: Jan. 8, 2009