The other day, I had made oven barbecue chicken with Price Chopper split chicken breasts. They came out great and made three meals for us. Before I served them, I trimmed most of the meat from the bones, making it easier for my kids to eat. However, that left me was several split breast bones with a little bit of meat on them. There really wasn’t enough to serve anyone with but I knew that the bones would make a great chicken stock.
Today is a very windy day. It is gray and cool. A perfect day for soup and bread! I pulled out the broth and bones that I had already boiled on Saturday. Took whatever meat I could get off the bones and tossed it back into the broth. Added a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and voila! Delicious soup made out of practically nothing.
My husband frequently says that when I make soup, he knows that I am cleaning out the refrigerator. Soup is a great way to use up those odds and ends in the refrigerator that just aren’t enough to feed your family, but you hate to throw them out. It is also a very inexpensive way to feed your family. It is usually much healthier for you than the can soups that you buy at Price Chopper or Hannaford. Soup is not hard to make. You just need to know what goes well together and what does not.
My soup today had fresh kale from the garden, odds and ends of pasta that I needed to use up, and some slightly wilted celery. Hubby gave it his A+ approval and told me to make it again…my only problem is that my soups never come out the same two times in a row! Oh well…it made for a delicious lunch.
Basic Chicken Noodle Soup
1 chicken carcass or several chicken pieces with bones
Water
Onion
Celery
Carrots
Salt/Pepper
Chicken bouillon
Poultry seasoning (optional)
Any size or shape dry pasta
Take your chicken and place it in a stock pot and cover it with water. Bring the water to a boil and boil for a good 30-60 minutes. You want to see the chicken falling off the bones. Remove from heat and allow to cool until cool enough to handle. Pour broth and chicken into a strainer, being sure to save the broth. Sort through the chicken bones, removing meat and adding it back to the broth. Once you have sorted through the bones, add to soup pot chopped carrots, chopped onion, chopped celery, more water if you want to stretch the soup, salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning, and a few cubes of chicken bullion. (I use Watkins Chicken Soup and Gravy mix since I own my own Watkins business) Allow this to cook for maybe 20 or 30 minutes. The carrots should be mostly cooked. At this point, taste your soup and adjust the flavors. If your soup is bland, most of the time it needs more salt and chicken bullion. Add dry pasta to the soup, maybe 1/2-1 cup depending on how much liquid you have. Continue to boil soup until pasta is done. If you wish to add kale or spinach to the soup, you need to add that toward the end of cooking. I usually add my kale just before I add the pasta. Serve with crackers, croutons, or crusty bread. Enjoy!
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