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Basic recipes are always good, because you can add to them to suit yourself and your needs.<\/p>\n
Chicken soup is probably as old as dirt and a lot tastier than dirt, so here’s the basic ingredient list.<\/p>\n
Chicken – as long as it’s shredded or cut into small pieces, it doesn’t matter how much or little you prefer.\u00a0 I think it’s simplest to use leftover chicken and give it a good chop or shred it.<\/p>\n
Carrots – in a big pot, a pound of baby carrots will almost be enough. If you want more, then add them! Or you can use the full-size carrots, and wash and chop them up.<\/p>\n
Onion – at least one big one, peeled and chopped into smaller pieces, will do nicely.<\/p>\n
Celery – in a big pot of soup, half the stalk might be nice, but whatever you do, chop it up and also throw in the leaves as long as they’re in good shape!<\/p>\n
Starchy stuff – Aha! This is where people split over rice versus noodles. They both take about the same amount of time to cook, but even though rice does swell up a bit when cooked it does not have the volume that pasta has. Noodles, especially good egg noodles, will swell to three times their original size and provide a lot of satisfying filler at a low cost. But if you prefer rice, there are rice mixes that make do just as well to meet your needs.<\/p>\n
Garlic – this boosts flavor from the chicken and the broth, and it’s a cooking herb that acts in a healing capacity, too.<\/p>\n
Chicken broth – you can make this from scratch by cooking a whole chicken and skimming the foam off the broth, or buy it in cartons and cans, or buy the dry bouillon. They all have their uses. If you’re going to make your own chicken broth, the fat, which is yellow, is important to flavoring the broth. And if you really want the best home-made chicken broth, you can do what my sister used to do: buy chicken feet, scrub the crap out of them, and simmer them over a slow flame in a pot. The fat in chicken feet adds the nice, inviting yellow to the broth as well as a lot of flavor. I am not going to do that. I’ll just buy it. It’s simpler, and I won’t have the cat hanging out in the kitchen looking for the source of that wonderful scent.<\/p>\n
You will also probably want to add the following: thyme, bay leaf, chopped parsley, salt and pepper. You can add a bit of grated lemon peel – not a lot! – for a little pop in flavor, or throw in a teaspoon or two of Mrs Dash Lemon & Garlic (salt free) seasoning.<\/p>\n
And yes, it is legit to use leftover chicken from KFC or McD’s, if you have it. Just remove the coating.<\/p>\n
How to cook this? Simple: if the chicken is left over from prior meals, shred it and put that and the other ingredients in the pot, cover with cooking broth, to about two inches below the pot rim, cover loosely, and simmer on a low burner\/flame for about an hour. If your pot lid does not have a vent, then place it with about a half inch space between the edge of the lid and the rim of the pot, or it will boil over and you don’t want that mess!<\/p>\n
Chicken soup – it’s good for what ails you!<\/p>\n
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