Friday, January 25, 2013

THE Chicken soup for the lazy, er busy person

Okay so I'm not a prolific writer...lol.

THE Chicken soup for the lazy, er busy person!

 Here is a recipe, that my extended family and friends rave about. Seriously easy if you have the right tools in your kitchen, or purchase pre-sliced veggies in your grocers produce section.

Chicken soup for My Soul, has to be easy. Something you can cook on the fly, when it's chilly...or make after work or, drum roll, in the Crockpot to greet you when you arrive home after a hard day of Shopping!

INGREDIENTS

CHICKEN, duh, now I'm not fussy. You can do a whole chicken, or parts with bones, but then you have to take out the chicken before you put all the veggies in, making sure you have ALL the bones out = pain in the butt, if you don't have time. I usually use 3 boneless chicken breasts or leftover roasted chicken meat that i take off the bone before putting in the soup.

CELERY, CARROTS, ONION, I slice all these in no particular order in my food processor with the slicing blade. Now you can buy pre-chopped in the veggie section, frozen, or chop and slice however you want. I like carrots so I use a whole small bag. I use about 1/2 a bunch of celery, and a whole small onion, or 1/2 a really large onion. Again, you can use whatever is easiest for you, just make sure your veggies are sliced, chopped or grated into bite size pieces.

WATER + BOUILLON, Now here's another variable, sorry I've used all these, based on what I have on-hand. Personally, my best batches use water + bouillon or BETTER than BOUILLON  This is where the easy and spectacularness, (suck it spell check) come in. fOR EVERY CUP OF WATER, USE A BOUILLON CUBE, OR EQUIVALENT OF BETTER THAN BOUILLON. I have my huge pot so I use 16 cups of water + 16 bouillon.

PEPPER, I do not have a measurement for this, sorry. I use a black pepper grinder and just twirl away over the top of all these ingredients in my pot.

NOODLES,  I've used every kind of noodle in this soup. Even leftover spaghetti  that I cut up into bite size pieces. We prefer, small egg noodles, cooked in a separate pot of boiling, salted water according to direction. I do NOT add all the noodles to my beautiful pot of soup! 1/2 ONLY. The others can be added to bowls if you like it noodley. If you add all the noodles, say bye-bye to the spectacular broth you just made. 

BOIL, bring all of the above to a boil over high heat and then turn down to medium and simmer away for at LEAST AN HOUR, then take the previously raw chicken out, let it cool, chop or tear  it up and return to broth & veggies. Now, taste... it may need salt, but I doubt it, or pepper.

To make a bowl, I place a pile of cooked noodles in the bowl, and then ladle all the soupy goodness over the top.

THE Chicken soup for the lazy, er busy person!

ingredients
Chicken, 3 chicken breasts, or chopped up leftover roaster
Carrots, one small package, chopped in bite size pieces
Celery, 1/2 a bunch, chopped in bite size pieces
Onion, 1 small or 1/2 a large, chopped in bite size pieces
Water, 16 cups
Bouillon, 16 cubes
Pepper, approx 1/2 a tsp.

Place all above ingredients in your pot, and bring to a boil, continue to simmer for at least an hour. Take out the chicken meat and allow to cool, before chopping into bite size pieces and returning to pot.

Noodles, cook separately add 1/2 to pot with all your soupy goodness, after you have returned your chicken meat to the pot. The rest of the noodles can be placed in your serving bowls, then pour your chicken soup over the top. YUM!

JUST A NOTE: In this whole Post, I couldn't spell bouillon or separately correct once! Thank Goodness for spell check!

ENJOY!