I am a lover a soups. My favorite would be the classic chicken soup. I make it every couple of weeks or so. It is always different because I make it with what is in my fridge. I made chicken soup two days ago and this time used one whole raw organic free range chicken and the bones of the same kind of chicken that I had roasted the day before. I would have to say it had the best flavor of all my chicken based soups so far. I got the idea from watching an Oprah show. She had one of her favorite chefs on, I can’t remember her name at the moment. On the show, they were making several things a couple of things out of chicken. I remembered the chef mentioning that the best chicken stock is made with roasted chicken bones. So that is what I did. It is true. If you want to make the best chicken soup or stock, use roasted chicken bones.
On a side note, my husband Rick said that he loves that we use everything when cooking. Bones do not go to waste unless there is not enough bone to make a soup base. I was proud as well. This might sound silly but it makes me feel like I’m living like a woman a hundred or more years ago that let nothing go to waste. Remember Little House on the Prairie? When I was a little girl I used to pretend that I had to make everything by hand. I would pick wheat in the fields around our house and pretend to dry it. Then take the bird food we had and separated out each grain and made my own “flour” by grinding it between stones I found. I felt so romantic.
That little girl only looks older. I love feeling like a romantic heroine in a story when I cook and make sure that everything has a purpose. As crazy as it sounds, I can hardly wait until we have a home. I will start canning things and stock them away in their Americana Mason jars in my own “cellar”. I may even be lucky enough to have an old enough house that has a real root cellar. They are great fun in the summer.
Happy cooking to all! Remember, the “real” Americans were not nearly as wasteful as we “modern” Americans. We should take lesson from our past.
Notes on Chicken Soup
Chicken soup for a sweltering night
You may think I’m crazy, but I’m making chicken soup on a hot summer day. Our apartment has been sweltering for the last week. I just had to make chicken soup. It has nothing to do with the heat but my escape from the heat. I just finished a book I’ve been reading for a couple of weeks. Today it totally saved me. This really should be a testament to how amazingly powerful the mind is. The book I’ve been reading, Owl Island by Randy Sue Coburn, takes place in the Pacific Northwest, where I live. The book has illustrated how Washington is on a normal day. Grey, windy, misty or rainy, even in the summertime. If you live around here then you know that’s not what it is right now. It’s been in the 80’s and 90’s for the last few days. Not bad, normally I am very excited about it. Not this time. It needs to rain. It has been unbearably humid and hot. A very bad combination for me. Heat usually just takes the aches and pains from my body. I feel like all my connective tissue just melts and looses all it’s normal crunchiness. With humidity it seems that all those aches are made worse. I can’t breath I can’t sleep well, I feel sticky right out of the shower. Today, because I didn’t have to go anywhere, I didn’t dry my hair or put on makeup and I feel nasty. Yesterday, when I did dry my hair my scalp started to sweat and it didn’t seem to evaporate at all. I wanted nothing more than to go to a secluded beach in Skagit Valley and breath in cool ocean air. Unfortunately, we live in Snohomish County and all the beaches would be horridly packed with people and those peoples’ body heat. Yuck. So I stayed home and sat on the couch, exhausted. Running to the grocery store was a feat that only Olympians should run. I came back with a damp shirt and shiny forehead.
So why make hot chicken soup? Because, in my book a character ended up in the cold ocean. (I almost envied him, though I hate the idea of swimming where I can’t see the bottom.) He got chicken soup and crackers. I wanted some. My body was reasonably cool, there was a fan going and I was far away from sweltering Bothell, I was up just south of Bellingham, swinging my feet in a little tide pool. I’ve since finished the book and am now feeling the heat. The kitchen is much warmer than the rest of the apartment because of that simmering chicken soup.
As crazy as this sounds, a cup of hot soup on a hot day just sounds wonderful. I’ll stick my nose over the steam and it will feel better than breathing in the moisture and pollution laden air outside. It will feel hot yet healthy and rich. I’ll probably start to get hotter but it will be from the inside, I like that. Maybe I’ll have a glass of juice and settle down and start a new book, one that takes place in winter and enjoy that I am not freezing and that the chicken soup is good anytime.
Look for my recipes under the recipes category!
My favorite chicken soup
Homemade Chicken Soup
This is SC diet chicken soup, no potatoes, rice, noodles or anything starchy. I do miss the potatoes but the soup is brilliant on it’s own. I’ve made it several times with several different ingredients. I think soup is a great way to clean out your fridge, so use what I have on hand. I always try to have a few things for it, if it isn’t here I’ll go out and get it if I have enough energy.
Of course chicken. I use Foster Farms as they don’t use hormones. You really must have a whole chicken. I’ve tried with just breast and bones or thighs with their bones. It just doesn’t taste as rich. You need the whole chicken with all the nasties. I pick them out after they are cooked down. Every once in a while I’ll miss some organ and Rick will bite into it and get a funny look on his face. I know it’s not nice but really it’s hilarious. He looks like he just took a bite of a worm of something really gross.
Anyway, back on track. Before I go on and on. Here it is broken down.
Must have ingredients:
· Chicken, whole
· Onions, half of whole your choice
· Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
The other ingredients:
· Green beans
· Carrots
· Broccoli
· Zuchini
You don’t have to use them, put in whatever you want. Those just happen to be what I have on hand today.
Okay, now for the cooking part. In my opinion to get the best chicken soup it’s an all day project. I simmer the chicken by it’s self with salt only for about two hours. Then I add the onions. I don’t like the texture of onions so I like to cook them to nothing.
I add all the veggies at the last minute, several hours after I started. Those only cook about 30 to 45 minutes, just until they all soften up a bit. Total cooking time can be 5-7 hours. I know, cooking things so long can rob food of its nutrients. However, that is why I add the veggies last. Chicken I’m not about to under cook.
I’ve done the one or two hour chicken soup, it doesn’t have as much flavor. Soup for me is about several things, flavor being the top priority, as it should with any food. Consistency, I like my soups a little thinner. I don’t like supper thick soups. I don’t like the idea of adding something like corn starch just to add a different texture. Other textures, meaning the ingredients, I love that celery gets so soft but carrots stay firm. It keeps my mouth entertained. It won’t get boring.
Now to make it more Rick friendly, in the beginning I cooked everything down to soft and soggy. Thank goodness we don’t have to do that anymore. I do try to scoop out some of the fat. Fat seems to aggravate his UC. It’s hard to get it out on the first try, much easier after it has been put in the fridge, then later I can just pick off the fat when it’s solid. I don’t put tomatoes in it anymore because tomatoes can sometimes also be aggravating. It’s always a learning experience cooking for him. Not bad though.
