CHICKEN SOUP - GOOD FOR WHAT AILS YA!

 

I had no intention of doing a blog post today but yesterday right after I finished my Valentine post I had a text from my adult son (he was at the doctor's office) letting me know that he had both the flu and strep throat.  His family had just arrived home after a nine day trip to Walt Disney World. My mommie gene kicked in and so I made him some homemade soup.

  I love to make soup and have made soup practically all my married life and thought I would share the basics of my soup making.  Many soups start off the same way as this one does. I dice onions, celery and carrots. And normally I would also chop some fresh parsley but I did not have any on hand and wanted to get this made in time for their dinner last night, so I omitted. I also take a couple of garlic cloves and either chop fine our put through a sieve. In a heavy pan put some olive oil then add first the carrots and let them cook for awhile, then add the onions and then the celery.  Let them cook until they are done and then add the garlic and the parsley and salt and pepper and just let it cook a bit, you do not want the garlic to brown.  Set aside.

I like to keep chicken breasts (bone-in) in the freezer because you get so much more flavor from the bone in breasts.  We don't eat the skin. I took two breasts from the freezer and just put them in water on the stove, let it come to a boil, immediately turned it down and just let the chicken gently poach until done.  Do not boil or the chicken will be tough, no seasoning at this time. 

Once the chicken is done take it out of the pot and let cool.  In the meantime strain the liquid and put it back in the pot. I happened to have a quart of homemade chicken stock in the freezer but you could add purchased stock or broth to the chicken water. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add the veggies back into the pot and whatever noodle/rice you want. I used orzo as I thought the tiny pasta would be easy on a sore throat. The cooled chicken can now be taken off the bones and diced for the soup.  Once the orzo is done add the chicken back to the pot and season to taste.

 I like giving soup in canning jars as it is better portioned this way and easier to heat up a small amount. I never like to give food without a label and this was just a quick one with a cute rooster graphic.

Resource

Tall Canning Jars, Grocery store, hardware store, online

Link to tall canning jars, Canning Jars

Rooster Graphic, The Graphic's Fairy 

Link to draw program, Corel Draw

Font, Iskoola Pota 

Thanks for stopping by.