After a long winter and having a house full of sick people, I've become pretty good at making chicken soup from scratch. I think in the past month I've made a large pot of it four different times.
My recipe comes from a lot of trial and error, experimenting and intuition. But most of all it comes from the heart. Next time you need comfort food, slurp a big bowl of it. Enjoy and be well!
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good-for-you chicken soup
what you'll need:
- organic whole chicken
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped (I like to peel the outer layer of celery before I chop it)
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 green pepper, diced
- 1/2 red pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup wild rice
- 1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
- handful chopped fresh Italian flat leaf parsley
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 6 cups (48 oz) boiling water
- 4 tsp bouillon (my favorite is Better Than Bouillon organic vegetable base)
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
what to do:
- in a large soup pot add olive oil and garlic, onion, carrots and celery and saute on medium-high heat. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add red and green peppers. Mix all the veggies together and saute for another 2-3 minutes.
- Add wild rice and stir together until rice is slightly browned (a few minutes). Add stewed tomatoes and fresh parsley. Add salt and pepper. Mix together.
- place chicken in pot (on top of veggies), breast side up.
- season chicken (as pictured) with salt, pepper, oregano, basil and cumin. Meanwhile boil water in teapot.
- pour boiling water over chicken. Add bouillon and stir.
- bring to boil, cover and simmer for 45 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through).
- when your chicken is fully cooked, it should pull apart easily with a fork. (Tip: I like to let my soup cool for one hour, then transfer the chicken to a platter and pull apart the meat with my hands. It's so much easier and efficient than using a fork and knife.)
- Mix all your cooked ingredients together and your soup should look something like this.
I like to squeeze fresh lemon juice into my finished bowl of soup. And a warm piece of French bread is the perfect accompaniment.
Here's to good health!
Did you know there is actual science behind the benefits of chicken soup? Read about it here.
Like fusion? Kimchi tacos and Korean-inspired latkes!
