Love in a Bowl

I don't know what could be more delicious than a steaming bowl of chicken soup on a dreary day. I mean real chicken soup, not that bought stuff.  That first dripping spoonful makes its way into the crevices of the weary soul and elicits a grateful "mmmmm".  And it really is so easy to make. A little more time than opening a can, but what you're left with is a giant pot of soup that can be reheated and eaten for the week. After a week it's just as good better than when it was first made. The trick, as it is with any nutrient-dense soup, is in making your own broth. Skip the useless bouillon cube and make jars of homemade broth that you can freeze and just thaw out any time you want to make soup.

Here's a super easy description of how to do it.  Remember, buy fresh local, organic ingredients for best results.

Delicious Chicken (noodle-if-you-want) Soup

Put some carrots, celery, onions, and garlic in a pot with some ghee or coconut oil. Simmer for a few minutes. Add in some fresh chicken.  I prefer using the dark meat on a bone for extra flavour. Simmer to brown the outside of the chicken. 

Pour in your stock and add some extra water (about the same amount of water to the stock). Nothing is exact, just add a couple of jars of stock and some water to cover the chicken and veg by a couple of inches. Add whatever spices you like to taste in your chicken soup. I use fresh rosemary, whole allspice (as per my Bapka's instructions), whole black pepper, and some marjoram. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 40 minutes.  

Throw in whatever hearty veggies you want.  We like kale or collards cut into chunks, arame seaweed, and fresh parsley.  Season with salt and pepper. Throw in some rice cooked rice noodles if you're so inclined.

In the winter I add extra garlic and maybe some ginger to fend off the beasties.

Homemade Broth - The Commoner's Superhero

I love broth.  I mean, I really, really love it and you should too.  Here's why:  

• It's super easy to make
• It's super cheap to make
• It's super healthy to eat

See, what's not to love?  I always try to have some good soup broth on hand so I can whip up homemade soup whenever we feel like it or our grocery budget is dwindling and we need something healthy, yummy, and inexpensive to eat.

Whether you're making beef, chicken, or any other type of broth, the directions remain the same. I'm sure there's probably a more gourmet way to make this, but my way works and it's simple. You can get beef soup bones from a butcher, or try a local,organic farmer who can supply you with some tasty bones at a reasonable price.  

To make the stock:  I'll usually make my chicken broth after we've had a roasted chicken for dinner. Use all of the pot drippings, skin, and bones for the broth. Throughout the week I'll freeze ends and bits of veggies that were used for dinners and just pull them out to make the broth. This week we had a lot of root veggies in our CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) box so I had butternut squash skins, onion bits, carrots, parsley, garlic, celeriac skins, some leeks, and a few other bits of stuff in my freezer. I threw all of my veggies in with the chicken bits and covered it all with filtered water. I added some herbs (whatever you like), a small splash of apple cider vinegar (to pull the minerals and gelatin out of the chicken bones), some kombu and wakame seaweed (full of minerals), and some salt and pepper. I brought it all to a simmer and let it cook overnight.  

In the morning we had a beautiful, big pot of rich chicken broth. Once its cooled down, filter it. Pour the stock into jars, leaving at least an inch at the top so it doesn't explode when it freezes. If you like, you can pull the broth out of the freezer after about an hour and scrape the layer of fat off the top before it freezes solid.  

Use your stock as a base for any type of soup, gravy, or sauce. It's especially good with some miso, garlic, ginger, and some greens thrown in for a delicious miso soup.

A freezer full o' stock.