Chicken Soup

Since my baby boy was sick last weekend, I decided to make some chicken soup for dinner on Sunday.  I love homemade chicken soup and I particularly like the way mine comes out (everyone cooks for their own taste)! I usually boil a whole chicken to make the stock but TJs had this awesome pack of organic chicken, already cut up; so it was 2 breasts, thighs, drums, etc. It was much easier to work with. 

I put the chicken in my stock pot and almost fill it with water letting it boil for about 30-45 minutes or so. When I boil a whole chicken I let it boil longer but the individual pieces I was working with on this night cooked through faster. 

After the chicken is boiled, I remove it from the stock and let it cool off on a plate. It just needs to be cool enough to handle with your bare hands. While the chicken is cooling, I add chopped onion, carrots and celery to the stock as well as about a half cup each of barley and brown rice. I used to use pasta (chicken "noodle" soup) but lately I've been using barley and rice. I also add a generous amount of thyme, some celery salt and pepper. I bring that to a boil and then let it simmer while I start working on the chicken. 

Using my hands, I separate the chicken from the skin and bone and then discard the scraps. I don't use all of the chicken I'm left with bc it's just too much (for my liking) for soup. So I use most of the dark meat and small bits and pieces from the thighs and drums and only a small amount of breast meat. I save what's left in my fridge (or freezer) for use in another recipe later. 

I add the chicken back to the soup and let it all cook until the rice, barley and veggies are soft and tender. This probably takes about 30 minutes or so. I also added some chopped kale to the soup bc I had some on hand it just sounded good (and it was). Since I eyeball everything, some batches come out better than others. On this night, it was one of the best batches I've ever made! At least, I liked it! 

I should note that I learned how to make chicken soup by following basic recipes in different cookbooks I have. Over the years, I've just stuck to this particular formula.