Being with Bethie: Bethie's Kitchen: Chicken Alphabet Soup

You know those dreary winter days that make you want to sip hot tea on the couch with a good book and just hide away all day? Today has been that kind of day here! Which...means it's a perfect day for homemade soup!

This process actually began 2 nights ago with making the stock. Making your own chicken broth is way easier than I thought it would be and has become something I actually enjoy doing. I have made it simple by using a bbq chicken that you can buy cooked at the grocery store. I am able to get 2-3 meals from it by using the meat for various dinners and then boiling the stock for soup!

Soup ingredients all ready to go!

To make the stock, place the chicken carcass (skin, bones and all) into a big pot. In this particular case, I had two of them. Fill the pot with water so that all the chicken is covered. Then you add the aromatics that give the broth flavor. I added 3 celery stocks, two red onions, and 3 carrots to the pot.

Chicken carcasses into the pot

All ready to boil

I covered the pot and let it boil for an hour. Once it's done boiling, simply strain to another pot or glass bowl. I use Cornningware dishes so that they can easily fit into my fridge once the broth has cooled. Then just throw away the "mush" left behind in the pot!

Cooling on the counter

The "mush" left behind in the pot

Once the broth has chilled, you need to let it sit in the fridge at least overnight. Once it has chilled, the fat will become solid on the top. Just use a slotted spoon to skim that off. Then you're all set to finish making the soup.

The fat is on the top and ready to be skimmed off

Once I have skimmed off as much of the fat as I possibly can, the broth goes back into the big soup pot! This time, we add the veggies that we want to eat in the soup. Today I added:

2 cups of chopped broccoli
1 and a half cups of chopped celery
1 and a half cups of chopped carrots (I had baby carrots which were quartered)
5-6 pearl onions

Maestro wants to help too!

Everything gets added to the pot of broth and cooked for another half hour. I add salt and pepper to taste. Once the veggies are almost cooked, blanch whatever pasta/rice you are planning to add in a pot of boiling water. For this amount of soup, I am adding 1 to 1 and a half cups of pasta. Today I am adding alphabet pasta. If you don't cook the rice or pasta quickly beforehand, it will absorb the broth as it cooks.

(I tried this the first time and had NO broth left! Lesson learned - the hard way!)

Once the pasta is al dente, add it to your soup and heat through. Then it's ready to enjoy!