INGREDIENTS: 

• 10-12 cups of water
• One 5-6 pound chicken, cut in pieces with neck and all giblets except the liver
• 2-3 teaspoons of coarse salt (or to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)
  

Use the vegetables you have:  

• 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
• 2 or 3 celery stalks with leaves
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• Sliced red pepper
• Parsnip
• Turnip
• Ends of tomatoes
• Fresh parsley for soup – keep a little for garnish
• Beet Greens
• Dill

Options for serving:

• 2 Potatoes, Cubed
• 3-6 medium carrots, sliced
• 1/4 Cabbage, thinly sliced
• Frozen Corn
• Frozen Peas
• Thin egg noodles 
• Rice, or grains
• 1 Tsp. chopped marjoram for garnish
• Basil, dill or parsley  for garnish
• Juice of one lemon
  
  

Wing It Chicken Soup

For generations, nurturing cooks have made chicken soup as a powerful antidote to help their loved ones fight a cold or flu.  

This is not exactly a recipe, but a recipe idea for you to change and adapt to your taste.  Don’t worry about measurements and amounts.  All you need is a chicken and the vegetables you have on hand to improvise your very own home-made immunity boost.

DIRECTIONS:  

1. In a 5-7 quart pot, add chicken to 12 cups of water & bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and partially cover to let some of the steam out.  You only need to add salt & pepper and, if you have it, some marjoram. Dill is also a sure bet. Keep a few sprigs of the herbs for garnish right before serving.

2. Skim the foam as it rises to the top and begin to add the vegetables. 

3. Improvise with the vegetables you have on hand: an onion, a few stalks of celery, 1-4 whole garlic cloves, smashed, a cut-up pepper, pieces of tomato – take a look at the list to the left for more possibilities.

4. After one hour, remove chicken breast and keep it on the side to cool or refrigerate (covered) to use later.  Continue to simmer for another 2 hours.

5. Strain the broth through a sieve and throw out the vegetables (onions, garlic, celery stalks, tomato pieces, parsley, beet greens, chicken bones and stringy meat)

6. Cool the broth – it makes it much easier to skim the fat that comes to the top.  Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

7. Simmer the strained broth and add these ingredients (if you have them) and grains:

Chicken breast meat, cut into bite size pieces.

Two peeled and cubed potatoes (if organic, keep the peel which has more vitamins).  

After 5 minutes add 2-3 sliced carrots sliced or cut into cubes (they take less time to cook). 

Add about 1/4 cabbage thinly sliced.  

Add add thin egg noodles or a grain (barley) or to the broth*.   

In the last 3 minutes, add fresh or frozen corn, or peas or mixed vegetables.

Add minced marjoram, dill, or other herb for garnish at the very end to maintain their color. 

NOTE: Grains, cooked or not, soak up a lot of broth so don’t add them till end of cooking or put less then you think you need in the last step as you add the vegetables.

Optional: If you want to add a Greek flavor, add a squeezed lemon to the finished soup.

TIPS FOR YOUR NEXT IMPROVISED CHICKEN SOUP: 

Keep the bones from roasted chickens in the freezer for the next time you make soup.  Boil  those first for hours then add chicken for the last hour for a richer broth.