So I have been fighting off a cold for weeks now and never seem to actually get rid of it. This has slowed down my blogging as well kept me from doing much of anything energetic.

A bowl of my frozen chicken stock cubes

Thus it seems appropriate to follow up on my new year’s resolution of occasionally writing a cooking or gardening post by sharing my chicken soup recipe. I made it again yesterday. This is the third time since the start of this cold!

I always make a lot so that I can freeze up two or three ice cube trays of the broth for use in cooking. The trays get emptied into baggies or my glass containers for the freezer as pictured on the left.  I always use a cube or two or three for extra flavor when I cook various things on other days.

Click the continue reading for my recipe which cheats a little by using a rotisserie chicken (I prefer the rosemary-garlic or lemon-pepper ones)

Previously pubished by me at my Open Sky Web Design site …

Chicken soup from scratch using a store bought rotisserie chicken

serves 2-4:

What I usually do is use half the meat from the chicken for a simple meal (sauteed mushrooms and onions with seasoning plus chicken and rice) while cooking up this soup for the next day.

• • • 1 barbecued chicken,
    • 10-12 mini carrots
    • 2 celery stalks,
    • 1 onion,
    • 5 whole cloves,
    • 2 sprigs each of fresh thyme and sage (or use 1 bouquet garnis),
    • 1 bay leaf (optional),
    • 2 cloves garlic or more,
    • 1 TBSP peppercorns,
    • 4 or 5 sprigs fresh parsley (optional),
    • Package of egg noodles or other pasta

First make the chicken stock (adapted from James Beard cookbook):
Strip most of the white meat and some thigh meat from chicken and put aside (refrigerate). Put carcass and skin into big pot. Add water to cover plus about inch and turn to high (once it starts bubbling turn down to 7 or 8 so it slow bubbles). Add the vegies – stick the cloves into the onion , put peppercorns into a tea thingie or leave loose. Simmer away for at least 2 hours (4 is better). Keep adding water as needed. Inhale the steam for a cold. Remove from stove and strain. Put strained broth into a new pot (you can save some separately and freeze for chicken stock).

Then make the Soup:
Fish the carrots, celery, and onion out of the gunk and add to broth (chop them up except carrots can be left whole). Add half the reserved chicken meat, chopped. Add egg noodles or broken up spaghetti or the pasta of your choice. Add a clove of garlic, grated, if you are sick or just like garlic, Cook just under a boil for 15 min or until noodles are how you like. Salt to taste. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley (optional) and/or chives and serve.

This is actually better the next day because you can skim the fat off after refrigerating overnight.

So why do I still have this cold?