Homemade Chicken Soup-Its Good for the Soul and Colds too!

Well it’s that time of year! We all need a little Chicken Soup to get us healthy and keep us healthy and at the end of this recipe I’ll even give you a couple of resources that confirm what we have known for years….Chicken Soup really is good for colds and flu!

So here is a REALLY SIMPLE little recipe for those that may feel overwhelmed by cooking soups.

Ingredients:

2 Cooked Chicken Breasts (or more if you want more chicken)
Chicken Broth – I’m using Herb Ox today..but really you can use whatever you like
2 fresh minced Garlic cloves – I use fresh because I feel it’s better for our immune system..but you can use bottled
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1/4-1/2 chopped onion
1/2 tsp. Thyme
1/2 tsp. Basil
1/2 tsp. Oregano
optional – rice, any kind of pasta noodles

Into a pot of 10 cups of boiling water add cooked chicken, chicken broth, minced garlic, chopped carrots, chopped celery, chopped onion:

Most chicken broth directions call for 1 tsp to 1 cup of water. I like my broth a little tasty but don’t like to add the full amount to my 10 cups of water or it just seems too salty to me. So I usually add a little less…about 7 tsp. to the 10 cups. You can adjust to your taste buds.

I use fresh Minced Garlic most of the time…because it is amazing for boosting your immune system! But you can totally use bottled garlic.

Do you hate to Chop, chop, chop those veggies. I know that this keeps many people from making soups and things that include chopped veggies and including them as a healthy part of their diet. Soooo…after many years of trying different kinds of choppers..this Ninja is my fave of all time so far!

I really wasn’t going to make this a commercial, but truly this little machine chops soooo fast and cleans sooo easy that I thought that for all you chopping haters you might want to see it! This makes chopping veggies done in minutes..literally!

Ok enough of that…

Now is the time to add rice if you are making chicken and rice soup!

Add about 1-2 cups rice..just depending on how much rice you want. Just remember that whatever amount of rice you add will double the amount of rice you will get. In other words..1 cup of dry rice is 2 cups cooked and so forth.

Add your herbs…now on the very left in the picture, you might notice Fines Herbes..this is a blend of herbs that I like to add sometimes at 1/4 tsp..it’s yummy.

Simmer your soup for about 1/2 hour. You can simmer longer if you have time.

If adding pasta..add 15 minutes before serving. Pastas are fun because you can add all different kinds..egg noodle, spiral, bow tie, orzo..create a different time with just a little different pasta.

You can use any kind of veggies you like to this soup. You can also add canned tomatoes..but this will totally change the flavor.

Want to add some Homemade French Bread to go with your soup? Check out this easy recipe.

Here are a couple of real live articles on the benefits of Chicken Soup:

Science Finally Shows What Grandma Knew All Along by WebMed