Good Old Chicken Vegetable Soup

It’s that time of year—runny noses, sneezing, achiness, and watching old movies on TV. In my book that means it’s time to make chicken soup. It really will cure what ails you. Or, well…it’ll definitely make you feel better. Chicken soup is pretty high up there on my list of comfort foods. And, with snow already falling in NJ—yes, in mid-October—I’m envisioning  steaming mugs of soups and stews.

This Chicken Vegetable Soup was one of the first recipes I made when starting on the journey of food elimination. We’d always had Chicken Noodle Soup but at the time I thought giving up gluten meant giving up pasta. It took some searching before I realized there’s a great variety of gluten free noodles and pastas out there.

So, to compensate for the lack of noodles and to avoid a thin, anemic rendition of chicken soup a few more veggies, a potato, and some beans were added. Oh, and a chopped tomato.

You may want to check out Diana Eblin’s The WHOLE Gang blog for a list of more gluten free chicken recipes. It’s this week’s Friday Foodie Fix.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 chicken (about 3 lbs.)

1  parsnip 

1  turnip 

1  potato (or a few small red potatoes) 

2  bay leaves 

6 stalks celery 

3 carrots 

1 small onion

2  leeks

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp basil 

salt and pepper 

1/2 can white beans 

1 tomato

1 tablespoon olive oil

Place all ingredients (except the tomato, beans, two carrots, four stalks of celery and olive oil) in a soup pot. Cover with cool water and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat. Simmer gently for one hour or until chicken falls off the bone. Skim off foam from time to time.

Take the soup off the burner. Remove the chicken and debone it when cool enough to handle.  When the broth is cool strain it from the vegetables. Retain the parsnip, turnip and potatoes. Use the other vegetables for some other purpose or discard.

Dice or slice the remaining celery and carrots.  Sauté them in the olive oil in a separate pot large enough to hold the soup for a few minutes. Pour the strained broth into the pot. Bring to a simmer. (Can add some chopped greens — escarole or spinach — at this point if you have some on hand.)

Dice the tomatoes and add to the simmering soup. Once the vegetables have softened (10-20 minutes) take the soup off the heat. Dice the already cooked parsnip, potatoes, turnip, and chicken and add, along with white beans, to the pot.

Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

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Comments

[Diane-The WHOLE Gang]

Oh yum! This looks so good I could dive in. I love soup. Thank you for sharing this on Friday Foodie Fix.

[Jenn/CinnamonQuill]

It's definitely soup season! Love that you added white beans to this.