Home Made Chicken-Vegetable Soup, with Home Made Bone Broth

**I have updated how I do these recipes slightly, now that i'm further down my holistic eating path. Please check that out for adjustments to make these as optimally nutritious as possible. click HERE**

 Nothing can compare to home made soup. If you have ever had it, you know this, and you probably discovered this by trying to find something that would be the same, because you didn't know how to make your own.

 I avoided making my own soup (never mind my own broth) for a long time, because I thought it would be hard and complicated. When I finally did it, I realized its one of the easiest things to make!

I keep broth and/or soup in my freezer constantly. It really comes in handy. I will talk more about how I freeze it, and what I do with it in a minute.


 The gist- Soup is good. Homemade soup is EPIC. Keeps you healthy, keeps you full, and is PACKED with nutrients. Here is my recipe (paleo of course!):

*this recipe is for a chicken approx 6-7 lbs. Use water/vegetable amount to match the size of your chicken.*

Home Made Bone Broth:

Buy a whole chicken, cook it, and eat it as an awesome meal, however you like.

 When you are done, you are left with the bones, and the left over meat. (that should be still on the chicken.)

Strip the meat off the bones of your chicken (that you didn't eat for dinner. I have enough for dinner, lunch the next day, and enough for the soup.), and set aside in a bowl/container. This will be the meat you use for your soup. You have to really get in there and pull apart that chicken. *Don't throw anything away! (unless you still have some 'bits' left inside the cavity of the chicken (heart or something.), and you don't wish to use those. They are full of flavor, but I choose to chuck them. Little past my comfort zone.) there usually wont be anything to throw away.*
  Lift up the chicken, and be sure to get underneath, and in all the nooks. You don't need a giant bowl, it goes a long way. You will learn how much you like in your soup.
 Wrap up your chicken that you have set aside, and put it in the fridge. You deal with that much later.

Put all the bones etc in a soup pot, and fill your pot with filtered water. (enough to cover approx 2-3 inches above your bones.)

Add veggies to your bones. a big carrot, or two medium ones, an onion, 3-4 cloves of garlic, and 2 celery stalks. (these are very roughly chopped. Big pieces, and you don't even need to take stems/ends off, or peel if you don't want to. Except your onion and garlic. peel your onion, and cut in large chunks. peel your garlic, and give slight smash with the side of your knife.) Don't worry about these veggies. You won't be using them for anything besides flavor. they get left aside with the bones.

Add spices. I just eye-ball it to my taste. I add a bit of thyme, 2 bay leaves, sea salt, pepper, and oregano. (probably about 1/2 a tsp of oregano and thyme..)

Set your burner on med-high heat (on the higher side. 7 or 8, if your stove does the number thing.) Once it starts to boil turn it down to med-low heat (about 3.).

Simmer for about 4-5 ish hours. This is really up to you. You could simmer it all day on low if you want, but i prefer about 4-5 hours. You can tell its done, when the bones have separated from the rest of the chicken, and your veggies are super mushy (onions are clear, garlic is mushy.) Taste it! If it tastes like chicken broth, and its been an hour or two, you could pull it off then. Add what you think is missing, and keep simmering if you like.

Extra step: After its done, turn off element, and leave on stove to cool. when its cool enough to touch, place pot in fridge-with a lid- over night. This allows everything to combine more, and the flavor is better. (still fine if you skip this though.)

Strain your broth into a container, and store, or use in soup right away.


Home Made Chicken-Vegetable Soup:

Pour the broth that you just made (the day before...or not), into your soup pot. add equal amounts of filtered water. ( I just pour with a big ol' measuring cup that holds 4 cups. I usually have about 2 1/2 measuring cups of both broth and water. i usually add about an extra cup of water.)

Chop and add vegetables. 3 carrots, 4-5 celery stalks, onion if you like it-the amount is up to you-, 2 cloves of garlic (hit them with the knife again like mentioned in the broth recipe.), zucchini if you like it **Don't add zucchini until the last 10-15 mins! it dissolves if you put it in too early.**

Shred and add your chicken you put aside from your bones.

Add spices. (less then you added in the broth.) 1 bay leaf, oregano, tiny bit of thyme, sea salt and pepper to taste.

Heat on med-high (again, on the higher side.). When it starts to boil, you can do one of two things: If you have time, and will be home, turn down to med-low, like you did the broth (3 or 4) and simmer (stirring very occasionally.) until veggies are your preference of softness, and tastes as desired. I leave this for 2, even 3 hours. Or, you can cook on medium heat (5-5 1/2) for approximately an hour, until your veggies are desired softness.
* It's always better to go a bit slower, to let the flavors incorporate a little more, but you don't always have time!

Enjoy a bowl of your 100% from-scratch soup! (It really is that simple.)

**this recipe is paleo, because we are paleo (obviously..). If you eat noodles, you can add 1/2- 1 cup egg noodles to your soup for chicken noodle.(you really don't need them though! Its fantastic and hearty without!)**

To Freeze:

I freeze mine like this:

 Ladle soup into muffin tins. Make sure there is a good ratio of veggies and meat,  to broth. Place muffin tins in freezer over night, or for a few hours. Once frozen, pop out soup 'pucks' and put into a container.
 Take extra soup broth you have left over, and either place in muffin tins, or put it in ice cube trays. (place in freezer, and then put in container and put back in freezer, like you did the soup.)

Heat a couple soup pucks over medium heat when desired, and serve. (This is AWESOME for toddlers!)

Add your extra broth cubes/pucks if you want more broth, or, use them to flavor other recipes.

(I pop 2-3 cubes of soup broth in with peas and ham/bacon, for a quick, yummy lunch for my little one!)

*great to use if someone is sick too.*

Extra Tips:

If your bones from your broth still have a good amount of stuff on them, and your veggies are still whole etc, add a few more spices and celery, and do another broth with it! Then, freeze your broth in cubes or pucks, so you have pure bone broth at hand for future soups/recipes/sickness.

If you don't like to eat mushy vegetables, take your soup off the burner while they are still a bit firm. They will soften up when they cook a second time after you freeze them. If you want to eat a bowl then (for dinner/lunch or whatever), set aside the amount you want to keep cooking a bit more.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!