soups that warm the heart and soul.

It’s another chilly day out in Michigan and so I thought I would continue with yesterday’s theme of foods that warm the soul.  I find that the best part about the fall is glorious soups, stews, stoups and chilies that you can make to help warm you up after a long day of work.  I know what you’re thinking homemade soup is going to take me hours to cook and I do not have the time for this but you’re wrong.  The best part about a homemade soup is that you can cook it in a pot for a couple of hours or you can throw the ingredients into your slow cooker while you’re at work and all you have to do is boil some water for the noodles.  I am going to share with you an easy recipe for delicious homemade soup that you will want to make over and over again.

Ingredients-

1 whole chicken

1bag of Celery stalks

1 bag of carrots

1 medium onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 bay leave

Salt and pepper to taste

1 sprig of rosemary

1 or 2 chicken Boolean cubes

Directions

In a large pot add the whole chicken, bay leave, rosemary, 3 garlic cloves, half of the medium onion, 2 celery stocks cut in half, two carrots cut in thirds or half and salt and pepper. Fill the pot with water and let cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Cut the rest of your veggies and place in the fridge for later. Remove whole chicken and set in a cooking dish to cool to the touch. Using a slotted spoon remove the bay leave, rosemary, garlic cloves, onion, celery, and carrots. Discard the garlic, rosemary and bay leave. After your chicken has cooled remove it from bone shredding it as you go and place back into your homemade broth. Then add the rest of your veggies and let cook until your veggies are at the desired softness. Boil noodles of your choice and serve.

Make sure that you taste your broth and add salt if you need it. I recommend starting with a small amount of salt because you can always add salt you can’t take it out. Also you can also cook this dish in a crockpot just make sure that the veggies for your soup are cooked the night before and added just to warm up later that day.  You can also serve this dish with some fresh parmesan cheese, crackers and some homemade bread.