Making soup from scratch isn’t as difficult as it might sound. Take a leftover roasted chicken, an onion, a couple of well-scrubbed carrots, a couple of medium celery stalks, a bay leaf or two, garlic, salt, and pepper, fill the pot until everything’s covered, then bring everything to a boil. Lower the heat and allow to simmer for two or three hours, and you’re ready to add whatever you like. You can use this method on chicken bones, turkey bones, and even beef or pork bones. If you’re a vegetarian, add some more vegetables to make a great veggie broth. Personally, I love a good chicken or turkey broth based soup.
Once you’ve gotten your broth strained and ready, add some more veggies, meat, beans, rice, potatoes, and/ or noodles. The combinations are endless, but a classic chicken noodle soup with carrots, celery, and onions always warms my tummy the best. Bring it back to a boil and lower to a simmer to tenderize the veggies and potatoes. If you’re adding noodles, you can toss them in when it boils. You can also cook the rice in the pot, but my favorite method is cooking the rice separate in a half broth half water mixture and added once it has absorbed most of the liquid.
Then you’ve got accompaniments. Saltine crackers, butter crackers, multi-grain crackers, gluten free crackers. Biscuits, muffins, cornbread. Sandwiches and salads. There are so many ways to serve up soup as a meal. If you’re making a tomato soup, you’ve even got cheese and cheese crackers to add.
Yesterday I made my family my favorite traditional soup with some homemade biscuits. We neglected to snap a picture in time, but it was the perfect meal for a very cold day in the mountains.
