chicken noodle soups with root vegetables

2 c each of peeled carrots, rutabagas, turnips and parsnips in 1/2" dice
2 c each of celery and onions in 1/2" dice
10 c of stock
Salt and pepper to taste
12 oz whole wheat pasta
2 c of greens, roughly chopped
1 # cooked chicken, diced

This is a recipe for stretching a whole chicken and in-season root vegetables into meals for several days plus leftover ingredients for future meals. If you've already got chicken stock and cooked chicken on hand, save the carcass, neck, and heart plus vegetable trimmings for future stockmaking -- I trim into a bag in my freezer. When I have both a bag full of trimmings and a carcass, I make stock and put that into my freezer so that I always have homemade stock on hand. Unless your schedule prohibits you from ever being able to start with a whole chicken and end up with both cheap chicken and cheap stock, it's crazy to pay a premium for boneless skinless chicken and/or commercial chicken stock. Eating healthy doesn't have to be expensive!

If starting with a whole uncooked chicken: Remove giblets and neck from chicken cavity and reserve. Roast the chicken, reserving the pan juices. When the chicken cools, remove the meat from the carcass and dice, reserving the carcass. Reserve two cups of diced chicken for this recipe (I usually use the dark meat from the wings, drumsticks, and thighs for soup) and reserve the remainder for another use.

Place carcass, pan juices, neck, and heart (don't include liver -- it can make the stock bitter) into a large (~16 quart) stock pot and fill with water to within a few inches of the top. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce to a BARE simmer (you should see steam but no surface bubbling at all -- I start the pot on the high setting of my highest burner, but then switch to pot to my lowest burner and use its lowest setting for the simmer). Simmer half an hour, skimming often to remove scum that forms, as scum can make the stock bitter. (During this time you can also peel all your carrots, turnips, parsnips for the soup recipe and reserve the peels to add to your stock. Rutabagas are typically dipped in wax for storage, so if your rutabaga feels waxy, don't use its peel.) Add a roughly chopped carrot, celery stalk, and onion, a couple of mashed garlic cloves, a few allspice berries and peppercorns, plus the peels from the veggies for the soup. Return to a BARE simmer and simmer at least one hour; longer is better if you have the time, and six to eight hours is not too long. Add extra water as necessary to make sure carcass is always covered. Strain through cheesecloth. Skim fat. Reserve 10 cups for this recipe and freeze the remainder in 1-cup portions for future uses.

If starting with cooked chicken and stock you already have on hand:

Dice all veggies into 1/2" pieces. Remove main stems from greens and roughly chop. Add veggies except greens to large (8 quart) pot with stock and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Taste and add salt and pepper. Simmer half an hour, then add pasta, stir, and return to a simmer, adding water as needed to cover completely and stirring occasionally, simmering ten minutes. Add chicken and greens, cover, turn heat to lowest setting, and cook five minutes until the greens are tender. Taste again and correct seasonings. Serve with a salad and whole-grain bread.





Serving Size: 20 servings

Number of Servings: 20

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user VALEREEE.