GP Friendly Homemade Comforting Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 gallon water
6 Chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
12 large garlic cloves
1 large onion
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
4 cups winter squash, peeled and diced ( I like butternut squash, Hubbard squash, or Caribbean "Pumpkin" squash )
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
salt to taste ( approx. 2 teaspoons)
pepper, multi-colored peppercorns, freshly ground, to taste (approx. 1 tablespoon)
Optional: 2 Tablespoons, Organic, Better than Bouillon, Reduced Sodium, Chicken Base

After chilling and removing chicken fat, I ladle soup into a bowl and microwave it before serving. Then, I put the stock pot of cold soup back in the fridge. This saves energy, and I usually eat my special soup for about 4 to 5 days. So you cook for one day, and eat for 4 or 5 days. I cook the onion whole and remove as it is hard for those of us with GP to digest it. You can add finely chopped cilantro when serving if you tolerate it, or other fresh herbs. I calculated the calories using

Place water in large Dutch oven or stock pot. Place over high heat. Add chicken. Take the peel garlic, and trim off stems. Place garlic in 1 cup of water in blender, such as a Nutri Bullet, and puree until smooth. Add mixture to soup. Peel the onion, leaving whole, and cut root end off, being careful not to cut so deeply that the onion falls apart. The idea is to keep the onion whole while cooking it. Pierce onion with a knife in several places to help juice escape. Gently place onion in boiling soup stock. Peel carrots and potatoes, dice and place in stock. I use disposable gloves when peeling and cutting the winter squash to keep the sticky residue off my hands. Dice it and place in stock. Add the bouillon if desired. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a full boil and stir well. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 2 hours, but longer is much better as the longer you cook it, the more nutrition and flavor are extracted from the bones and skin. After cooking, gently remove the whole onion and discard. Place soup in refrigerator, making sure to place a pot holder or thick towel under the pan. Chill well. Skim-off all the now hardened chicken fat, floating on top, and discard it. Discard the skin and bones, and shred the meat with your fingers. Heat and serve! This beats any canned soup, hands-down!

Serving Size: Makes approximately 12, 2-cup servings

Number of Servings: 12

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user DEEPFOREST.