Chicken and St. Maries' Wild Rice Soup

This recipe is for making ahead and freezing. If you leave the milk out you can add any type of milk you want 30 minutes before serving. You can add skim to cream or evaporated milk. Let me know how you like it!

St. Maries’  Wild Rice and Chicken Soup (bag or container)

3 cups cooked chicken, cut up (can use shrimp, but don’t bring, add when almost cooked)

1/4 cup butter

 ¼ C bacon bits

1 1/2 cup carrots, diced

1 1/2 cup celery, diced

1 1/2 cup onion, diced

8 ounces wild rice mix, uncooked

1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 cups 2 % milk

3 cups chicken broth

1 49.5 oz can chicken broth

Melt butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. 

Add bacon and vegetables.

Cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. 

Add rice and 2 cups of the broth. 

Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. 

Stir flour into remaining 1-cup broth. 

Add to soup and stir until bubbly.

Add milk and heat through. 

Let cool down before putting in containers/bags with individual’s chicken for freezing.  

Serves 8.

Make sure each person gets a 49.5 oz can of chicken broth for use when reheating.

 

“Costco Roasted Chicken” Soup

Ok, you had one of those amazing roasted chickens from Costco for dinner. It served 4 people, but there’s not enough left for another meal. What do you do? Create a soup of course! By looking at the vegetables, herbs and spices you have on hand you can determine the type of soup you can make. Get all the ingredients out and immediately begin getting all the remaining meat off the bone. After doing that you just have carcass and skin left. Grab a large pot and put the remaining carcass and skin into the pot. Fill it with water and place it on the stove on high.

The vegetables I decided to use were:

3 potatoes, ½ red pepper, 1 medium onion, 5 cloves of garlic, 4 stalks of celery, and 3 small carrots.

I wanted to eat soon, so I got out another soup pot and placed it on the burner. I put a little canola oil in the bottom and warmed it up.
After dicing all the fresh ingredients, I turned up the oil to medium. I sautéed the onion, then added the garlic and the rest as they were ready.
With a bowl on the side for vegetable garbage, I began cutting the vegetables. All discards went into the bowl.
While I was dicing, 2 quarts of previously frozen chicken broth was thawing in the microwave. One had lots of chicken meat in it from a previously devoured “Costco Roasted Chicken”.

After about 10 minutes of sautéing the vegetables I added the chicken that I had picked off the bone and the 2 quarts of broth. Immediately I realized it looked like a stew instead of a soup, so I added 3 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of organic “Better than Bouillon” chicken base. That too was a Costco purchase.

http://www.superiortouch.com/retail/products/better-than-bouillon

I also added 3 Tablespoons of minced fresh parsley, 6 twists of ground black pepper and a pinch of kosher salt. When I purchase or grow a fresh herb, often I prepare it for a recipe and freeze what I don’t use for the winter when it isn’t readily available in my garden. The parsley was in a bag in my freezer.

After simmering for 20 minutes we ate the soup! The leftovers I placed in quart containers and brought to a sick loved one.

What about the simmering carcass? No, I didn't forget it. I placed all vegetable discards in the pot as well as 4 cloves of garlic smashed with peel on. After 3 hours I let it cool, strained it, then put the broth in the fridge for my next soup concoction. While draining the carcass additional meat appeared which went right into the broth. The bowl of broth will sit tonight in the fridge where the fat rises. I will skim of the hardened fat in the morning and it will be ready to put in quart freezer containers.

“Costco Roasted Chicken” Soup
3 Cups cooked diced chicken
2 quarts chicken broth
6 Cups diced and sautéed vegetables of your choice
Minced parsley
Pepper and salt to taste
Cook until vegetables are the consistency that you like and enjoy!
Great with roasted garlic artisan bread!

Leftovers can be frozen for lunch at another date or eaten the next day.

Fennel: You too can use it!

The colors, sounds and smells are energizing when strolling down the shops in the Pike Street Market in Seattle, Washington. The vegetables, which are meticulously arranged in the public market, are awaiting to be a part of your next soup. After purchasing some fruit for a snack and herbs for our big Turkey dinner next week, I commented on how beautiful the fennel was. It was only $1.99 for the bulb! After bagging up my purchase the employee handed me the bag and asked what I use fennel for. I promised her one of my favorite recipes and here it is! If you are a part of the Seattle Soup Swap, go on down to the market and purchase these fresh vegies!


Crock Pot Chicken and Vegetable Tortellini Stew (bag)
2 lbs raw chicken (brown or white), sliced in bite sizes
3 C drained, rinsed garbanzo beans
1 ½ C frozen carrots, sliced diagonally, or matchsticks
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ C fennel bulb, chopped
1 ½ C onion chopped
1½ C baby spinach leaves packed
3 T fresh basil leaves chopped
½ t ground pepper
1 48 oz. can chicken broth
1 C water (extra liquid for cooking tortellini in pot)
1 C dried tortellini

Place everything except the tortellini in the Crock Pot.
Put on low for 6-8 hours.
30 minutes before eating add the tortellini, or cook tortellini separately and add at end in soup bowls.If cooking the tortellini separately, omit the 1 C of water in the Crock Pot.
Garnish with fresh Parmesan cheese

Wow it's Time!

....for the winter staples. I went to the store and found that the summer produce is gone and the winter produce has taken over. The squash soup is great, but variety is the spice of life! Try this for a side dish or inexpensive lunch or dinner.This recipe freezes well for later menus. I usually purchase the Garam Masala at World Market, but if you are adventurous, try the recipe below the soup recipe to prepare this Indian staple. Let me know how it goes.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

1 ounce butter
1 onions, finely sliced
1 carrots, finely sliced
1 stalk celery, finely sliced
1 -2 head broccoli
4 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup milk or 1 can evaporated milk
1 t garam masala
salt and pepper as desired
Directions:
Melt butter in saucepan, add onion, carrot and celery.
Saute gently until soft, about 4 minutes.
Trim the woody ends of the stalk and peel.
Roughly cut up heads and remaining stalk.
Add broccoli to pan with chicken stock, milk.
Season with spices.
Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 25 minutes.
When broccoli is tender, transfer vegies to a blender or use immersion blender.
Blend on high until all ingredients are smooth.
Return mixture to saucepan.
Heat until lightly boiling and thickened.


Garam Masala

4 tbsps coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 ½ tsps black cumin seeds (shahjeera)
1 ½ tsps dry ginger
¾ tsp black cardamom (3-4 large pods approx)
¾ tsp cloves
¾ tsp cinnamon (2 X 1” pieces)
¾ tsp crushed bay leaves
Preparation:
Heat a heavy skillet on a medium flame and gently roast all ingredients (leave cardamom in its pods till later) except the dry ginger, till they turn a few shades darker. Stir occasionally. Do not be tempted to speed up the process by turning up the heat as the spices will burn on the outside and remain raw on the inside.
When the spices are roasted turn off the heat and allow them to cool.
Once cooled, remove the cardamom seeds from their skins and mix them back with all the other roasted spices.
Grind them all together, to a fine powder in a clean, dry coffee grinder.
Store in an air-tight container in a cool, dark place.

It's 5:30 and no dinner!

Sometimes this happens to me, even though I have meals in the freezer. Fortunately, I also usually put some cooked meat in the freezer for days such as tonight. Between all morning with my Mom at the Dr., then helping a friend...ok, we were mostly visiting, but we did accomplish an important task, then transporting my daughter from school to home, I was finally free at 5:30 to cook! Here's what I came up with:

Chicken and Vegetable Soup
2 C cooked diced chicken (found in freezer)
2 Quarts frozen Chicken Broth (homemade)
2 C Boiling Water
1 large onion, diced
4 garlic cloves. Minced
4 medium carrots, sliced
1 small zucchini, sliced
3 T fresh parsley, minced
1 T dry basil
1 t dry thyme
¼ t black pepper
1 shake red pepper flakes
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
½ C dry pasta (left over in the cupboard)
Salt as desired

Get out soup pot and sauté pan.
Place frozen broth and water in soup pan, turn to medium and defrost.
Place 2 T Olive oil in sauté pan and place onion in. Stir and add garlic. I sprinkled ½ teaspoon kosher salt over the mixture at this point.
When onion is becoming clear, place mixture in soup pot.
Saute carrots and zucchini for 7 minutes then place in soup pot.
By now broth is boiling and it’s time to add the spices.
Add the pasta and beans.
Keep the broth at a light boil.
The soup is done when the pasta is al dente.
Turn the stove to warm and serve!
Serve with roasted garlic bread, which I had left over from the night before…..we dip it into balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil..YUM!

Honestly, we were eating by 6:30pm!