's MOTD Tue 12/19/06 - chicken soup recipe

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's Daily Message TuesdayDecember 19, 2006HOW ABOUT A BOWL?

Last night, after my chat in the Clubhouse, I had myself a delicious bowl of soup. No, not out of a can. I don`t eat canned soups. And no, I didn`t buy it at some fancy soup kitchen, either. (I also don`t go to soup kitchens.) My soup was homemade and Grandma didn`t make it...I did! And today, I`m sharing my own soup recipe with you.

If every American would eat a healthy soup and salad combo for dinner, there would be fewer doctors in the world. Why? Because more people would be well instead of sick. Today, we are taking stock of chicken stock.

I know many of you use the fat-free chicken broth you buy in a can from the supermarket and, I`ll admit, I have, too. But once you make your own broth, you will become the master of soups in your home.

Yesterday morning, I made my own chicken broth. It made my kitchen smell so-o-o good. Now, here`s what you have to do:

In a large pot, add one pound of cut up chicken, 10 cups of water, four stalks of celery and four carrots. You`ll also need one medium onion, cut in quarters, two cloves of sliced garlic, one bay leaf, ten peppercorns and a pinch of salt.

Bring all of the ingredients to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes. Then you need to remove the chicken pieces. Poke a fork into the chicken to make sure it is fully cooked. If it`s not quite done, simmer a few more minutes. When done, remove all of the chicken pieces and let them cool.

With your hands, shred the chicken meat and place the bones back into the broth. Now here`s the part that`s important. (It`s the part that really makes the taste.) Simmer the broth for three more hours. When finished, strain the stock and refrigerate. As the broth chills, there will be a layer of fat on top that will have become solid. Skim the fat from the top and toss it into the trash. When you`re all done, you will taste what real chicken broth should taste like.

You will yield about 7 cups of rich broth and here`s what I do next: I cut up the celery, onions and carrots then add them all back into the broth. Next, I add the shredded chicken, a cup-and-a-half of brown rice, four tablespoons of lemon juice and four tablespoons of finely chopped parsley.

I simmer it all for just a few minutes and viola! My scrumptious chicken vegetable soup was all ready! I had two cups of my soup along with a fresh green salad made with fresh beets, purple onions and sliced tangerine sections, freshly plucked from the tangerine tree that grows just outside my kitchen door. I added a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to my salad and went to town! M-m-m-m...good!

If you were here right now, I`d ladle you up a bowl of my soup and yodel for you. Do you make soup?

Love,