Recipe by Lisa L of Monroe
MONEY SAVED: $18
I was in California visiting my grandpa and saw half a roasted chicken carcass in his fridge. Wanting to help him with not wasting food he already had, I offered to make thick (“chonky”) chicken soup. After a quick check of the fridge and pantry, I found that he had everything on hand to make it from scratch, except for fresh celery, thyme, and parsley.
RECIPE (*leftovers clearly identified):
- 1/2 roasted chicken carcass, including bones*
- 1/3 bag of sad looking baby carrots*
- 1/2 older yellow onion*
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder*
- 1/2 lemon*
- 3 large stalks of celery
- 1 pound little purple potatoes*
- 1 unlabelled zip-lock bag spiral pasta*
- 1-2 tbsp of soy sauce or Bragg’s liquid aminos*
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme, stems removed
- 1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley
- 1 tbsp dried tarragon
- 2-3 bay leaves
- Fresh cracked pepper to taste*
- Salt to taste*
- Bouillon powder to taste*
- 6-8 c water, depending on how much broth you like
* leftover or already in the house
Chop the onions, potatoes, carrots, and celery into large pieces and throw them into a pot with the chicken carcass. Add dried herbs and a splash of soy sauce or Bragg’s. Pour in 8c water and cover; cook on low-medium heat for one hour. After the potatoes and carrots have softened, gently separate the chicken meat from the bones and let cool a bit.
In a separate smaller pot or saucepan, cook the noodles to “al dente” firmness, then add to the soup. While the noodles are cooking, remove the bones and bay leaves from the main pot using a gloved hand and fork, then add in fresh parsley and thyme (after removing stems).
Serve soup with a slice of lemon for squeezing. Voila!
Option: Can be made gluten free with wild rice instead of pasta noodles.