The past few days it has felt like I was living in another land, far, far away. Like Scotland or the UK! This damp, dreary weather had me hungry for a warm bowl of soup today. Now beware, I like my soups thick and hearty and these 5 simple ingredients I threw together sure hit the spot. I was fortunate to have all home-raised or organic ingredients on hand, too!
INGREDIENTS
Whole chicken
Broth or stock
Celery
Carrots
Wild rice blend
DIRECTIONS
Cook chicken.
I used my insta-pot. Stuck a whole frozen bird in there! LOL. I pressure cooked it for an hour in some organic stock (beef is what I had but chicken works too) and yes, the bones were soft and chewy when it was done. I’ll probably never win a cooking show, but I was hoping this method of breaking down the bones would add some extra minerals and collagen to the stock!
Make rice
I did this while the chicken was cooking in a rice cooker. If you don’t have a rice cooker, consider getting one! I almost always had a boil-over when making rice, leaving a mess on my stove top. A rice cooker takes liquid + rice and makes it perfect every time with a flip of a switch and no babysitting! Make sure you follow directions if you are using brown or wild rice as it usually requires more liquid. I used more of the beef stock in place of water to give the rice extra flavor.
Debone cooked chicken and place meat in stock pot.
Give the farm kitties a treat! They pick those leftover bones clean and eat the soft ones.
Strain broth from insta-pot and add to stock pot with chicken.
Cut up celery, carrots and add to chicken.
Add more liquid as needed and simmer, covered, on low until veggies are cooked to your liking.
At this step I added a bit of salt, some pepper, plus dried sage and rosemary from my garden. Use whatever suits your taste!
Add rice, simmer until thickened and enjoy!
