Chicken Soup....for the soul...

Any time someone in my family is sick, I make chicken soup. It's your traditional chicken soup, nothing fancy, but my sister always says it tastes better than any chicken soup she's ever had. I just add a whole lotta love to it. It's an easy recipe, anyone can make, and though it takes some time to cook, the end result is well worth the wait.

Ingredients:
Chicken (DUH)- I use chicken quarters.
chopped carrots
chopped celery
chopped onions
chicken base paste or bouillon cubes (chicken broth works fine as well)
pasta - I like whole wheat pasta
salt
pepper

I start off by boiling the chicken. I keep the skin on the chicken cause that is where all the juices are... I boil it for about an hour and then take it out, remove the skin and cut it up into small pieces for the soup. To boil it, fill your pot with water, add some vegetable oil to it along with salt & pepper.

While that is happening, in another large pot, I start with my broth. Boil water and add a large tablespoon of chicken base paste or bouillon cubes to it. If you prefer to use chicken broth, that's fine. Add your chopped ingredients to the pot, season to your liking and let it boil for a while.

Once the chicken is done boiling remove the skin & chop it up into smaller pieces for the soup. Let that simmer together. Be sure to taste the broth again, and make sure its properly seasoned. If it doesn't quite have that chicken flavor to it, feel free to add another bouillon cube or chicken paste (or broth) to it to get it there. Once it's simmered together for about 10-15 minutes add your pasta. I usually use elbow, but you can use whatever pasta makes you happy. Once the pasta is in, it only needs to boil for about 5-6 minutes. The broth should be really hot and the pasta will cook quickly. Also, do not add too much pasta if you want to freeze it as the pasta will suck up your broth. And that's it!

Bon Appetit!!