Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Recipe: Chicken Rice Soup

Chicken Rice Soup

Chicken Rice Soup
(slightly modified from Nourishing Traditions)

2 quarts chicken stock (homemade is best)
1 C. brown rice
1 C. diced or shredded chicken meat and/or chicken liver and heart
diced vegetables (original recipe called for 1 1/2 C., I usually just use a bag of frozen mixed veggies)
sea salt and pepper to taste (I sometimes add other seasonings, like thyme, and I'm sure if you had fresh it would be a plus.  I just noticed the original recipe called for fish sauce, which I've never used in it -- have used it in my Plaza 3 Soup and it was fine)

Bring stock and rice to boil and skim off any foam that may rise to the top.  Reduce heat and cook, covered, about one hour until rice is tender.  Add the vegetables, diced meats, season to taste and cook until just tender (original recipe says 5-10 minutes, but I'd allow longer...). 

Notes:  I often make a larger quantity of this.  Can be frozen.  It's easy, and healthful.  It will taste a bit bland if you aren't liberal with the seasonings.  It's good, as any chicken soup, when there's illness in the house, but some of my children actually seem to prefer to just drink salted chicken broth itself. 
Another thing I'll mention:  The original recipe says children love this, but my young children aren't really that fond of most soups in general.  They get better with them as they get older, and my older ones really like potato, tomato, and egg drop soups, but this one they aren't quite as fond of.  Most of them usually eat it without complaint but it's not one they get excited about.

To see more of my recipe posts, visit my "Recipes" page.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, a great place to find whole foods recipes.

5 comments:

  1. Looks yummy--and healthier than mine (cuz I put cheese in mine, lol)

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  2. Looks good! How do you make your own broth? That's something I have yet to try. I appreciate you linking up with Real Food Wednesday...it reminded me to, also.

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  3. Shonya: Nah, cheese is good for you! You need saturated fat! That sounds good -- I should totally at least serve some shredded cheese with this to let people add to it if they want.
    http://westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/526-skinny-on-fats

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  4. Eve: Broth is really very easy. All you need to start is chicken parts, water, and seasonings (just salt and pepper will do). You can really use about any chicken part at all to make some sort of broth. However, skinless, boneless chicken breasts won’t make nearly as rich a broth as will, say, an entire chicken, even including parts like the liver and neck (and if you aren't grossed out by them and can get some, the feet :)). The more bones and other parts that contain minerals and things like gelatin (very good for digestion) you have, the better. You can also add vegetables to cook with it for added nutrients and flavor. I usually use celery, carrots, and onions. You just put it all in a big pot, cover with water, bring it to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for at least as long as the chicken is cooked, but longer if you want more minerals and gelatin from any bones you’ve included to transfer into the broth. There are lots of variations, and I’m sure varied opinions on what things make for more or less healthful and/or tasty broth, but the basics aren’t difficult and most likely about anything you make at home from scratch is going to be better than most store-bought soups and broths.

    One of the neat things about homemade broth is that it can really be economical as well as good for you. You even get nutrition out of things that would otherwise go to waste, like the bones, and maybe parts of veggies that you don't serve but that might be just fine to cook for broth (well-washed – things like some of the celery bits you might usually trim off, or the onion or carrot ends you might normally cut off). When your broth is done, remove the large pieces of chicken, then strain to remove veggies, etc. You can probably eat the veggies if you want, but they usually end up just tasting like broth so they aren’t that great unless you didn’t cook the broth long. You can use the chicken in another recipe that calls for cooked chicken, and you may be able to re-use the bones again to make more broth if you want. Sometimes I make a large amount and freeze in smaller quantities for adding to other recipes.

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  5. I came back tonight to read your blog and discovered your response! Thanks for the recipe and instructions. I look forward to making this soon.

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