Chicken Vegetable Soup with Brown Rice

The weather is turning colder, the noses are getting stuffier and the preferred meal, as of late, is soup.
I love making a ginormous amount of Chicken Vegetable Soup and freezing most of it in smaller containers for later use. Plus, this recipe is soup-er easy to make and soup-er tasty.
That was dorky, I know. Forgive me.

I usually freeze the bones of any bird that I have cooked at one time or another, saving it just for this recipe.
But, if you don’t have frozen bird carcasses, you can use approximately 6 cups of ready chicken broth or 8 chicken bouillon cubes for the base flavor, adding cooked chicken to the pot.

Here’s what you’ll need for the Chicken Vegetable Soup:
2-3 Cups Chopped Celery, leaves and all
4 Red Potatoes
5 Medium Carrots
2 Yellow Onions
2-3 Cups Brown Rice
2 Cans of Stewed Tomatoes
1 Can of No Salt Added Corn
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Thyme
1/4-1/2 tsp Pepper (depending on your preference)
1/2-1 tsp Salt (depending on your preference)
3 Frozen Bird Carcasses (see instructions above if you don’t have this)
5 Bay Leaves

Fill a large stock pot or canning pot with water and add the bird carcasses and bay leaves. Bring the pot to a rolling boil, and then turn the heat down to medium.
Let it cook for 30 minutes and then remove the pot from the heat to cool.
While that’s happening, prep your veggies!

Chop 2-3 cups of celery into chunks, using the entire stalk-including the leaves. Grab a large bowl and throw the celery into it.

Dice up four red potatoes into bite sized pieces and add them to the bowl.

Next, chop the five medium carrots into bite sized pieces and also add them to the bowl.

Dice up both of the yellow onions. You guessed it, add it to the bowl.

Add two cups of brown rice to the bowl.

Add the 1 tsp of oregano and 1 tsp of thyme to the bowl.

Next, add the 1/2-1 tsp of salt and the 1/4-1/2 tsp of pepper, depending upon how salty and peppery you like your food.

Add the 1 can of undrained corn and the 2 cans of undrained stewed tomatoes. If the tomatoes are in big chunks as mine were, chop them up into smaller pieces.

Once the bone water is cool to the touch, use a ladle to remove the bones. The water is a yummy broth that will become the base of your soup.

Once the bones are cool, pick off any remaining meat that is still on the bones, adding it to the broth water.
Throw in the bowl of veggies and spices. Bring the pot to boil again and allow it to boil for two minutes. Then turn the heat down to a low simmer with the lid tilted. Cook for an hour or until the rice is tender.
If you refrigerate your soup and allow the flavors to mingle for a day, the soup will be even better the next day.

This recipe makes a large amount of soup. Freeze as much of it as you can and enjoy it throughout the week.
Like a fine wine and my man, Biceps, this soup gets better with age….