After my husband’s health issues, as many of you know, I decided to change our lifestyle and educate myself in heart health and label reading. It is ASTONISHING what is in our foods. Especially the HIGH amounts of sodium (please refer to the Sodium Epidemic article on my blog).  I set out to create recipes low in sodium but high in flavor. I am a HUGE fan of chicken soup and wanted to continue to make it for my family but with a healthy version. I feel there is nothing more therapeutic than a day of stock and soup making…just makes me happy and the house smells amazing!!! So here is the beginning of your soup making day and I will also include my soup recipe in another post.  Enjoy 🙂

You will need:

• large stockpot
• 1-1/2 -2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
• (Wash vegetables thoroughly and cut into large pieces, like 3rds or quarters include scraps and tops and bottoms)
• 2-3 parsnips
• 2-3 large carrots
• whole celery base and tops (save stalks for soup)
• 2 large yellow onions quartered leave skins on
• 1 or 2 whole unpeeled heads of garlic cut in half (use 2 if you like more garlic flavor)
• 2 tsp whole peppercorns
• (herbs…sometimes I use fresh sometimes I don’t, depends on what I have on hand. I’ve included measurements for dried herbs but if you have fresh feel free to substitute :))
• 1-1/2 tsp basil
• 1-1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1-1/2 tsp rosemary
• 3 TBS unsalted butter
• 1/4 c olive oil 

Put all ingredients in stock pot and cover in water (wash hands thoroughly after handling chicken) Put on high heat until it comes to a boil then drop to low heat and let simmer for at least 2 hours (you can let it simmer for up to 4 hours)…checking periodically to avoid boil overs. You can gently stir once an hour if you’d like. 

Remove from heat and let cool for 30 min. With a large slotted spoon remove veggies and chicken from the pot and set aside. Run the remaining stock thru a strainer with a paper towel lining the bottom into another large pot. I save the chicken pieces to use for my soup (discard the rest)… shred chicken into smaller pieces and put to the side. If you aren’t going right into soup making refrigerate or freeze the stock and the chicken.

Also, you may add 2 quarter pieces of lemon to the pot while cooking if you like a little zingy tang of lemon with your chicken soup/stock.

You can put stock into containers and freeze for future use. It freezes well.

Created with love by:

Creations_by_Char

Char Head 🙂