The Whole Chicken Soup

This is HEAVENLY comfort in a bowl. We tried this recipe with boneless-skinless chicken breasts and it definitely lost something in the translation. After that blah-dom we went back to using a whole skinned chicken. MMM - back to the yummy.

The Whole Chicken Soup

Ingredients
Whole Chicken (about 4 pounds)
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
2lbs carrots (divided)
1 bunch celery (divided)
12 black peppercorns
¼ cup Better Than Bouillon chicken base
8 ounces Barilla Farfalle

Instructions

Remove the chicken skin and innards. Place the chicken in a LARGE stockpot. Fill with at least 1 gallon of water. Bring to a boil over high heat then reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

 

While the chicken is simmering, wash the celery and peel the carrots. Rough cut about 1lb of the carrots and half of the celery. Peel and quarter the onion.

When the 30 minutes of simmering are up, add the rough cut pound of carrots, half of the celery and all of the onion. Add the peppercorns. Cover the pot and simmer for one hour.

Use that hour to chop the remaining celery into small pieces and cut the remaining carrots into coins. Prepare a large strainer over a GREAT BIG bowl (or container large enough to receive the liquid chicken stock. DO NOT make the mistake I did once. I picked a medium sized bowl and had a big weepy boo-hoo as I watched half of my lovely stock goes down the drain.

When  the hour of simmering is complete, strain the chicken stock. Reserve the chicken in the strainer and set aside to cool. Discard the cooked celery, carrots, onions and peppercorns that were used to flavor the chicken stock.

Pour the strained stock into a gallon drink container with a bottom spigot. Let the stock set so that the oil will rise to the top (about 5 minutes). When the oil has separated from the stock, position the spigot over your empty stockpot. Open the spigot and let the broth drain into the pot being careful to turn off the spigot before the oil is drained. Discard the oil.

Place the stockpot on high heat, add the chicken base and mix well. After the broth and base have combined, add the chopped celery and carrot coins. Bring the broth mixture and veggies to a boil then reduce the heat and cover. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the carrots are tender.

While the chicken stock, celery and carrots are simmering, remove any remaining the skin and bone from the chicken and cut the meat into bite size chunks. The chicken will be so tender it will fall of the bone and can be cut up easily.When the carrots are tender, add the chicken and noodles. Heat for about 10 minutes or until the noodles are cooked to your preference.

1 Serving is 1/12th of the recipe (about 1.5 cups of soup)

Nutrition Per Serving:
Calories 171.8, Fat 3g, Carbs 16.8g, Fiber 1.9g, Protein 19.4g and 4 Points Plus

Enchilada Sauce

Guilt free and seriously a delicious choice!

Chicken Enchilada Soup option shown

This recipe uses canned Enchilada Sauce and kicks it up a notch with a the yumminess of pumpkin.

Ingredients:

¼ cup water
½ cup celery, diced small
1 clove garlic, diced small
½ onion, diced small
½ green bell pepper, diced small
1½ cups canned 100% pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 can (4 ounces)diced green chilies (do not drain)
1 can (20 ounces) Rosarita Red Enchilada Sauce
1 Tablespoon Ground Chipotle Chili Pepper

Instructions:
Place the water, celery, garlic, onion and bell pepper in a large stockpot on medium-high.

Cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender and reduced and the water is gone.

Add the pumpkin puree, green chilies and enchilada sauce. Stir occasionally until all is heated through. Add the chili pepper to taste.

This is a great way to get fiber and veggies. There is not a hint of pumpkin in the way it looks, tastes or smells. The texture is a thick sauce.

This recipe makes 9 - ½ cup servings.

Each ½ cup sauce = 1 PointsPlus.

Option:

Enchilada Soup (Additional PointsPlus will apply):

For each ½ cup sauce add ½ cup fat-free chicken broth, one ounce of chicken (grilled boneless and skinless) and ¼ cup of frozen corn. Top with shredded cheese and tortilla strips if desired.

This sauce also freezes well.