Whatever CHICKEN Soup

Gather around for installment in my never-ending quest to clear my freezer of leftovers!

The previous batch of soup is gone, Spring is within spitting distance, and I’m getting that itch again. Work From Home means I have time, but not the attention for cooking. So the crockpot is once again up to bat. Morning before work was spent in setup, while lunch was spent in prep and execution.

A quick trawl through the freezer uncovered a quart of turkey broth of unknown provenance and a half-gallon of chicken broth that’s older than I care to admit. Bah; that did not stop me. Into the crockpot they went, on high and with a cup of water to provide insulation. Those served as base for the liquid.

While that got all melty, I trolled through deeper into what remained available to me. A quick search turned up:
-a handful of a frozen peas and carrots mix; in that went
-a dozen baby carrots reaching their use-by date; those went in diced up
-five end-of-live potatoes; sliced up and added
-so much zucchini; most of that will be saved for bread, but a quart got dropped in
-that bag of bell peppers; two handfuls added
-that bag of white onion; a pinch of that dropped in
-the neglected remains of a jar of organic roasted garlic; it all joined in
-two dime bags of cilantro; those may be revisited
-that bag of macadamia nuts; still a bridge too far.

Of course the base was salty, and the roasted garlic seemed like too much. But I bet the potatoes took care of that. After everything was added in, the crockpot heat was left on high and the contents thoroughly stirred. About three hours simmer softened even the largest potato, I shifted the heat down to low. Another hour of heat, and I shifted it to warm. It had cooked much faster than I anticipated, and I did not want it to burn.

Initial tested tasted good, but one hand, it seemed lacking something to me. On the other hand, the teen thought it tasted good, and the teen is no soup fan. On the gripping hand, Herself recommended some pepper, possibly lemon pepper, to “brighten” it up. (She couldn’t define “brighten” either.) I added a healthy dash, and an hour’s simmer later, I was satisfied with how it turned out. With it for my dinner, I ended up with just under a gallon. Not a bad afternoon’s work.

Advertisement