For the soup, I used homemade chicken broth. When I bake chicken, I save the bones in a zip bag in my freezer until I have enough bags to fill 21 quarts pot and make chicken broth. I then can the broth. I save bones from beef and pork to make bone broth. During summer time, I save vegetable scrap from my garden to make vegetable broth as well.

The zucchini came from my garden. I harvested them in summer, grated them, filled zip bag loosely and froze them.

https://ninasoap.com/2018/02/can-growing-your-own-vegetables-save-you-money/

I have not purchase onion in store for over two years. I grow Egyptian onion and from spring to fall, I harvest the leaves, clean, and chop them and freeze in zip bag. There is a month in summer they stop growing other than that, I can harvest their leaves until early winter.

The jalapeno came from the store. I purchased many pounds when they were on sale at the grocery store last summer, rinsed them, filled zip bags and stored in the freezer.

https://ninasoap.com/2018/05/how-to-save-money-on-groceries/

The carrot came from the store as well. When it was on sale at Aldi, I stocked up. I peeled them, grated, filled zip bag, and stored in the freezer. This reduce my cooking time when I am back from work in the evening. By the matter of fact, I made this soup a Monday evening on a snowy day. It took me about two hours though but I really wanted chicken soup that night. I didn’t even planned ahead. I just made up my mind on my way home as I was thinking about what to make for dinner. I did have the chicken in the fridge to thaw two days prior.

I used two quart of chicken broth to boil the chicken and latter I used about a quart of frozen chicken juice and didn’t have to open the third quart of broth. When I bake chicken, I drain the liquid to a bowl and cool in the fridge. Later I remove the hardened fat on top of the juice and put the fat in a plastic container to freeze and pop out to a zip bag which I store in the freeze. I use that to cook and fry. It saves me money when I don’t need to buy peanut oil to fry. The juice left in the bowl usually turns into a jello type texture. I cut it in pieces and freeze flat in a zip bag. I have so many of that from 2018 when I baked many chicken to cane. I have used the chicken juice throughout this winter in making gravy. So I used quite a bit of the frozen chicken juice to replace the third quart of broth and freed space in my freezer. The chicken was whole chicken cut in pieces that I got from my in-laws’ farm. I saved some of the chicken pieces ( the legs and thighs), which I salted, add them to a baking dish and baked at 350 degree F for about one hour or until they were lightly broth. I drained the fat and juice out of the pan and stored the pan in the fridge for another meal. Now let’s see how this soup is made out.

 

Chicken Soup

Raw Chicken pieces (neck, wings, heart, chest)

3 Quart Chicken Broth (homemade)

1 Cup Grated Zucchini

1 Cup Grated Carrot

1 Cup Chopped Onion (I used leaves of Egyptian onion from my garden)

1 chopped Jalapeno

Salt

 

Directions:

In a 6 quarts pot, add the chicken pieces.

Add 2 quarts chicken broth.

Salt to taste.

Cover the pot with a lid and bring to a boil at a high temperature on the stove.

Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about one hour or until the chicken is done.

Get a baking dish and use two spoons to remove the chicken from the pot to the baking dish.

Skim the remaining liquid to reduce the fat in the pot. The skimmed fat can be stored in the fridge for cooking.

Add the zucchini, carrot, onion, and jalapeno to the pot.

Bring to a boil and let it cook.

Allow the chicken to cool.

By hand remove the chicken meat from the bones. Use a knife to cut big pieces into chunks. Save the bones in a zip bag and in the freezer to make broth later if desired.

Add the chicken back to the pot.

Add the third quart of broth. Add more broth or water if desired. But this soup is not too watery.

Cook for about 10 minutes.

Serve hot with homemade cornbread on the side.