Chicken Soup

I just love making chicken soup; i.e. any kind of soup with chicken in it. The best chicken for this is boiled whole chicken, in my opinion. It gives you a good base for broth and leaves the chicken nice and tender.

In China, the cooking chicken come with their heads and feet still on. 

Oh, you know, just another day as a wife in China.

You have to put them in their juuuust right. 

Nice fit. All the limbs in.

Look Dad. I shot a chicken.

Look at Chara. She is very interested in this. 

Favorite Winter or Anytime Chicken Soup

(Off the top of my head)

2-3 Bay leaves.

Pot of water.

Whole chicken.

Salt. 

Pepper.

1 tsp olive oil.

Put all of the above in a pot and boil until the chicken is cooked through. I use kitchen scissors to cut the thighs to check. I am sure most of you don't live in Dongying and can find a kitchen thermometer, which would be more accurate.

Use a ladle to spoon out the foamy white stuff that forms at the top.

Once the chicken is finished, remove to cool. Leave broth.

Fill the pot with the following:

2 green bell pepper.

2 red bell pepper.

Yellow pepper. (if you want)

3 green chili peppers.

1-2 red onions. 

3 tomatoes and/or 20 baby tomatoes

All chopped.

1 can of corn.

(and any other veggies you want! I have added all varieties of veggies.) 

1 bunch of cilantro. 

slice the leaves and stems.

Lots of fresh garlic.

3 tbs cumin.

2 tbs of red pepper flakes.

(Sometimes I add packets of taco seasoning and chicken broth, too. But most of the time I try to make it as "pure" as possible. Depends on my mood.)

Shred the cooled chicken.

Once veggies have softened put the chicken back in the pot. 

Best served with cheddar cheese, avocado, sour cream and chips. 

But since none of that is available to us in Dongying, we just enjoy the soup.

Enjoy.

(I know it's not a technical seeming recipe. But this is how I prefer reading recipes. I like to read them like I think. Haha. I hope you can still follow it.)