A Recipe of Comfort

For anyone just seeking some natural comfort foods and a prayer we’re here for you.  Enjoy the recipe below and I pray that you will be in good health.


Grain free Chicken Noodle Soup


Ingredients
    8 cups of homemade chicken broth (recipe below)
    2 tablespoons coconut oil, ghee, olive oil
    1 small onion, peeled and chopped
    2 large celery sticks, washed and thinly sliced
    Unrefined salt and pepper
    1-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped or pressed through a garlic press
    4 carrots, made into noodles *
    1-2 zucchini, made into noodles*
    Handful of finely chopped fresh parsley
    2 cups of leftover shredded chicken
1) Heat fat or oil of your choice in a large soup pot over medium heat until hot, but never smoking. Add the onion and celery and sprinkle with unrefined salt. Sauté, stirring frequently to prevent browning, until the vegetables are soft. Then add the garlic and sauté one more minute.
2) Add the chicken broth and place the lid on your pot. Bring to a boil. Add the carrot noodles and simmer for about 3 minutes. The carrot noodles should be softening up nicely, but still have a slight firmness to them-like a noodle!. Add the zucchini noodles and chicken (and optional parsley) and cook for 2 more minutes. Salt and pepper the soup to taste. Serve and enjoy.
*To make carrot and zucchini noodles, wash well, cut off the ends, and peel carrots. Lay the carrot or zucchini flat on a cutting board and run a vegetable peeler all the way from one end to the next to create a noodle. Repeat until you have reached near the middle of the vegetable and then turn over and start from the other side. With an especially big carrot, I sometimes peel on 4 sides instead of just front and back. See what seems to work well for you. You will have leftover carrot and zucchini middles. Save for the next time you make chicken broth.

Chicken Broth
1 chicken carcass (or a bag of drumstick bones from the freezer, see note below)
1-2 pound of raw drumsticks or chicken legs (I keep mine ready and frozen in the freezer 

3-5 chicken feet (see note below), optional (I also keep these frozen in the freezer)


Any gizzards from the cavity of the chicken, taken out before cooking, optional


4 carrots, scrubbed and cut into 3 inch pieces


4 celery, washed and cut into 3 inch pieces


1 onion, peeled and cut in half


1 bay leaf, optional


15 peppercorns, optional


A few sprigs of thyme , optional


¼ cup of apple cider vinegar


Dump all of the ingredients into a large stock pot and cover with filtered water about an inch or two above the top of the ingredients. To draw out more of the calcium from the bones, let sit for an hour at this point at room temperature, optional. Bring to a low simmer and cover. You should never boil stock. Keep at a very low simmer for 3-24 hours, skimming any foam that may rise to the top. The longer you simmer the more flavor and minerals leach out into the water. I find that 12 hours work well for me, go past 24 hours and it will become bitter and too dark.Once done, cool slightly and then pour through a colander. You can further strain the broth by pouring through cheesecloth, though I never bother.


You can also make this using a slow cooker, using the same directions as above and cooking on low. 


Whenever I make drumsticks or any other type of chicken on bone, I stick them in a freezer bag and place them in the freezer until we have enough to make a pot of stock. Although it seems a little strange at first to save bones that people have eaten off, a 12 hour simmer is going to kill any “coodies”. But if you would rather, just have your family cut their meat off the bones.


Regarding the chicken feet, some find this practice barbaric, however remember that using all parts of the chicken show proper respect to the chicken. The feet are an excellent source of gelatin. Find them at Asian stores or from local farmers.


Source: 1) http://www.springerlink.com/content/p7u013w7360016w2/
2) http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2011/01/chicken-noodle-soup-a-grain-and-gluten-free-yummy-treat.html