Earth Mother Soup
What is Earth Mother Soup? Simple... it's just something I made up! You can make it too, according to what you and your family like.
My family were all either sick, or feeling "sicky", so I decided to make soup. Not chicken noodle, but something full of love, and goodness, and nutrition. Something power-packed with healthy things.
So into my crockpot I put in a whole chicken, covered with water, plenty of garlic, and some blessed salt, and let it simmer for about 12 hours.
Taking my slotted, stainless steel spoon, I lifted the chicken into a large glass bowl to cool. I put all the broth through the fat separator, and poured the good broth back into the crockpot. I removed all skin, bones, and fat from Mr. Chicken, and shredded half the meat of the bird back into the crockpot. I personally use more of the dark meat in soup, as it is (in our opinions) more flavorful than the white meat.
To this, I went with lots of veggies. The colors of the rainbow, as best I could and had on hand. A cup of green peas. A pound of green beans. Several carrots cut into fat chunks. A large basket of mushrooms. Fresh chopped green onions, sweet peppers, celery, fresh chopped parsley, and some spices. One note about mushrooms: Get the most fresh looking ones you see... it seems the nice brown ones are the tastiest.. they have a nice, earthy taste.
I literally plundered through my fridge, pulling out whatever vegetables I could find. I added them in until the pot threatened to spill over, and then put the lid on, and let it simmer.
I could have, but didn't add the last of my organic tomatoes, the zucchini, or my baby pearl onions. The best thing about this soup is YOU add what YOU want. If you want meatless, then use lentils instead. And of course, plenty of mushrooms. :)
Ladling out hot homemade soup to your family feels good. Watching them gobble it up feels even better.
And of course, everyone was feeling much better. *grin*