Homemade Country Chicken Soup AND Country White Bread

NOTE: Wrote this March 6th, But just getting around to posting it now... ooops


What the hell is up with Winter this year??? Like Seriously! Somebody should tell him that its March already, so we don't need -30 temperatures with Wind Chill warnings past the -40 mark... That is for Actual winter... not the long tail end of Canadian winter...
Today, the warmest it was outside (according to Environment Canada whenever i checked... I didn't actually go outside) was -17! Currently the Windchill is -30

Days (and by that, i mean Weeks... or Months), like this definitely call for Soup. And since I made a crap-load of Homemade Soup Stock (inspired by A Tale of One Foodies Culinary Adventures), and found super cheap Chickens (and then roasted them)... I made Soup today... And Bread... YUMMY

I have a confession to make... I am horrible at doing the dishes. I have a bunch of the ziploc containers so I can take my Lunch to work with me... Which is all well and good...
But then...
I have to remember to bring it back to my car to take home at the end of the day
I have to remember to bring it from my car to the house
I have to remember to rinse it out and stick it in the dishwasher
I have to remember to turn the dishwasher on

Because this seems to be difficult for me to do... I have a pretty good collection (err... almost all of the containers i own) stashed in my car.
This is why i won't be having soup for lunch at work tomorrow :(

Onto the Recipe, because that is much more inspiring that my horrible dish-keeping/cleaning confessions. (However, i would like to note, that I am much better about this in the summer than the winter.. In the winter, its too damn cold and nothing in there is going to rot, its just going to freeze.)

I FORGOT to take pictures of the soup.... But here is the chicken that made it into the soup... (and made the soup stock with)


Country Chicken Soup
Ok, yet again, I don't have exact measurements for you. Soup is kinda like that though.
Chicken meat (left over, or whatever works for you... as much or as little as you want/your soup pot will allow)
Carrots - sliced
Celery - sliced (larger than the carrot pieces)
Onion - chopped (whatever size you want)
Garlic - minced, or at least finely chopped
Olive oil
Chicken Soup Stock (make your own, its sooooo yummy!)
Water
Corn (I used a can of corn)
Spinach
Fresh Parsley
salt/pepper/seasoning

In your soup pot, heat up some Olive Oil. Once warm, add in the garlic, cook til fragrant, then add in the onion - stirring constantly. Add some soup stock (i used about 4-5 cups), Add carrots, and let come to a boil. (this gives the carrots a little head start in softening)
Fill pot with more Soup stock, water and celery
Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Taste then season a little... Simmer 10 minutes, taste and season.
Add in the corn, Chopped Spinach and fresh parsley, put lid on, and Simmer
Check your soup at least every hour... half hour is better
Taste and season as needed
The longer (and at a low temp) you cook it, the yummier it seems to be. My soup was on the stove at about 10am, and we ate at 6pm
Its not an exact science at all. The basic idea is to put a bunch of stuff you like in a pot with water and seasoning... Taste as you go is the trick. Its a good idea to put less salt than you might want in there, and let each person salt their own soup. This keeps sodium levels down. (My mom consistently adds a ton of salt to soup, and I'm trying to get her to cut it out)


Country White Bread
(www.cookingbread.com)

OH NO! I forgot to take pictures of it too! :( FAIL... But the Bread was Delicious.... Go make yourself a loaf of it (recipe makes 2 loafs, might be a good idea to half it, unless you eat a lot of bread, But we don't

So, Since I forgot to take pictures of the Soup AND the bread... here are some photos of my soup stock that I made after reading The post at A Tale of One Foodies Culinary Adventures...
Above = Before cooking
Below = a few hours in.... at that stage, my house smelled soooooooooooooooooooooooooo yummy!!!