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I splurged on the Kaw Valley Farm Tour recently and bought three whole, pasture-raised chickens. (Various studies report pastured chickens are better for the environment and better for people eating them (go to page 13 of the report on that link to find the health benefit information).

Although these chickens costs less than others I’ve seen, I nevertheless want to get all I can from them.

When I got home with my three chickens, two went into the freezer, and the third went into the refrigerator to thaw. I roasted in a couple days later (roasted chicken being delicious and easy) and shared it with my daughter and her friend. The next day, I picked off the obvious remaining meat and ate it with the leftover sweet potatoes.

Today, I made chicken soup. Again, easy doings.

1. Put chicken carcass in pot, along with a few flavoring agents, in this case, some parsley, half a small onion, a couple of those small turnips, a small bay leaf, about a quarter teaspoon each dried thyme, dried tarragon, rubbed sage and ground pepper plus a teaspoon salt. Don’t be put off by that list. Just throw in what you’ve got on hand that you like. I also included the bits of celery and carrot that roasted with the chicken.
2. Cover with water.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer about an hour.

At this stage, you can drain off the liquid, skim the fat (although I suppose that’s optional) and have lovely broth that you can refrigerate or freeze to use for risotto, soups, or whatever.

Or, you can proceed to soup-making. Here’s what I did:

1. Remove carcass and any icky parts left in the pot, such as skin that fell off the chicken, the parsley and celery that you don’t really want to eat.
2. Add 1/2 cup brown rice to pot and return to the simmer. Cook about 50 minute, or until rice is tender. The other things don’t need to be cooked as long, so base your timing on the rice.
3. While the rice is starting to cook, remove any meat left on carcass and return meat to pot. (I didn’t get those bits on the wings or the back when I ate leftovers a couple days ago.)
4. Add 1 diced carrot and any other vegetables that you care to add. Peas would be good. (If you want your vegetables firm add them later.) I even diced one of the turnips I simmered and left it in the soup. It tasted fine!

And, voila, delicious homemade chicken soup.

OK, it doesn’t look that delicious. But it tasted delicious—and I have more for tomorrow and the next day. Yea!