What's Cooking Wednesday: Grandma's Recipe

Photo courtesy of suat eman; freedigitalphotos.net

I've been asked several times over the last couple of weeks for “Grandma's Recipe” This request has come from my youngest son, NuggetizerB5. He was 4 when my mother passed nearly 6 months ago; his 5th birthday came just about 3 weeks after her passing.

Initially he did not seem too affected by our loss. Unfortunately for most of his young life, his grandma was sick and as such he did not experience long weekends at her house or fun outings with her very often. That, coupled with his age, is what I attributed his somewhat less-deep feeling of loss. His reaction in the early days following her death were expressions of sympathy and condolence for me. “I'm so sorry for my mommy that her mom died,” he said over and over.

Apparently, over time it has sunk in. He will sometimes get a somber look on his face and say, “Mom, I miss my grandma so much.”

So here we are. What's cooking this Wednesday is Grandma's Recipe, a.k.a chicken vegetable soup. It's the kind of soup that just makes you feel better, no matter whether your ails are physical or emotional. It's what my mom would make for me and deliver after I called her crying that I was sick and still had to be a mother to my children, clean my house, and help to run my then-husband's business. It's that soup that mends every tear in your immune system and grabs up any tears left in your heart on it's way down. It's magical stuff, I tell you.

I love you mom.

Photo courtesy of cbenjasuan; freedigitalphotos.net

Grandma's Recipe
Note:  This makes a big, honkin' pot of soup.  I got a call from my dad today saying the recipe was too big.  I told him to divide it.  It is A LOT of soup, fills my stock pot completely.  If you are making it for 6 people, you probably could get away with making half this recipe easily.
4 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 T. butter or 2 T. olive oil
1 large onion chopped
4 large carrots, peeled, halved and sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
2 T. dried parsley
3 cloves garlic
8cups 5 quarts chicken broth (buy or prepare a few extra cups if you are adding noodles or rice, just in case)
2 cups of rice or 8 oz. noodles (rice or noodles are optional; I love to make it with rice)
1/2 package frozen chopped spinach
1 bag frozen baby lima beans
1 bag frozen corn
1 bag frozen peas
2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
Salt, to taste

Cook chicken breasts and let cool.

In a large stock pot, cook onion, carrots and celery in butter or olive oil until soft.  Add garlic and parsley and cook 2 or 3 minutes, until garlic is fragrant.

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Add rice or noodles if desired and cook according to rice or noodle package times.

If liquid is reduced too much, add more chicken broth (or water, in a pinch).  Bring soup back to a boil and add frozen vegetables and cook until tender.

Add 2 tsp. onion powder and 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Cube chicken or shred it with 2 forks.  Add to soup and heat through.

Salt to taste. (I don't usually salt mine.  I let people do that at the table so suit  individual tastes)
Note:  Today I added 2 tsp. kosher salt and it was near perfect.

My Notes:
My siblings will notice that this is close to but not exactly identical to mom's recipe.  This is how I make it.  As close as I can get...I tend to throw stuff into a pot while cooking and as such, have a hard time remembering what I put in and I definitely don't know how much! 

The only thing I'm worried about here is the broth or liquid.  The need for more liquid is based upon how much liquid your starch ingredient soaks up, and how long you simmer it.  I apologize for this, I have never made this with a measurement of liquid so I'm estimating. 

I'll try to remember to measure today when I make it.

Edited 2/15/12 to change liquid amounts; add onion powder and pepper; change salt recommendation; note about recipe size.


Chicken w/veg photo; suat eman; freedigitalphotos.net
Heart bandaid photo; cbenjasuan; freedigitalphotos.net