Mblah's Chicken Soup with Orzo~

Chicken noodle soup is one of my all time favorite soups. It is one of the few things I can eat when I don't feel good that makes me feel better. There is definitely something to the saying about a little cup of chicken noodle when you are sick! It has been "cold" here and I figured soup was the perfect meal! To us Floridian's 60 is cold so it requires soup to warm you up! I decided to use Orzo pasta because I had a box and hadn't used it yet. I am a pasta fan of any kind so why not try something else!

Chicken soup is pretty easy. All you do is toss everything in a big pot and let it cook. The worst part is tearing apart the whole chicken. I won't lie that part always makes my stomach turn!

Mblah's Chicken Soup with Orzo

Ingredients
This recipe does make a huge serving! Plenty to freeze for later.
1 whole raw chicken (about 5lbs)
1 entire package of celery
7 whole carrots
2 small/medium onions
1/2 lb fresh green beans
1 large yellow squash (or two small ones)
Fresh thyme, sage, parsley and rosemary
Salt and Pepper
Half a box of Orzo Pasta

Directions
1. Break chicken into pieces. I usually break the wings and legs off and then cut the breasts in half.
2. Slice celery, carrots and onion.
3. Chop green beans and squash into 1 inch pieces.

For the herbs:
I used about 8 sprigs of thyme, 6 sage leaves, 1/4 cup of chopped parsley and 2 sprigs of rosemary. I also added some dill weed (about 1tbs) Salt and Pepper as preferred. You can add less or more of the herbs if you choose. While the soup was cooking I added a little more of each in dried form or crushed form to balance out the flavor. You just taste the broth as it's cooking to get desired flavor.

4. Toss all the above ingredients minus the orzo into a BIG pot like this:

If you don't have one this big you can use two big pots. I have had to do this in the past. It makes a lot of soup! I think when it comes to soup, always go big! You can always freeze half of it for another cold day. If you want to half the recipe you can do that as well.

5. Add water til it covers the chicken and veggies. Bring to a boil then turn to medium and let cook for about 3hrs til chicken is tender and falls off the bone and veggies are done. After three hours all should be fine.


Deboning:
What I do is use a pair of tongs and pick up the big pieces of meat and use a fork to help pick off the meat and it should just fall right off. You will get some small bones in there so just be careful when you eat and let others know to watch out for bones! You can't get every single bone otherwise you might be there all night lol

Orzo:
Towards the last 10mins of cooking cook the Orzo pasta. Once pasta is done, add to the soup and voila it's done! Serve with bread or a grilled cheese sandwich

mmmmmmmmmmm looks so good
gonna save this into my favorite
and maybe this week i will try to make it

thanks mblah for another great recipe

Originally posted by Ben81
mmmmmmmmmmm looks so good
gonna save this into my favorite

and maybe this week i will try to make it

thanks mblah for another great recipe

Thanks Ben

You are quite welcome.

yum...

S&F for MBLAH, and her epic chicken soup ( with orzo )


SS

reply to post by mblahnikluver


do you cook the chicken first or you throw it raw into the soup ?
at the same time has the vegetables .. you boil everything together for 3 hrs ?

and i didnt know you were boiling the little pasta apart .. interesting lol
i think your way is better then adding the raw pasta half way through the boiling process

Awesome!
How many times can I tell you to publish the "Offical ATS Cookbook"?

Good Job! AGAIN!

Originally posted by tvtexan
Awesome!
How many times can I tell you to publish the "Offical ATS Cookbook"?

Good Job! AGAIN!

I agree with this guy Mblah!!

woo hoo, a ATS cookbook..oh yea!

wonderful soup too...lol..

reply to post by mblahnikluver


Thank you for this recipe. My Mom, many years ago used to make this when I had a bad cold or the flu. When preparing chicken, don't be squemish. It is natural. I have hunted deer, javelina, elk. I think preparing chicken is the most foul smelling situation ever. When field dressing deer or elk, it is not smelly at all. As long as you do not cut into the instestinal tract. Once you breach that, it ruins everything.

Cheers,

Kratos

Originally posted by Ben81
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

do you cook the chicken first or you throw it raw into the soup ?
at the same time has the vegetables .. you boil everything together for 3 hrs ?

I toss it all in raw. Veggies, chicken and herbs. I bring it to a boil then lower the temp to medium or medium low and let it cook. Stir it occasionally of course.

and i didnt know you were boiling the little pasta apart .. interesting lol
i think your way is better then adding the raw pasta half way through the boiling process

Well adding the pasta half way thru can make it mushy sometimes. I haven't used Orzo before in my chicken soup, usually I add egg noodles or some other kind of pasta so I didn't want to ruin it.

Originally posted by Kratos40
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

Thank you for this recipe. My Mom, many years ago used to make this when I had a bad cold or the flu. When preparing chicken, don't be squemish. It is natural. I have hunted deer, javelina, elk. I think preparing chicken is the most foul smelling situation ever. When field dressing deer or elk, it is not smelly at all. As long as you do not cut into the instestinal tract. Once you breach that, it ruins everything.

Cheers,

Kratos

I don't know why it grosses me out but it does. I guess it's because it gets under my nails lol I know that sounds silly or girly but i am a girl I don't mind anything else getting under them when I cook but chicken for some reason is just gross.

I have never dressed(?) an elk or deer! Wow. I have only had deer twice, the first time I passed out. I was 12 and thought it was Bambi then again in my 20s. The second time was much better. An ex of mine made awesome deer meat. I have no idea what he marinated it in and he wouldn't tell anyone , it was his little secret. It was very tasty and I didn't mind it that time and I didn't pass out.

Yer welcome in my bunker anytime
If theres anything i love its foood...! yer recipes r a smash!
Chicken soup with baking power bisquits slathered in real butter yum!

Oh, this looks delicious. I'm saving this lol.

We're on a restricted diet for medical reasons. But one or two days out of the year for holidays, we always make Olive Garden style Chicken Gnocchi soup. Except we use biscuit batter instead of gnocchi so it's more like dumplings lol. Maybe next year we'll make this instead! This is a great recipe for the winter. Thank-you!

Peace.