Here in Michigan, the Winter season is starting to wind down. Hurrah!! But there is still enough chill in the air to warrant homemade soup. Sunday, at our house, is a day for cleaning out the fridge and vegetable bowl of food items that are on their last leg. This is the Chicken and Rice soup my honey-man simmered on the stove top to rescue this week’s near-death veggies.
The soup is nothing fancy, but definitely tasty. A combination of carrots, tomato, zucchini, rice, chicken stock, leftover white chicken meat (the kind in a can), celery, a little onion and a dash of this and that to enhance the overall flavors.
My favorite stock base is the Minor brand. There are plenty on the market, but 3/4 teaspoons of this concentrated base makes 1 cup of stock. It’s only 15 calories per cup with 5 fat calories. The down side (as with most concentrated stock bases) is the amount of sodium. I don’t use any additional salt when using this base.
Adding “one foot in the grave” veggies and leftover meat to a soup stock is not only economical, but low-fat (in most cases) and yields high nutritional value.
Open the vegetable bins in your refrigerator and see what poor dying souls are calling your name. Chop and dice to your heart’s content and throw everything into a simmering pot of stock.
Add a mixed green side salad, chunk of hard crusted bread and glass of vino to your soup du jour. While devouring the yumminess, picture yourself seated at an outdoor bistro overlooking the Seine river. Imagine dunking bread in soup, sipping Rhone Valley wine while listening to the language of love (FRENCH).
Bon Appetit!!
