Friday: Chicken Vegetable Soup with Brown Rice

As we draw to the end of the week, I feel like I've been doing pretty good on my grocery haul. Thanks to some scary flu symptoms I downed several gallons of chicken bone broth yesterday (seasoned with ginger and lemon) and I feel infinitely better. I still have three eggs, two lemons, some ginger, some olives, a handful of salad greens, half a head of broccoli, one carrot, four stalks of celery, one tupper of cooked chicken, half a jar of chicken juice, and one unopened carton of blueberries in the fridge. The goal is to "spend down" all the perishables every week, so we're doing ok. But after today, I think we'll be in better shape, because I'm making SOUP.

When I was growing up my grandma always used to collect any uneaten salad from family gatherings and take it home to make a soup. The thought terrified us kids. While I don't hope to go quite that far, I like to think this soup draws some inspiration from her thriftiness.

Leftovers.

Ingredients:

1 carrot, chopped finely
2 stalks celery, chopped finely
1 tupperware of precooked chicken meat
2-3 cups chicken juice from roasted chicken (note: salty!)
1/3 cup frozen corn
1 head broccoli, chopped
Handful of salad greens and parsley
Bay leaf
Peppercorns
1/2 cup brown rice

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, bring chicken juice, 6-8 cups water, carrot, celery, chicken, frozen corn and brown rice to a boil. Add bay leaf and peppercorns, reduce heat to a simmer.
2. Throw in chopped broccoli, salad greens, and parsley. Cover and set timer to 20 min. After 20 min, remove cover and simmer for another 10-15 min or until rice is done.
3. Serve, with croutons if that's your thing, and eat.

Optional: drop an egg into the bowl before serving; add more salt & pepper & parmesan to taste.

FACTS AND FIGURES 

Prep time: <10 min. 

Servings: 4-6
Agony rating: 3/10. Cooking needs watching/multiple steps.
Taste and stuff: It's a little bland, but light, and surprisingly filling.

*COSTS OF STUFF I HAD TO BUY SPECIAL*

Again, it's hard to parse out the cost of the ingredients since these were all remnants from other recipes this week, but it's mostly about the cost of the chicken. $10? $12? $15? I have no idea. 

Now, what to do with the leftover blueberries and ginger? (Edit: solution found.)

Wednesday: Chicken Egg Drop Soup with Ginger (Low FODMAP)

I've gotten into the habit of cooking a whole chicken every Sunday, and saving the juice/meat/bones for uses later in the week. Last Sunday I made both a huge batch of bone broth (using frozen bones from 3 chickens, 1 turkey, set at 24 hours in the crockpot) and also made a whole roast chicken in the crockpot (1 organic chicken, rub with salt and pepper, set on low for 8 hours) I'm having fun coming up with uses for all of it.

To top it all off I came down with some sort of bug, and it being January and all, it's the perfect time for variations on chicken soup.

I drew on this post from the Kitchn for inspiration and added a few other goodies, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's a little on the light side for dinner, but served with the right side dish could make for a good staple. 

Ingredients (per serving):

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup precooked chicken meat

1 egg, whisked

Crushed fresh ginger to taste

Optional:
Handful of salad greens

Fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Soy sauce to taste

Hot sauce to taste

Green onions (not for low-FODMAP diets)

Instructions:

1. Heat up chicken broth and chicken meat. Add ginger, salt and pepper, salad greens if you're using them, and stir. Bring to a boil and turn off burner.

2. Stir in whisked egg.

3. Add lemon juice, soy sauce, hot sauce, and anything else your heart desires and your gut can tolerate.

4. Serve and eat fast.

FACTS AND FIGURES 

Prep time: 10 min.

Servings: 1
Agony rating: 2/10. 
Taste and stuff: 8/10. Bonus points for being super healthy and warming!

*COSTS OF STUFF I HAD TO BUY SPECIAL*

It's hard to parse out the cost of the ingredients, but I'll approximate this was $2 worth of chicken and stock, $0.70 per egg, and $0.50 for little dribs and drabs of everything else - or $3.20 per serving. A little more expensive than I'd thought, but it's mostly about the chicken. 

Wednesday: Mixed Greens Salad with Chicken, Olives, and Pumpkin Seeds

One of the puzzles I've been having fun trying to solve is what to do with all the chicken meat created when I make my weekly whole chicken stock. It's completely unseasoned, and thus very versatile. Tonight we went super quick with a mixed greens, chicken, and kalamata olive salad, topped with pumpkin seeds, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and croutons (optional; skip if you're low-FODMAP.) The result was super fast, easy, nutritious, and light but filling. We'll be making variations on this a lot in the future.

FACTS AND FIGURES 

  

Prep time: 5 min. Assembly.
Servings: 2 
Agony rating: 1/10. 
Taste and stuff: 7/10. 

*COSTS OF STUFF I HAD TO BUY SPECIAL*

This one is basically made from odds and ends and leftovers, so let's just say mixed greens: $3.99.

Tonight, I'm cooking this giant butternut squash in the slow cooker with a few tablespoons of beef broth for good measure. I set it for six hours on low, since it's been in the fridge. Here it is:

Yeah, I thought it looked pretty funny, too.