Category Archives: Soup

Granny's Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Sick Time = Soup Time

The weather has gotten colder and has put us in a soup mood around here. Add to that, the fact that I have not been feeling well (I’m incredibly stuffy) and that means it is definitely time to have Granny’s Chicken Soup.

This can be eaten as a Trim Healthy Mama Crossover (XO) meal when made with Yukon Gold potatoes and broken up Dreamfields spaghetti noodles or some brown rice noodles. If you make it ahead, chill it and scrape off the fat it could be an “e” (healthy carb) meal.

As I said, I’m not feeling good, so I just went with the crossover and broken brown rice noodles. I’m going to share how to make the soup here today but I hope you’ll hop back over to the first time I shared it and read about Granny and how she made and served it.

Here is Granny’s wonderful chicken soup recipe. Well, recipe may be overstating it. This is another of those some of this and some of that recipes. ;) But the ingredients are very simple.

Granny's Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meThese are not the right noodles but I no longer have access to the right noodles. This is angel hair pasta broken up, which is no where as good as fine egg noodles since this pasta is eggless but we make do.

Without further adieu, here are the directions to make a really yummy chicken soup.

Scrub carrots, wash celery, and peel potatoes and onion.

Cut the carrots into chunks. I cut them into chunks that will cook in about the same time, so the tips of the carrot are larger chunks than the end near the top.

Carrots ~ Granny's Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Chop the potatoes into chunks a bit larger than the carrots. I have found that they cook faster than the carrots.

Potatoes ~ Granny's Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Cut an onion in half and the celery into about thirds.

Onion and Celery ~ Granny's Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.me Place all of these veggies in a large pot with a whole chicken. Cover with water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a low boil/simmer, depending on how much water you used, and cook until the chicken is cooked through. This takes about an hour to an hour and a half.

I used way too much water the last time I made this and had to cook it longer in order to get the broth rich enough. Also, Mike turned the heat down and so it took longer for my chicken to get done.

When the chicken is nearly done, you want to cook your noodles in a separate pot. I like to use some broth or boil the neck and innards, remove them and use that broth for the noodles.

When the chicken is done, remove it from the pot, I put it on a rimmed cookie sheet, and remove the meat from the bones. I then remove the onion and celery and toss those because I only include them for flavor.

Fish out the potatoes and carrots and place in a serving bowl, so each person can get what they want.

Mash the veggies in your bowl to your desired consistency.

Mashing Veggies ~ Granny's Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Then carefully add some noodles and ladle in some broth and CAREFULLY carry it back to the table and enjoy. OH! You’ll need salt! This is one dish I don’t salt as I cook it. I add salt on top of my veggie before I add the noodles and broth.

Granny's Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Mike and the kids add the chicken to their soup.

Chicken added ~ Granny's Chicken Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Granny’s Chicken Soup

Ingredients

  • Whole Chicken
  • About 4 pounds of potatoes
  • About 1 pound of carrots
  • 2 stalks celery
  • 1 yellow onion
  • Extra fine egg noodles or angle hair pasta

Instructions

  1. Ensure the chicken is thawed. Remove the innards and rinse it out. Place in the pot.
  2. Scrub carrots and cut in chunks. Add to the pot.
  3. Peel potatoes and cut into chunks. Add to the pot.
  4. Wash celery stalks and cut into thirds. Add to the pot.
  5. Peel a med-large yellow onion. Cut in half and add to the pot.
  6. Cover with water, a couple of inches above the chicken.
  7. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a low boil or high simmer.
  8. Cook until chicken is cooked through, 1-2 hours.
  9. Cook innards in water, then remove innards and cook noodles in the broth or just use water.
  10. Remove chicken from pot and remove the meat from the skin and bones.
  11. Discard onions and celery, if you don't care to eat them.
  12. To serve:
  13. Put the desired number of cooked potato and carrot chunks in your bowl. Mash with a fork. Add some noodles and then the broth. Add salt and pepper as desired and enjoy.
https://lifeofjoy.me/sick-time-soup-time/

I hope you’ll enjoy this easy and economical soup!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

 

Split Pea Soup (Pork free)

This recipe was touted as being cheap/inexpensive and thus great for people on a tight budget. So naturally I was expecting the split peas to be around 50¢-75¢ a pound but unfortunately they were about double that and the recipe calls for two pounds. :o So for this inexpensive dinner, I was going to have to pay close to $3 and I can get chicken breast for cheaper than that! But I wasn’t just fixing it for being budget friendly, I was fixing it for being healthy and a lighter dinner.

Well, when I started going to WinCo, they had the split peas for less than 70¢ a pound, if I remember correctly. So, I it made it more budget friendly.

Some people don’t eat pork and split pea soup is usually made with a ham bone and chunks of ham. But to eat these carbohydrates and still lose weight, I need to eat them with very little fat, so no ham bone nor ham.

You may wonder how to make it taste good if you don’t use a ham bone. Liquid smoke and Bragg’s Liquid Aminos. I’ve never had split pea soup before so I had no taste that this recipe had to live up to. Sean even took one look at it and told me that he’d taste it but that he was probably going to eat something else. :D He ate his whole bowl and got seconds, if I remember correctly. ;)

So you start by soaking the dried split peas in water first thing in the morning. Then early afternoon drain and rinse them.

Next begin sauteing some finely diced onion in a soup pot or dutch oven. Add a bit of water for moisture as it cooks to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot or add up to 1 tablespoon of butter.

Then you simply add the water, peas and just a few seasonings. Cover and simmer for several hours. It can be cooked in the crock pot too, just soak the peas overnight.

I like to cook mine for about 4 hours. Really it is about how it tastes to you, when to stop cooking and eat.

Split Pea Soup (Pork free)

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds dried split peas, soaked about 8 hours in warm water with 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 onion, diced
  • up to 1 Tablespoon butter
  • 12 cups of water
  • 4 teaspoons liquid smoke
  • 3 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 3 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1-2 squirts Bragg's Liquid Aminos
  • 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • several slices of turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled (I do one slice per person)

Instructions

  1. drain and rinse the soaked peas
  2. saute onion in water or up to 1 Tablespoon butter for a few minutes
  3. Add peas, water and seasonings.
  4. Cover and bring to a boil.
  5. Simmer for several hours on low.
  6. Serve with some turkey bacon bits on top and a sprinkling of nutritional yeast, if desired. 🙂
https://lifeofjoy.me/split-pea-soup-pork-free/

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

crock pot chicken and sprouted spelt no fat noodles ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Crock Pot Chicken and Noodles (Soup)

I got this simple and cost effective recipe from something I got from the Money Saving Mom years and years ago. I shared it with my homeschool support group and I’m sharing it here today. This recipe has stood the test of time in our house and is an easy one to throw together. :)

Start by putting enough chicken breast in the crockpot for your family. We are a family of four so one large chicken breast (one pound) works for us. Then add some carrot. We like our carrot with zero crunch in the end, so I slice them up on my mandolin.

Crockpot Chicken and noodles ~ Lifeofjoy.meI forgot to add a dice onion this night, so I added onion powder later but generally, you’d add the onion now too. :)

Next add about 3-6 cups of water or broth. I started with 3 cups this day. It’d been a while since I’d made this and forgot how much water/broth I usually use.

Add Liquid ~ Lifeofjoy.meFinally add seasonings: salt, pepper, and basil.

Add seasonings ~ Lifeofjoy.meAdd the lid and you’re ready to go. Cook on high for about 3 hours or so, until you can shred your chicken. I used a frozen breast and cooked it about 4 hours I think.

Shredding chicken ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhen the chicken is done and shredded.

I used my sprouted spelt drop biscuit dough and cut it thinner for the noodles. :)

spelt noodles ~ Lifeofjoy.meadd noodles ~ Lifeofjoy.meAdd your noodles and cook for another 30-60 minutes, until the noodles are as done as you like them. :) You can use Reemes frozen noodles, as that is what the original recipe called for. When we went to serve the dish, I realized that we wanted it more of a soup and quickly heated up a can of chicken broth (about 2 cups) and added it to the pot.

Crock Pot Chicken and Noodles ~ Lifeofjoy.meI made half a batch of my sprouted spelt drop biscuit dough and ended up only using about 2/3 of it in the soup. I sprinkled some garlic salt on the rest and baked in the oven  for a few minutes. :)

Crock Pot Chicken and Noodles

Ingredients

  • 1# chicken breast (I used frozen)
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 3 cups water
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/3 batch of sprouted spelt drop biscuit dough or a bag of frozen Reemes noodles

Instructions

  1. Place all ingredients in the crock pot except the noodles.
  2. Cook on high for about 3-4 hours, until the chicken can be shredded easily.
  3. Add the noodles and cook for another 30-60 minutes on high, until noodles are done.
https://lifeofjoy.me/crock-pot-chicken-and-noodles-soup/

I hope you enjoy this one as much as we do.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Serving of Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Smooth, creamy, and comforting delicious soup! This one is a THM E soup which means it is low in fat and has some good healthy carbs in there but it tastes anything but low fat. :)

I was looking through the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook looking for something new to add to my menu one week shortly after starting THM. We had the promise of a few cooler days, which to me means soup. :) This one sure didn’t let me down.

So here’s what I do:

I finely dice about 3 or 4 stalks of celery and a large onion. Then I put them in my dutch oven with a little water, about a tablespoon or two. You don’t want so much that the veggies are swimming in it but enough to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Saute Onions and Celery ~ Lifeofjoy.mePeriodically stir them and add more water as needed, until they have lost their crunch. They don’t have to be too well done because they are going to be cooking for over an hour so they will soften even more. You see, my family is picky about veggies, they should be melded into the flavor of the soup and not heard/crunched on. ;) Yes, this increases the amount of time required to cook this recipe but it is worth it for us.

Now we need to get the cauliflower cooked. So, sometimes I remove the veggies and others I just add the broth and cauliflower. Once the cauliflower is fork tender, use a slotted spoon and remove it from the pot to the blender, along with two cups of the broth. If some of the onions and celery makes the trip with the cauliflower or broth, no big deal. :)

Remove Cauli to the Blender ~ Lifeofjoy.meNow add carrots. I like to slice them on my mandolin. Again, we don’t like crunchy veggies so having these sliced thinner is better for us. ;)

Mandolin and Carrot Slices ~ Lifeofjoy.meAdd the wild rice as well.

Wild Rice Blend ~ Lifeofjoy.meAlso add in the salt

Pink Himilayan Salt ~ Lifeofjoy.mefreshly ground pepper

Broth with Ground Pepper on top ~ Lifeofjoy.meand herbs. We do not care for thyme so I use oregano. :)

Oregano ~ Lifeofjoy.meSimmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

Add three ounces of Neufchatel cheese (1/3 less fat cream cheese) to the cauliflower in the blender and blend until smooth. Then add it to the simmered soup.

Add creaminess ~ Lifeofjoy.meStir it in well; then add pre-cooked chicken. I like to use chicken I cooked in the crockpot earlier in the week but you could always just take a large breast and saute it in a pan while the soup was simmering.

Stir it all together and let it heat up and meld the flavors at a simmer for about 15 minutes. You want the rice to break apart but it is ready as soon as it is hot. :)

Serving Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meCreamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meBowl of Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meYummy and creamy and oh so good!!!

Closeup Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meSo there you have it, a delicious bowlful of creaminess. :) In order to respect the copyright of the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook and the creator of this yumminess, Rohnda, I will refer you to page 100 of the cookbook or direct you to Rohnda’s website or to her new website here, where you will find her original recipe. I used the version from the cookbook. :)

Here are the tweaks I made:

  • less celery
  • substituted yummy oregano for the thyme
  • sautèd the onions and celery to ensure they were not detectable in the final soup
  • sliced the carrots on the mandolin so they too would be completely cooked
  • I did not measure the chicken, veggies, or black pepper
  • Oh! And I mistakenly used rice blend instead of just wild rice.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we have. Oh! It can be served with a slice of sprouted grain bread (warm from the oven is delightful) and still be an E.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Cheeseburger Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Cheeseburger Soup

This creamy ground meat soup is easily customized to your diet, be it low fat or high fat, with just a few tweaks. It is a low carb soup, full of flavor.

I found this soup over three years ago, somewhere online. I must’ve been on a low carb diet at the time because this one was both low fat and low carb. Now, this doesn’t exactly fit my current diet but it is close enough to adjust with just a few easy changes. The low carb works but the low fat does not, as keto is a high fat diet because you are in a state that your body is burning fat.

The recipe calls for ground turkey and this is what I used. However ground turkey is a low fat meat. Consequently, I added a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil as I was browning it. As it browns, add salt, pepper, and onion powder.

Cheeseburger Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meIf you are doing a low fat diet, drain off any fat.

Add chicken broth, basil, and veggies. When I made this the other day, I was out of fresh broccoli so I used a bag of frozen broccoli, cauliflower, carrot medley.

Cheeseburger Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meCheeseburger Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meBring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, until the veggies are tender or how you prefer them. (We do not like our cooked veggies crunchy.)

We also do not like big chunks of vegetables, so I break them up a bit. ;)

Cheeseburger Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meNow add heavy cream, half and half, or fat-free half and half depending on the level of fat you need in your diet. Also add in the shredded cheese at this time.

Cheeseburger Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meCheeseburger Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meRemove the pot from the heat and stir until the cheese is melted. DO NOT return it to heat or the cheese will probably separate and not be as creamy; it will still be edible but clumpy and maybe a little rubbery. ;)

Cheeseburger Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Serve as soon as the cheese is melted.

Cheeseburger Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.meCheeseburger Soup ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Cheeseburger Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground meat
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 teaspoon basil
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 cups each broccoli and cauliflower OR a small bag broccoli, cauliflower, carrot medley
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, half and half, OR fat-free half and half
  • 8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

  1. Brown the ground meat, season with salt, pepper, and onion powder. (If you need it low fat, remove the drippings but if you use ground turkey and you need the fat, add a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil.)
  2. Add chicken broth, basil, and veggies.
  3. Bring to a boil.
  4. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook covered for about 20 minutes, until vegetables are desired tenderness.
  5. Add cream and cheese. Remove from heat immediately.
  6. Stir until cheese is melted.
  7. Serve!
https://lifeofjoy.me/cheeseburger-soup/

I hope you understand the different options on how to make this according to your dietary needs and it wasn’t confusing. Enjoy!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº