Homemade chicken and vegetable soup (gluten free, dairy free, mostly organic and cheap to make!!)

This recipe probably could have fed 6-8 people, and I would say it probably cost me somewhere between 10-15$ to make. Take note- not every organic meal HAS to be costly.


It was looking like this outside:

So I really craved this:

Homemade chicken and vegetable soup (gluten free, dairy free, mostly organic and cheap to make!!)

For the broth- put the following ingredients into a big pot, bring to a boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes:

3 organic chicken drumsticks (whether they're fresh or frozen will affect your simmering time)

leafy ends of celery (the stuff you'd usually throw out- don't!!)

1/2 red onion

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 TB basil

1/2 TB oregano

1 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp celery seed

1 tsp sea salt

generous sprinkling of fresh cracked pepper

4 cups water

At this point, it looks like this:

While that's simmering, get chopping. Pull out whatever veggies you have and chop them into tiny pieces.
By the time it's ready, it's looking like this: the chicken is starting to fall off the bone and you can see there is fat on the surface of the broth. This is what gives the soup its flavour and richness. Don't fear the fat. It's in the soup-and the chicken-for a reason...

Once that's simmered, you should either skim out the "stuff" or drain it. DON'T DRAIN OUT THE BROTH. :) You want to keep that. ;)

Everything in the pot except the chicken can be discarded (or eaten, if you can't wait). :) Once the chicken drumsticks are cool, pull off all the meat and chop it into tiny pieces. Set it aside- you only add it at the end.

Now you have your pot back on the stove with only the broth in it. Time to add:

2 1/2 cups of chopped veggies (carrots, celery, green beans and red/green peppers- whatever you have...raid your fridge)

1 small can diced tomatoes

2 cups water 

enough organic chicken stock to go with the 2 cups of water (my cubes dissolve into 2 cups of water)

Bring to boil then simmer on low until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Turn off the burner, add the following then put the lid on:

1 cup tiny pasta (I used these cute little quinoa "o's")

the chopped chicken.

It'll probably take 10-15 minutes before the noodles are soft. While they're softening, the soup is cooling and you're getting ready to eat. Serve this with a salad, maybe some gluten free garlic bread, and you can feed a ton of people for probably less than 20$!!

Hope you like it!!

Kitchen tip: the spices, veggies, pasta choices all came about from searching my fridge, pantry and spice cupboard. Don't be shy to make it even if you don't have all the ingredients- this is so versatile it can have just about anything in it. :)

Homemade chicken and vegetable soup (gluten free, dairy free, mostly organic and cheap to make!!)