Inspired Blogging Post #3 - Favorite Recipe

The next prompt from "The List" is 3. Your favourite recipe, even if you’re the worst cook in the world.

This one is so fun for me. Most of you realize that I spend a good portion of my life working away in my little kitchen. I like to play with recipes, make my own and perfect family recipes for sport. Nothing makes me happier than a well planned meal that makes every member of my family smile. Choosing my favorite recipes is WAY harder than I would think. However, one stands out.

My favorite recipes is my Two-Day Scratch Made Chicken Rice soup. The reason it is my favorite is way more involved than simple flavor or taste. When my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma a couple years back I initially felt helpless. There was so little I could do to help him get better. Feel helpless is NOT something I handle well. After wracking my brain for days I figured out how I could exert control over a situation that was so out of my control. I would cook. I would cook and bake and make sure that my Dad was nourished with organic and healthy foods. I would make sure he didn't lose too much weight. And I would make foods he could eat (initially he had tumors in his lymph system so he had trouble swallowing).

Out of this insane need to cook and bake I spent hours and hours and hours baking him healthy sweets, making every kind of soup I could think of and learning to pressure can so he never ran out. I think it may have bordered on insane at times but it was my contribution. So this is it, my favorite recipe. I got the inspiration from the Crock Pot 365 Blog (which I adore) and did a lot of tweaking.

Two-Day Scratch Made Chicken Rice Soup

Ingredients

For Broth:

• Whole Rotisserie Cooked Chicken 
• Approximately 8 cups of water
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk

For Soup:

• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 1 cup uncooked wild rice (I prefer Lundberg's brand) 
•  1 medium onion, diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 cup of chopped or julienned carrots (the matchstick variety work great)
• 2 tsp sage
• 2 TB balsamic vinegar (yup, you read that right!)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Remove the skin from the chicken and discard. Pick as much of the meat off the chicken and place in a bag in the fridge). In a crock pot place the carcass, 1/2 an onion, carrot and celery stalk. Cover with water and put lid on securely. Cook on low 10-12 hours or high 4-6 hours. * You will want to do this step either the day before you plan to serve the soup or early in the morning (and use the high crock pot setting). 
2. With a strainer over a bowl ladle the contents of the broth into the strainer. This will ensure that all bones are removed from the broth. Put the strained broth back into the crock pot. You can discard the carcass and veggies but I like to make sure no good chicken has gone to waste first. 
3. Chop the refrigerated chicken and add to broth. Add bouillon,  rice, onion, celery, carrots, vinegar and spices. Stir well and cover. Cook on low 8-10 hours or high 4-6 hours. 
4. Enjoy with a nice loaf of bread or soup crackers!

Have I said how much I love this soup?!? And yes, I do realize I have posted this recipe before. It is so wonderful I just have to share it again.