Creamy Chicken Soup for the Soul

I find myself in a ball of tears as December 14, 2012 was a day that many will not forget.  Sandy Hook Elementary school had a massive shooting.  Many of the children killed were the same age as my oldest, who is in 1st grade as well.  The shooting only happened just over an hour from where we live.  Maybe this is why it has hit closer to home on so many levels.  I decided to do a random act of kindness for each of the lives that was lost that day.  I also decided to make some serious comfort food to help my shattered soul.

This is a recipe I have been working on for over 6 years.  Each year I change something, tweak something, and keep some things the same.  Finally I have made a recipe that I really love.  It is very time consuming (so I recommend you make two batches), as it won’t last!  It is worth every single bite.

Could you take short cuts and just add a can of cream of chicken soup? Sure!  Are the results nearly as mouth watering…NO!  Trust me!  I have tried all the short cuts on this recipe, already made roasted chicken (when you can find a gluten free one), cans of cream of chicken, just fresh diced garlic-heck I even tried the diced in the jars at the grocery store, as I am always about fast and short cuts when the results are just as yummy! In this case, short cuts will not do you any favors in the flavor department.

CREAMY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

GLUTEN & DAIRY FREE

1 Large 3-5lb Roaster Chicken (organic tends to be a bit less tough in my opinion.

1 lb organic carrots peeled & diced in oblong thin slices

4-5 hearts of organic celery sliced very thin

1 whole head of garlic

EVOO

1 1/2 tsp of Sea Salt

1/2 tsp of ground white pepper

1 box (48oz.) of low sodium Swanson Chicken Broth

1 box (48 oz) of Swanson Chicken Broth

 

FOR THE CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP (If following this recipe-will make extra)

1 1/2 cups coconut milk (divided)-not the light

6 tbs cornstarch (if there is an allergy to corn then you can use arrowroot, potato starch or tapioca starch)-Please check to make sure these are gluten free.

1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp ground white pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp parsley

dash of paprika

 

FOR EGG NOODLES

1 Egg

1 tsp of water

1 tsp of oil

pinch of sea salt

2 cups fine ground brown rice flour

2 cups fine ground white rice flour

1 cup cornstarch (or another alternative flour)

 

DIRECTIONS:

TO POACH THE CHICKEN

1.  In a Dutch Oven place the chicken, breast side down, in 2 quarts of water with 1 1/2 tsp of sea salt.  Close the lid tightly.  Turn the stove on HIGH.  Bring this to a boil.  Once the water is boiling, turn the stove down to LO and leave the lid on the chicken and cook for exactly 1hour.

2.  While the chicken is cooking on the stove on LO for an hour.  Pre-heat your oven to 350.  Place the head of garlic in foil and drizzle the top with EVOO.  Close the foil around the garlic and place on a cookie sheet in the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

3.  Once it has been an hour take the whole chicken out of the water to rest on a plate and cool enough to touch.  I use gloves to be able to pull all the chicken off while still pretty warm. (Guess I am just impatient-but this also keeps it from drying out).

4.  After 1 hour remove the garlic from the oven.

5.  In a new large pot place the meat of the chicken in.  Add the 2 boxes of chicken broth, and slowly add about 1/2 of the broth from the dutch oven.  Add all the chicken meat.

6.  Add the all sliced carrots and the all sliced celery. Remove the garlic from the foil and once cool enough to touch take out each clove and squeeze from the top and put all roasted garlic into the soup.

8.  Place the pot on a medium-high setting and start cooking the vegetables into the soup, while making the cream of chicken.

MAKING THE CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP

1.  In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of the coconut milk with the cornstarch.  Whisk until smooth.  Set this aside.

2.  In a medium saucepan, add the other 1/2 cup of coconut milk, chicken broth, poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, salt, parsley and paprika.  Bring this to a boil.

3.  Stir the cornstarch/coconut milk mixture to make sure it is incorporated and add it to the broth in the pan.  Stir continuously until it starts to boil.  Cook and stir for 1-2 minutes until thickened to your right consistency.

This makes enough for about 2 cans.  I only use about 1 in my soup.

SOUP:

1.  Now that the soup is in a slow boil, or cooking pretty hot.  Add 2-3 ladles full of the cream of chicken soup to the pot.  Stir.

2.  Taste the soup and add any sea salt or white pepper as needed.

3.  Make Noodles

 

MAKING THE NOODLES:

I got this recipe for Gluten-Free Egg Noodles and LOVE it!  Once I remember where I will post the information to share.

1.Beat together the Egg (room temperature), 1 tsp of water, 1 tsp of oil, and pinch of sea salt.  Mix flour in 1 handful at a time until you start to form a ball.  Go slow as it makes a nice small recipe but just enough for 1 batch of soup.  There will be a lot of dough left over.  I made extra noodles and flash froze them on cookie sheets.  Once frozen you can transfer them to ziplocs for later.

2.  Once the dough forms a nice ball, place the ball on a nice floured surface.

3.  Add flour to a rolling pin.

4.  I found that I liked them a little bit thicker when rolling them out but cut them really thin.  I used a pizza cutter for the right size.

5.  Drop the noodles into the boiling water that is your soup!

LAST!

I let the pot of soup simmer slowly for another 15-30 minutes to get all the juices incorporated.  Enjoy!

**Please check to insure each and every item you use is GLUTEN FREE! I only learned years later the chicken I was buying was injected with gluteny chicken broth and was getting sick every time.  Another titem I learned that some herbs or spices have anti-caking agents added which can contain gluten as well.  Check your chicken broth as well.  HAPPY COOKING!

I can’t wait to hear how it turned out!