Chicken and Vege Soup for the Soul

So its pretty common knowledge that me and kitchens aren't super cool mates but its really just because cooking bores me.  I also have the luxury of having a chef for a husband so really why would I? Unfortunately for my children, he travels a lot which forces me to take on the job of feeding our offspring.  No ones died yet so I can't be that bad.
Anyway the one thing I can probably rate myself on is his Chicken and Vege Soup.  I use the term soup loosely because my version is more like a thick chowder.  The husband often says "Can you make it more soupy?" He showed me how to make it and I have most definitely run with it.  There is NOTHING better in winter than having a massive pot of the stuff in my fridge. 
I would eat that shit for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  And I do.

How we do it:

So I always make a big pot after we've eaten a cooked chicken from the supermarket.  I put all the leftover carcass, bones and jelly fatty stuff into a pot half filled with water.  I add 1 tsp of pepper corns, 1 tsp salt, 5-6 grinds on the pepper grinder and 1 tsp of powdered chicken stock.  I also cut up a carrot into chunks and cut up and put in the top part of a leek.  I then put in whatever raw chicken I will be using at the end and let it cook in the pot.  I usually use 4 large Chicken Breasts or 6 Thigh cutlets.  Let that sucker simmer for a good couple of hours.

After the stock has been doing its thing for a while, I put another massive pot (8.5l) on the stove beside it, which I fill to just under half with water.  Chuck in some Salt and Pepper and half a tsp of powdered chicken stock.  Empty 1 bag of Kings Country Chicken Soup mix and 1 bag of Kings Hearty Vegetable Soup Mix in, plus 1 diced onion and leave it on a low bubble for a good 30 mins so that its all nice and cooked before the other veges go in.

Vege Time:
I use about 6 potatoes, 4 Carrots, 1 Kumara, half a pumpkin, 1 leek and sometimes a parsnip.  We use our Food processor to whizz up the veges.  So much easier and quicker than grating them.  It makes the veges a really perfect consistency to cook quickly and become a thick awesome end result.
Add all the veges into the big pot, stirring lots.  Throw some more Salt and Pepper at it.

At this point the raw chicken should be cooked so can be taken out of the stock pot and put to one side for later.  I then drain all the other stuff and am left with a gorgeous stock.  I add about half the stock to the Vege Pot, (add more if you want it to be more soupy and less veges) I add more salt and Pepper and stir, stir, stir.  After a couple of hours of cooking I shred up all the cooked chicken into little pieces and chuck it all in with the veges.

After that its really all about keeping an eye on it so it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pot and just let it simmer for a couple more hours.    The longer the better. 
Soup always seems to taste better the next day.

Serve it up with some crusty bread rolls slathered in homemade Garlic Butter. 
The husband makes a mean Garlic Butter too, maybe that will be my next foodie blog

Happy Days