Recipe: Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Chicken and vegetable soup is something that will, guaranteed, raise anyone's (except those vegans) spirits on the worst of days. Luckily, it is also very simple to make! If you have the time I definitely recommend making your own broth too. It not only tastes better, but it adds that extra homey feel to your soups! If you can't or don't want to make your own broth, then make sure you purchase the low-sodium or sodium-free variety. I'd guess about 2 quarts is enough, but I didn't actually measure how much I had.

Ingredients:

• 2 or more quarts of chicken broth
• Garlic #1: 2 big pieces diced finely
  
• Garlic #2: 1 smallish piece either diced finely or pressed
• 2 medium onions - cut into rings and then halved
  
• 3 stalks of celery - finely sliced
• 2 carrots - finely sliced
• Vegetable oil
• One or two handfuls of diced, cooked chicken
  
• Salt and Pepper
  

Directions:

1. Prepare your vegetables and put them in separate stuff, kind of like seen above!
2. Put the soup pot on medium and put about one tablespoon of oil in there. Once it gets hot, put the garlic in and stir it around for 10-15 seconds.
3. Dump in the onion next and start stirring!
4. After a minute add in the carrots and stir it up some more!
5. Stir occasionally for the next few minutes and then add in the celery, including the leaves!
   
6. Stir a bit for a minute or so and then add in the broth and mix it all up! If there is any vegetable stuck to the bottom of the pot, make sure you scrape it up because that's where the flavor's at.
   
7. Let it get up to a boil, add in the garlic #2, some S&P and then drop the heat down to low, maybe about 3/10 if that makes sense. Adding in the garlic here gives it that "garlicky" taste, while the garlic added earlier gets fried, having a completely different, deeper taste.
   
8. After about an hour or so of simmering, add the chicken in and let it heat up for a bit.
9. It is now done!
10. Dish it out into bowls and then enjoy!

This is a great but simple little soup, perfect for a cold and dreary day or a breezy, hot summer night. There's certainly a ton you can do with it too! You could add more different vegetables, make a roux or add in some cream to thicken it or even a bunch of other things that I can't even think of right now! Hopefully you'll take this recipe and adapt it into something you can enjoy for the rest of your life!

Enjoy!