Chicken Gnocchi Soup Helps Chase a Cold Away

Here I sit at a Starbucks, sipping my drink and blogging.  The Boy is at baseball practice (inside a nice warm gymnasium).  When he is done with that practice, I will pick him up and take him to another one...such is the life of a baseball mom!  Of course most kids in this neck of the woods play hockey but not the Boy!  I find that I am quite all right with that.  Of course, if he love hockey, I would be all right with that too.  As long as he gets to do something he loves, it is all right by me!  I really didn't get too much done this week in the way of blogging. I was hit head on by one of the nastiest head colds around!!  I will once again be able to sleep without the aid of Nyquil!!

That was one heck of a head cold!!  I am still trying to shake the remains of this nasty cold that hit head on last week...whew!  This one seemed to stop me dead in my tracks!  Last Saturday I felt the beginnings of a sore throat coming one.  I assumed that it was a bout of tonsillitis starting up but alas, it was merely the head cold to end all head colds!  I felt like having some homemade soup!  Soup sounds easy enough, except I still hadn't replaced the goods lost in the great auxiliary fridge debacle!  Yes, that is correct, I still haven't fully recovered from losing auxiliary fridge.  Especially on big grocery shop days when I need a spot to chill things before I can cook and bake my way ready for a new week.

But I digress, where was I? Oh right, I had no homemade stock!  What I did have though was a turkey carcass in the chest freezer left over from Christmas!!!  Along with some salvaged veggies, I had the makings of a homemade stock going on.  This really isn't a difficult thing to make.  I mean as long as you are home anyways, what bother is it to have a ginormous pot of goodness simmering away on the stove?  The basic recipe for a turkey stock can be found here.

Once this luscious pot of goodness is ready, it is just a few more simple steps to make a soup, honest!

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

• 1 small onion, sliced thin
• 1 carrot, diced or sliced thin (I sliced some baby carrots)
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 1/2 cup corn kernels (I used frozen corn)
• roasted chicken, cooked and diced (I bought a rotisserie chicken from the store and used the dark meat for the soup)
• Gnocchi (I had some in the freezer from my Gnocchi making expedition)
• 4 cups (1 litre) homemade stock (chicken or turkey)
• 1 tbsp oil
• salt and pepper to taste

In a pot, heat the oil and saute the onion, carrots, and celery.  Season with salt and pepper.

Once the veggies are about half way cooked and starting to soften, add the stock and bring to a boil to finish cooking the veggies.

Add the gnocchi (mine were still frozen but just toss them in either way) and reduce the heat to a simmer.

Add the chicken and the corn.  Simmer until the chicken is heated through.

Taste for seasonings, adjusting if necessary.

This is a very simple, yet tasty soup.  Perfect for soothing a sore throat, a head cold, or just for warming up!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

Pepper mill R2 D2 approves this soup!!

That's just souper!

Today is a good soup day! Nice outside but slight chill in the wind.  Since I made tons of tasty turkey stock yesterday, making turkey noodle soup was a breeze.  Especially since I was outside watching my son's baseball practice until about 9:00 tonight!  Brrrr.

Souper Turkey Soup

First I sauted in a little bit of olive oil:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 small potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste
• poultry seasoning to taste

(Realistically, you can use any veggies you have on hand to create different tastes and textures in your soup.  This is the basic leftover turkey soup that my Mom used to make.  Don't be afraid to change the recipe to suit your need/tastes)

Let the veggies cook for a few minutes.  The onions should be translucent.  Then add:

• 6 to 7 cups of that tasty turkey stock

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to finish cooking the veggies.  Just before the veggies are fully cooked add:

•  a handful or two of uncooked noodles (tonight I had soba noodles on hand so I used those.  You can use rice or which ever noodles you have)
• leftover turkey, chopped

Let the soup simmer until the noodles (or rice) are cooked and turkey is heated through.
Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings to taste.

Things to do with your souper creation:

• Enjoy a bowl with a nice piece of crusty bread
• Pack some for lunch tomorrow
• Take some to a friend who isn't feeling well (or has just had their wisdom teeth pulled)
• Enjoy another bowl with another piece of crusty bead

I froze the rest of the turkey stock in 2 to 3 cup portions for future use.  I still have lots of leftover turkey to work through though....what to make next?
Any suggestions?