Chicken Lemongrass Soup

I love making a huge pot of soup and eating it for a few days and also freezing some. This weekend I made organic chicken and lemongrass soup filled with veggies. It's nutritious, filling, easy and great for summer to stay trim. 

I took one organic chicken and put it in a big pot, filled it up with purified (I have a filter on my tap) water until the chicken was just covered in water, I remove a bunch of the skin because I don't like it fatty. I added salt(I just put a heaping teaspoon because you can always add more later) and pepper, 3 cloves of garlic, three stalks of lemongrass, outer leaves removed and chopped up. Brought that to a boil and simmered it for about 15-20 mins until the chicken was just cooked through. Then take out the chicken and leave the lemon grass and keep the soup simmering on low to get that lemon grass flavor for another 15 mins. Let the chicken cool and debone the chicken. I like to cut off the legs and wings and leave those on the bone, then I just pull apart the breast meat. I throw away any small bones but I keep some big ones to add back to the soup while the lemon grass is simmering because thats where all the flavor is. Take your pieces of meat, wings, and legs put them in the fridge. Now your soup has been simmering for a while and its time to get rid of those inedible pieces of bone and lemongrass. I just remove it with a slotted spoon. Also skim any foam or excess fat on the top.

At this point I did not have to add more water but if you've lost too much water from boiling just add another cup of water or so. Try the broth and see how strong it is.. it should be to your liking. Add more salt and pepper as you go along. I don't use much salt myself and always use sea salt. Bring it to a simmer and add one chopped large onion, three carrots, more minced garlic if you'd like, orange and purple yams, 6 large chopped okras, 1 minced jalepeno(optional), one bunch (one whole bunch, it shrinks) of chopped chinese broccoli and dried herbs of your choice (I used Italian seasoning mix, bay leaves, thyme, basil, parsley, rosemary). I simmered the veggies for another 15 mins until they were soft and then add back the chicken meat and voila! Let some cool and freeze... and enjoy the rest over a few days. Invite some friends over!

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