101 Uses for a Roasted Chicken #7: Chicken & Tortellini Soup

I totally enjoy making my own chicken stock, as mentioned here and here. It's super easy and helps get the very most out of a roasted chicken. I always freeze my chicken carcasses, along with the legs and wings with meat still on them, to make the stock, and I vary my aromatics. This time, I used carrots fresh from my garden, onions, several cloves of garlic, peppercorns, and salt. You can also use lemon, which I frequently do, and any left over parsley or cilantro stems, or other tasty veggies you may have kicking around.

I have gotten used to making my stock in my slow cooker because then I don't have to worry about leaving my stove on if I go out. It works great. It usually fits two carcasses and about 2L of water, plus the veggies.

One thing I am also doing with my stock now is letting it sit in the fridge over night so that the fat solidifies at the top of the stock and can be skimmed off quite easily for a nearly fat-free soup. From there, you just heat up the stock on the stove, and add to it whatever you want in your soup. Voila!

For the chicken & tortellini soup, I used:

2L homemade chicken stock
meat from the 2 leftover roasted chickens
basil, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper to taste
3 cloves fresh garlic, grated into the stock
carrots and wax beans from my garden
2 onions
1 cup white wine
1L jar of tomatoes I canned
1 package (350g) cheese tortellini (my overpriced grocery store only had small ravioli for a decent price, so that's what I used)

After skimming the stock of the fat, I brought it to a boil and added the veggies. I added the tortellini. 10 minutes later, I had dinner. I froze the leftovers in batches so I can have meals whenever I need them now.

Easy peasy!

Honestly, I never buy canned soup anymore. Too much sodium, too much crap. This is so much better - homemade, healthy, nourishing, and delicious.