Sipping Chicken Soup with Rice

Every winter, I get the poem "Chicken Soup with Rice" stuck in my head. When I was sick, Lee kept offering to make soup for me, but we didn't have any except tomato, which I don't like. Since I'm now feeling better, but DB was starting to sound congested again, so I decided to make some chicken soup on Friday.

I found a pack of vegetables and herbs at the grocery store that said it was for making stock. I figured I'd give it a go, and when else would I have tried dill or turnip in a stock since I wouldn't have thought of those? Anyway, I've been so excited to use my new crock pot and couldn't wait to put it to real use, instead of just warming things up.

I have problems with adding rice to soup, I always add too much and I end up with too little broth. This time, I added a little rice, but the crock pot was on low and it didn't get hot enough, so the rice didn't cook. The soup ended up taking a little longer to cook, and by the time I put it to high the rice really puffed up and sopped up the soup. Luckily, I had reserved some stock and was able to top it up and it turned out well in the end!

Chicken Soup

For the stock:
1 medium turnip
1 medium white onion
2 carrots
1 parsnip
1 stem of dill
1 stem of parsley
2 stocks of celery
1 chicken carcass

Place all stock items in a crock pot and cover with water. Simmer on low for about 12 hours or until the meat and bones fall away from each other. Strain the stock of all vegetables, meat, and herbs.

I had a lot of stock, so I reduced some and poured them into ice cube trays to freeze for later.

With the remaining stock, add desired vegetables, I used carrots, and cooked chicken. I also added a bit of salt and pepper to taste at this time. Simmer until vegetables are cooked.

I add the rice to the simmering stock and let it cook there. I had about 3 quarts of liquid and added about 1½ cups rice. I needed to add about a quart more liquid because the rice absorbed so much. I'm going to try to cook the rice ahead of time next time and add it at the last minute to see if that helps.