Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free: Healing Chicken Soup

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been flirting with a cold – one day I’m feeling fine and the next like I hit a brick wall. Ugh. Whenever I was sick as a kid (or teenager … or even as an adult, really), my mom would recommend eating homemade chicken soup. There really is something about it that makes you feel just a little bit better and makes your head a little bit clearer when you’re sickly! I remember a few months after I started dating Mr. Bean, he got really sick, so I went over to his house and fed him chicken soup. I don’t remember exactly, but I can pretend that it made him feel much better! (Probably having a doting girlfriend feed you soups helps, too.)

Luckily for me, this soup also works perfectly for this month’s Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free challenge, hosted by Maggie at She Let Them Eat Cake, themed “Foods that Heal.” While I don’t really know that much about nutrition or what foods promote healing of the gut or whatever, I do know that chicken soup helps when you’re feeling sick and still tastes great when you’re not!

The biscuits probably aren’t terribly healing, but I love biscuits with chicken soup! This isn’t the first time I’ve made chicken soup and biscuits but this soup uses leftover roast chicken and the biscuits are my adaptation of both biscuits from my mom’s recipe book and from the Joy of Cooking. I think they are still quite light and fluffy and you don’t have to grate the fat into the dry ingredients. (I found that just clumped up anyways, so I was really no further ahead.) Plus, there’s no rolling, so it literally takes about 20 – 25 minutes from start to finish depending on how much they need to cook. I’m definitely going to be making this meal with the leftover soup that I froze once I start working!

Homemade Chicken Soup

Chicken Carcass with some meat left on it – ideally free range organic, but do the best you can
Water
Parsley (and other spices if desired)
Veggies (I used: mushrooms, carrots, celery, peppers, peas and corn)

1. After you’ve roasted and carved you chicken, place the carcass in your slow cooker. Add enough water to mostly cover the chicken. Add spices like parsley, bay leaves, etc.
2. Slow cook your chicken soup until the chicken starts to fall apart. I probably let it cook for a full 18- 24 hours. I love cooking soup in my slow cooker as I don’t have to worry about leaving the stove on.
3. Using a slotted spoon, remove the carcass, bones and meat and place on a plate to cool.
4. Pour liquid through a sieve into a large pot. If there are any meat chunks left in sieve, feel free to add to soup stock.
5. Bring the pot up to a boil. Chop up the veggies and add to the soup.
6. Once the chicken is cool enough, pick off all the meat and put in pot. Discard bones and pour any liquid through sieve into the pot.
7. Once the veggies are cooked, salt and pepper to taste.
8. Serve up and enjoy!

This recipe can make a TON of soup depending on the size of chicken and how much water you add. We ended up freezing some for future use in old glass mayonnaise bottles with a piece of wax paper under the lid. Remember to leave ample space for the soup to expand as it freezes so you don’t end up with broken glass in your freezer!

You could add noodles if you want, but noodles and biscuits are too much starch, so no noodles it was!

Gluten and Egg Free Biscuits (can be dairy free, too!)

1 c. brown rice flour
1/3 c. sorghum flour
2/3 c. tapioca starch
1 tsp. xathan gum
1 tbsp. + 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
4 – 5 tbsp. dairy free margarine
3/4 c. + 2 tbsp. almond milk (or other dairy free milk)
1 tsp. lemon juice
Additions – grated old cheddar cheese (Mr. Bean’s favourite), currants, garlic, chives, parsley, etc

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix together the milk and lemon juice. Set aside.
3. Whisk together the dry ingredients.
4. Measure in the fat into the dry ingredients and work it through with your fingers until it’s pea sized.
5. Add in the cheese (or whatever) to the flour mixture.
6. Using a fork, mix in the milk. The biscuits should be quite wet and sticky but still a very soft dough.
7. Spoon dough onto cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes (depending on the size of biscuits) until they start to turn golden brown and they don’t squish when touched.
9. Remove from oven. Wrap biscuits in a towel on a plate or basket and serve immediately.
10. Enjoy with butter/margarine (Mr. Bean’s favourite) and dip them in the soup or with honey (my favourite).

What’s your favourite”healing” food for when you’re sick?

Shared at: Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Hearth and Soul Hop and Allergy Friendly Fridays.