Chicken Soup by Powell family recipe book

Ingredients

2 whole chickens 3 gallons of water 4 onions sliced 4 carrots sliced 6 celery stalks sliced 2 heads of garlic peeled and sliced 4 Tabs of lemon juice (for better medicinal results use 2 5 inch stalks of lemon grass) 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary 6 sprigs of fresh thyme 6 tablespoons of fresh oregano 4 inches of ginger peeled and sliced 2 inches of turmeric peeled and sliced (if you can not find fresh, use the spice but only like 2 teaspoons) 2 heaping tablespoons of better than bullion chicken base 4-8 Tablespoons salt, I used 4 but everyone in my family was saying it needed more 4 teaspoons pepper 2 star anise (if you can find it) Noodle recipe (large recipe for drying out and putting aside) 6 cups all purpose flour 6 whole eggs 6 egg yolks 1 1/2 cups- 2 cups of water

Instructions

For ingredients fresh is always best if you can find it. Also chickens and eggs from a farm are WAY better and so much more flavorful than from a store.

I made a roaster full, so I just put all of the ingredients in a roaster and let it cook on 400 degrees for about 5-6 hours. Then scooped out the chicken as whole as I could. Deboned the chicken and discarded of the rest of the chicken pieces. I put about 1/4 C of chicken (after it was shredded) into 12 quart size freezer containers, and the rest of it in a stock pot for our supper (family of 5). Then I strained the broth and poured it into the 12 quart sized freezer containers leaving a little room at the top. The rest went into our stock pot for supper.

With the freezer containers, I would add 1/2-1 Cup of water after thawing and then bring to a boil, and then you can add noodles for chicken and noodles. Or you could add about 1/2 cup rise for chicken and rice. Or if you like chowder, add some leftover mashed potatoes (1/2 cup), a can of cream of chicken and some sliced carrots.

I divide up the batch, strain 1/2 of it for nothing but broth and save that seperate. The rest I keep the chicken in and freeze and use that for chicken noodles or chicken dumplings. If just using the chicken broth in recipes, be sure and use 1:1 ratio with water.

For chicken noodles: I use about a 1/2 of the noodle recipe for our stock pot, and then save the other half after it's completely dried out (like 24 hours or more). For the noodles combine all ingredients in a stand up mixer using the dough hook. Add some flour to keep the mix in a ball. Roll out thinly, let sit one hour, flip, let sit one more hour, use a pizza cutter to cut into thin strips with a little flour mixed in with them. I like them crinkly so I squeeze them a little. Then let sit another couple of hours, before adding to soup.

For chicken dumplings: Use the chicken broth with chicken 2 cups: 2cups of water, 3 tablespoons of flour and 1 can of evaporated mile. Salt to your liking and warm up the liquid mixture to boiling. For the dumplings use 2 C flour, 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon of baking powder, salt and pepper, 3/4 C whole milk and 4 tabls butter (melted), mix good and with a small teaspoon take a scoop and round into balls and put into boiling liquid and lower to simmer, put on lid and cook for 15 minutes.

For egg drop soup: I use just the chicken broth liquid 2 cups: 2 cups water ratio. Salt good (or to your liking). Put in 2 tablespoons cornstarch and whisk good, then start to heat up to boiling. Do not put in the cornstarch while liquid is hot. Whisk together 3 eggs, then when broth is simmering, start stirring in a circular mostion, and slowly pour in the eggs. Slowly to get those long egg ribbons. Remove from heat and add in some green onions and chinese wonton crisps.