It’s Main Course March!

and we are starting with Mr. Joe’s Chicken Soup

You heard me right readers, I am going to bring it this month with main course ideas.

It is, after all, main course March.

But I made that up, I don’t know if it is or not, but it sounds good, right?

Especially since we are all looking for something new to throw together for dinner…all the time.

Just because I’m the Alphabet Mom, doesn’t mean I don’t get tired of trying to figure out what to cook, either.

So I went on a search and some of the recipes I’m bringing you are “new” and some of them are “old” but any way you look at it, they are good.

I mean really good.

Take Mr. Joe’s Chicken Soup for example…this one is really, really good.

Mr. Joe is like a gourmet cook but doesn’t have his own cooking show.

But he could.

His daughter, Linda Lou, sent the recipe to me a while ago, and I have only made it one other time.

I’m not entirely sure why because not only is it easy, but it is so tasty and fresh.

Honestly, the most complicated part is boiling your chicken and de-boning it.

And before you go all eye rolling, deep sighing on me…how hard is it to put a chicken in a pot, cover it with water and cook it for 2 hours?

Oh, and cover it with a bag of frozen seasoned blend and a bag of frozen onions?

So hard.

And I guess you could just de-bone a rotisserie chicken, that would work, but you wouldn’t have all these wonderful chicken juices as the base of your soup.

I mean, chicken juices are a thing.

So let’s get going and after I got this chicken in the pot, and as I showed you, I covered with water and poured in a bag of frozen seasoned blend and a bag of frozen onions.

Before you ask, it was 20 cups of water.

Because some of you will.

Now, give it some heat…medium to high until it starts to boil, then turn to medium and let it cook while you clean your house or take a nap or fold some clothes.

And let me tell you, boiling this chicken makes your house smell like you are a gourmet cook yourself.

That’s because I am turning you all into gourmet cooks.

And readers, that’s really it for preparation…other than cubing some potatoes and slicing some carrots, we are going to de-bone this chicken and throw it all in a pot.

You heard me…and it is so, so good.

By the way, this boiling process literally makes this chicken fall off the bone, so I scooped mine out and put it on a cutting board to cool.

You remember those 20 cups of water you used to cover the bird? Well, that’s our soup base and we are just going to add everything to it.

By everything…take a look below…including our de-boned chicken.

Open and dump your can of corn, can of French cut green beans, 3 cans of tomato sauce, 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1 can of Rotel tomatoes, 5-6 potatoes, diced and 5 carrots, sliced.

Here’s a pic with everything, including spices, which includes 2 tablespoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon dried parsley, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon chives, 1 tablespoon basil, 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce and if you are brave, some hot sauce to taste.

Now, let’s cook it for another hour to hour and a half to get our potatoes and carrots done.

If you are in a hurry, you could always cook those on top of the stove while your chicken is boiling, so when you are ready to combine everything, you would only have to warm the soup and be ready to serve.

We like ours with some tortilla strips on top. You could put sour cream, avocado, salsa or tortilla chips…or nothing at all!

Main Course March is off to a good start and we have Mr. Joe to thank for that!