Hoodoo Voodoo, Chooka Chooky Choo Choo

Sister's lake view in Colorado

Stewie Chicken Vegetable Soup

Since I grew up understanding that soups were more medicinal than say, just regular dinner, I've always known they could have special healing powers with the right mix of concoctions. Menudo for example, being the ultimate cure for hangovers and lethargy.  For winter blahs and general body blues, this broth from the vegetables or the chicken is rich in vitamins and nutrients and is the perfect base.  I'm not a fan of removing all the fat.  Your gut tells you when you need a power boost of those fortifiers. Sometimes a single serving of steamed broccoli simply won't do.  You need a multitude of veg working together, along with some heat and acidity, fat and hot liquid. Mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, celery, onions, cabbage, potatoes, sweet peppers and peas went into this chooky brew.  Salt, pepper, oregano and a splash of vinegar is all that is needed. 

The broth was first made with the seared chicken, onion, heads of garlic, carrot tops, bay leaves, pepper corns and cilantro stems and simmered until the meat is able to be easily taken off the bone, then strained.

Chicken legs would not be my first choice but that's what I had to work with and I worked it and it worked because in this case, it was used mainly for it's bones to infuse the broth.  The vegetables were the main active ingredient to this medicine show.