The Inspiration .. don't let it get boring

Having the desire to cook home-made meals throughout the course of my busy life, from the minute I started grad school through today, so I have mastered the protein-to-last-a-week method of cooking.

The recipe in "The Inspiration" can easily be doubled, tripled, quadroooopled, or whatever to accommodate more eaters or a lengthy week full of sweet home-made chicken goodness.

The best part about cooking Granny's chicken fricassee is it has the most beautiful, sweet flavor and it turns all things into equally tasty meals. I will give you a way to make chicken fricassee into chicken vegetable soup. What I like best about this is you can use all the leftovers you have hanging around.

Pantry:

What do you have? broccoli, squash, kale or greens, white beans, asparagus, brussel sprouts, frozen veggies, frozen pearl onions(yum), rice, noodles..
What you need: onion.

Putting it together:

1. Chop the onion into small pieces
2. Heat butter in a medium sized pot and add the onion.
3. Once the onion is fragrant add the veggies, if adding frozen veggies add them 2-3 minutes before non frozen, if no frozen veggies add fresh veggies.
4. Once the vegetables are slightly golden add some water, left over chicken and broth. (enough water so you'll have enough liquid for soup- its a personal preference so i won't put a measurement)
5. What do you like? rice, pasta, egg noodles, potatoes? Cook those per instructions.
6. Taste the soup, do you like the taste? it might need a little extra bouillon.. add as necessary.
7. Once the starch is cooked add to the pot for a minute or two
8. Some good additions are cracked pepper and parsley.
9. Eat!

Notes:

• The soup can cook in as short as 15 minutes or as long as 45 minutes depending on how long you want the flavor to develop, the time you have to cook it, and the ingredients you choose.
• Think about what veggies you have.
• For Kale, add when you add the water, for swiss chard add when it is close to the end of cooking time.
• Potatoes and acorn/butternut squash can be cooked in the broth: In this case I would make the onions golden, add water and broth, add the potatoes/squash and let cook for 12 minutes before adding other vegetables.
• Pearl onions are a great addition, i like to brown them in butter first, and you do not need the chopped onion if you go that route.
• White beans are not something I would put in because I honestly think beans are icky, it is a texture thing I have always struggled with. But so many people like beans I figured I'd suggest it, for you bean loving crazies, I think white beans are a tolerable (or delicious) addition (depending on your preferences).. tell me if you have other bean suggestions because I am not the best resource for that.
• Chicken Fricassee is very versatile and sweetens up some of the older things you have laying around in your pantry, or a combination of all the flavors you want and love.