Chicken Potato Veggie Soup for the Soul and Stomach (of my just a little under the weather friend)

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Have a bowl of my chicken potato and vegetable soup that I made for last Friday night. Above I had some leftover soup Saturday at noon along with a coke and my meds.

Half was for my just a little under the weather friend and the other half for Mrs. Jim and me.

It starts our with a basic Potato Veggie Soup and you can change yours from there. I'll show you how I made mine and what all I did to the basic recipe (not much).

The recipe and directions are a couple of pictures down.

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Here are the basic ingredients to the recipe except the chicken which I added.

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Peal and chop carefully and you won't have big a mess in the kitchen.

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Now for the recipe. Glance at it in large size, then go to a super size picture to get it ready for copying. Or you could just cook from it right here.

Although the recipe is for basic potato and vegetable soup, you can add whatever you wish. I added about a cup and a half of cooked chicken here.

I also bought some sausage to cook and add a little of it but Mrs. Jim thought it would be too robust for the under the weather person we were making it for.

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All set now. I boiled the potatoes separately with a little salt and started them a little later. I didn't want them to get mushy on me while waiting for the celery and carrots to cook.

Variations by Jim:
>> I used four large raw potatoes, peeled instead of frozen hash-browns (the five large carrots I had made plenty).
>> I added about a fourth teaspoon salt to the potato water, salt is not in the basic recipe.
>> No hot red pepper sauce. (Mrs. Jim doesn't do this anymore either, it doesn't add that much and probably wouldn't sit good on an under the weather person.)
>> Don't spare the nutmeg, Mrs. Jim says that brings out the flavor a whole lot.
>> I wouldn't buy any bacon just for the little this soup calls for. I did get the sausage but didn't put it in. With chicken I think the bacon is not needed anyway.
>> One and a half cups of cooked chicken made it hardier.


After the potatoes were finished, I drained and washed them. I know, I threw away a lot of vitamins, but I take a Kroger brand Century Senior equivalent every day so that isn't an issue with me.

Really, I drained and washed the potatoes because I am cutting out my starches. If you don't drain them, and still cook them separately, put half the liquids in with the potatoes and the other half in with the carrots, celery, and other stuff.

Originally it was in the Houston Chronicle Food Section on-line, but it isn't there anymore. At least I can't find it. Look around though, they have a lot of other good Texas recipes!

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All work and no play makes Jim a dull boy. That's what I was watching while I worked.

I sure do like this guy a whole lot better than I did Bob Barker. I think the ladies liked Bob Barker better, but hey, he has a reputation for being a ladies' man.

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Here you can see the chicken pieces floating on the top. The potatoes are added and it is ready for the cook's sample dish.

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Ah! For the effort I put in, it really came out good. I can't wait till supper when will have this and a grilled cheese sandwich.

Half this soup we are taking to an under just a little the weather friend. Mrs. Jim generally makes the soup but today was Ladies Day and we needed to take it in the evening. So I made it. I love to cook, but just don't make anything very hard very often. This soup isn't hard to make.