Hearty Chicken Soup - Canja de Galinha

I think one of my earliest memories of being in the kitchen, was with my greatgrandmother as she prepared chicken soup.

There was never a set recipe or rules as to how she would make it, usually it comprised of whatever she had on hand, so one day we might have rice, other day it might be noodles.  Sometimes it had carrots, other times it didn't.

And that is how I learned how to make this soup.  With a pinch of this, and a bunch of that.

Usually, if I have to cook chicken for a particular recipe, I always fix a batch of chicken soup.  It's one of the soups that my children adore and will eat copious amounts of.

For tonight's dinner, I needed to cook some chicken thighs, so I went ahead and fixed chicken soup for lunch.  So yummy!

Hearty Chicken Soup

Chicken (it really depends if you want a lot of chicken or just a bit, for this one I shredded two of the thighs)
1 small onion
1 bay leaf
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 garlic clove, sliced thinly
salt and pepper to taste
2 slices of bacon
Chourico, sliced (optional, I usually add it if I have it on hand)
Parsley (optional)
rice or pasta

I start by filling my pot about halfway with water, then I add in the chicken pieces, onion, bay leaf, chicken bouillon cube, garlic, salt and pepper and the bacon.

Simmer for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside.

Dump in rice or pasta.  My kids couldn't decide which they preferred today so I added in both.   Depending on the amount of broth you have, adjust the amount of rice or pasta accordingly.  I had a full pot of broth so I added in half a cup of rice and about a cup of macaroni noodles.

Add in slices of chourico, if using.

Cook until the rice and pasta are done.  Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, chop it into small pieces and add it back to the pot.  At this point you can remove the whole onion, or you can also go ahead and cut into smaller chunks and pop it back in.

Add shredded chicken, check the seasonings, drizzle with a little bit of olive oil, add in some chopped parsley and serve.

There really is nothing to this soup, but it's filling, and delicious :)