Rainy Day Comfort

It's a scientific fact.  Soup tastes better when it's raining.  As a bonus-homemade soup!

I started with some left over chicken carcasses I had in my freezer, covered them in a large pot with water, onions, carrots, celery, peppercorns, thyme sprigs, and garlic cloves and allowed it all to simmer for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

I then strained out all of the "stuff" and kept just the liquid.  And voila!  Homemade chicken stock.  Seriously, it's so much better than the store bought packaged stuff--you can really taste the difference and control what goes into your soup.

I then sauteed onions, carrots, garlic, red potatoes, jalapeno, and zucchini for about 10 minutes.  I added a few whole sprigs of thyme (you can fish the twigs out of the soup later) and the chicken stock.  

After allowing the mixture to simmer until the potatoes were tender, I added a can of white beans, which I had drained and rinsed.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.  I also added a few pinches of red pepper flakes to mine-  I felt like it needed a little heat!

 Also, feel free to add Parmesan cheese.  Or try the trick where you place an old Parmesan rind in the pot while the soup is simmering to achieve a really great cheesy flavor.

Isn't it pretty?  I love the colors. :)

Sorry for the lack of measurements--if there's one thing I think my readers are figuring out about me, it's that I kind of just throw things in a pot until it tastes good!