Mexican Chicken Soup

 

Mexican food has always held so much flavor for me!  Living in Southern California, I am able to savor the flavors of South and Central America due to the availability of restaurants.  Los Angeles and it's surrounding area has a plethora of Mexican and South American restaurants for you to choose from, cooking up your basic Tex Mex cuisine to more exotic foods of various locales south of our border.  Now that our weather is colder,  I wanted a twist on a more basic American classic, Chicken Soup.  Have you ever tried Mexican Chicken Soup?  The flavors of avocado, cilantro and lime add a tantilizing twist to this soup that make it all the more interesting to eat!  If your child is picky, you can easily take out the avocado or cilantro or lime and still have a delicious soup!  

So, the basis of this soup is chicken broth which you make from scratch.  I usually purchase an organic whole chicken from Trader Joes or Costco.  I feel that either store has an excellent organic whole chicken.  You just want to make sure that the bag of giblets is no longer inside the chicken.  When I purchase my organic chicken, I usually look it over for color and then rinse the entire chicken with cold water prior to adding it to the pot.  I usually add organic carrots and celery that have been rinsed and an organic yellow onion.  The one thing you will love about this recipe is that without adding any salt or pepper, it still tastes amazing!  It is perfect for people who are watching their salt content or trying to decrease the amount of salt in their diet.  The lime and cilantro really add that flavor punch so you don't really need to add any salt or pepper.  

When making my soups, stews, salads, I always prefer to use organic ingredients.  There are so many toxins and pesticides in our air, water and food, that I prefer to lower my toxic load any way that I can.  By purchasing organic fruits and vegetables, I do feel that I am lowering the toxins put into my body.  We obviously cannot avoid the air we breathe or water in our water system, but we can avoid eating toxic, pesticide laden food.  

The first thing you do is rinse your chicken and make sure the gizzards are cleaned out.  Place the chicken in a big pot and add the carrots, celery and onion.  

Then, you add water to the pot to cover the chicken and the vegetables.

Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer for 3-4 hours.  During this time, the chicken will cook and the nutrients from the chicken and the vegetables will infuse into the water to create a delicious broth.  After you have created your broth, you will remove the vegetables which you can either eat or throw out.  Then carefully remove the chicken to a plate to let it cool.  I usually have the chicken cool for at least 30 minutes.  

While the chicken is cooling, we will add the rice to the broth.  Bring the broth to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes to cook the rice.  

While the rice is cooking, use that time to shred the chicken.  I placed all my shredded chicken into a bowl.

After the rice has cooked for 20 minutes, add back the shredded chicken and cook for an additional three minutes.  Then, you can plate this dish.  Make sure to gather your cilantro, limes, and avocado.

Add the soup to a bowl, squeeze some lime, slice some avocado on top and sprinkle with fresh cilantro for a healing chicken soup that is so delicious you will definitely want seconds!  Best thing about this is that the lime, avocado and cilantro blend together so well for flavor that you won't even miss the salt!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

2 carrots, halved crosswise

3 celery sticks

1 large yellow onion

1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice

2 avocados

1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves

3 limes, halved

Place the chicken, carrots, onion and celery into a large pot.  Add enough water to cover and then some (about 16 cups).  Bring to a voil.  Reduce heat and simmer gently, covered for 3-4 hours.  Skim off any foam that appears.  Transfer the chicken to a plate and remove the carrots onions and celery.  Discard the vegetables.  Add rice to the broth and simmer for 20 minutes.  Shred the chicken meat, discarding the skin and bones.  Add the meat to the broth and heat for 3 minutes.  Ladle the soup into bowls and top with avocado, cilantro and a squeeze or two of lime!  Remember, everything is to taste.  If you love avocado, be generous with the amount of avocado.  I squeeze and entire half of the lime into my soup since I love the flavor that lime offers it.  I also generously sprinkle the cilantro.  Hope you enjoy this flavorful dish!!