Alphabet Chicken and Rice Soup

Alphabet Chicken and Rice Soup holds a special place in my heart. For whatever reason, I just assumed that my girls did not like soup. One day, they were watching an episode of PBS Kids’ Martha Speaks. It’s a cute, educational cartoon about a talking dog that learned to speak after she ate some alphabet soup. Sure enough, after watching an episode, they asked for some alphabet soup!

The next time we went to the grocery store, they picked out a couple cans of Vegetable Alphabet soup and Chicken Noodle Soup. They didn’t like the alphabet soup (too tomato-y) and loved the chicken soup but really wanted the letters. I was determined to come up with a Homemade Alphabet Chicken Soup recipe that was not only fun to eat, but good for them too because I’m just not a fan of all that sodium in canned soups. And low-sodium soups definitely taste like they need… sodium. Hmmm. After several attempts, I finally came up with one that the girls will slurp down every time. ESPECIALLY when they are sick or are watching Martha Speaks.

And yes, one night I DID have too much time on my hands. I had made a pot of soup to take over to a sick friend, the hubby was at a hockey game and the girls were fast asleep. Yes, I could have done a million other things, but this is what I was COMPELLED to do that night – spell out “CHICKEN SOUP” with my letters. The girls thought it was the bomb.

So before I blab on any more, here’s my Alphabet Chicken and Rice Soup recipe:

Updated 2/28/14:
I have decided to re-vamp this recipe to lower the sodium content per serving to about 228 mg/1 cup by eliminating the use of boullion/Herb Ox. Here’s the updated version. I’ve decided to remove the old recipe, but if for whatever reason, you’d like it, just leave me a comment and I can send it to you.

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Alphabet Chicken and Rice Soup – new and improved!

Course Soup

Cuisine American

Keyword soup

Servings 10 cups

Ingredients

• 8 cups low sodium Chicken Broth
• about 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken rotisserie chickens work great!
• 1/2 cup letter pasta uncooked
• 1/4 cup barley uncooked
• 1/4 cup brown rice uncooked
• 1/2 cup diced carrots I just buy a bag of shredded carrots and further dice that
• 1 onion diced
• 1/2 cup broccoli slaw diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tsp dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper optional

Instructions

1. Fill a large pot or dutch oven with water. Add all the ingredients into the water and bring to boil for about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to med-low and simmer for another 15-20 minutes or until the rice and veggies are tender.
2. Makes about 10 cups of soup.

Recipe Notes

If it’s not “soupy” enough or if it’s too savory, just add a couple more cups of water to taste.

Enjoy some on the spot and then freeze the rest because this recipe makes a lot of soup! I freeze them in 2 cup servings in my Pyrex glass conatiners.

To defrost, just place ice soup into a medium sized pan, add some chicken broth (about 1/2 cup for 2 cups frozen) and bit more salt/garlic power/parsley flakes since you are watering it down.

If it’s not “soupy” enough or if it’s too savory, just add a couple more cups of water to taste.

Enjoy some on the spot and then freeze the rest because this recipe makes a lot of soup! I freeze them in 2 cup servings in my Pyrex glass conatiners.

To defrost, just place ice soup into a medium sized pan, add some chicken broth (about 1/2 cup for 2 cups frozen) and bit more salt/garlic power/parsley flakes since you are watering it down.

Hope you like my Homemade Alphabet Chicken and Rice Soup!

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Christine, aka happyvballgirl : )

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