Here’s a great recipe for a chilly Hallow’s Eve. In my little town by the shore, we go all out on Halloween. There is one street in particular that looks like Mardi gras, sans the drunk naked people. (We save that for home. 😉
Seriously, this street is so well known (and has been for decades) that kids from other towns get dropped off to trick or treat. My best friend lives at one end of this craziness, so her house is command central. Everyone brings a dish, and while the kids divvy up their loot, the grownups enjoy a smorgasbord of chili, soups, wings, and this year I’m making pulled pork. Some of you may have the same kind of get-together in your neighborhood, or maybe you just like something simple on the stove after your door to door with the kiddies. This soup is all that. The Butternut squash gives it the appropriate color of the day and the soup is both healthy and hearty.
This is a basic chicken soup recipe with bite-sized pieces of butternut squash and about one quarter of a head of cabbage chopped into bite-sized pieces. If you have a favorite way to make chicken soup, by all means, have it your way and then in the last half hour of cooking, add the squash and cabbage.
For those of you who need a chicken soup recipe, here’s how I do it.
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE BROTH
Left over chicken carcass, picked clean of meat
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 stalks of celery, roughly cut
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1 chicken boullion cube
salt and pepper to taste
Toss everything into a large soup pot and fill with tap water up 2/3 the way up the chicken. Bring to a boil on Med/High heat then turn down to simmer, uncovered, for a few hours. Remove from heat and let stand until cool enough to pour through a strainer into a second soup pot or large heat resistant bowl.
Return the broth to the stove.
SOUP INGREDIENTS
2 Frozen or fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 small onion, or 1/2 large onion, chopped
2 Celery stalks, sliced fine
2 Carrots, sliced fine
2 cups Butternut Squash cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 Head of Cabbage, cut into bite-sized pieces
A pinch or two of poultry seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste
Place chicken breasts whole into broth. (If you have the meat from the whole chicken saved, use that and omit the chicken breasts.) I always end up with a chicken picked clean from previous meals. Do not cook the carcass with meat on it, however. The meat loses all its flavor into the broth. Pick the meat before boiling and add later.
Add onion, celery and carrot and bring to a simmer. Add poultry seasoning. Cook until vegetables are tender and chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken and shred. Place back in soup with Butternut Squash and Cabbage. Allow to cook for another half hour or until squash is tender. Salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy.
I hope you like this recipe. If you have any recipe recommendations for Halloween, please send them in or leave a comment with your favorite Fall meal. Happy Halloween!!
