Homemade Chicken Soup

There is nothing like a homemade chicken soup and this recipe is only 78 calories per serving. This recipe is filled with brown rice and sweet potato, this delicious soup is rich in both vitamins A and C. This is a fabulous dish any time of the year and you can go back for guilt-free seconds.


Ingredients

• 1 4-pound whole chicken, rinsed with excess fat trimmed
• 8 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 fresh thyme sprig
• lemon zest
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1 1/2 cups diced onion
• 1 1/2 cups diced carrots
• 1 cup diced sweet potato
• 2 cups diced celery
• 3/4 cup uncooked long-grain brown rice
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoon of Sriracha sauce
• 5 Shallots for garnish
• 1 teaspoon Sesame Seeds Directions
  

Pour the 8 cups of water in a good size pot and add the chicken, bay leaf, thyme and lemon zest and cook on the stove top for about an hour until the chicken is tender. This can be cooked in a slow cooker that makes it very tender.
Once it is cooked set the chicken aside to cool and keep the remaining chicken stock juice, take out the herbs and lemon zest - this is the magic broth.
Remove all the meat from the bones and throw away the bones.
Add the celery, carrots, sweet potatoes, Sriracha and rice to the broth and simmer for another 20 minutes until the vegetables are cooked and the rice is tender, then add the shredded chicken and cook for another 10 minutes and season to your liking.
Serve into bowl and add some chopped shallots and sesame seeds to garnish.  You can go back for seconds. Enjoy.