Recipe: Mom’s Chicken Soup

This chicken soup makes a great family dinner. It can be served as chicken in the pot, with dumplings, brown or wild rice or whole wheat noodles. No matter how you serve it, everyone will love it.

Ingredients

1 whole clove
1 medium onion
2.5 pounds chicken breasts and thighs with legs, skin and visible fat removed
1 small sweet potato, scrubbed but not peeled
1 small turnip, peeled
1 medium carrot, peeled
2 garlic cloves
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 large sprigs of fresh dill
6 peppercorns
2 bay leaves

Directions

1. Stick the clove into the onion and put it into a soup pot. Add the chicken, sweet potato, turnip, carrot and garlic. Pour in the wine, broth and 2 cups water. Bring to a simmer and add the dill, peppercorns and bay leaves. Skim the soup as needed for 10 minutes.
2. Simmer, covered, until the chicken is very tender, about 35 minutes. Strain the broth into a pot or large bowl and refrigerate so you can remove any fat that congeals as it cools. Discard the clove, onion, turnip, garlic, dill and bay leaves. Peel the sweet potato; dice the potato and carrot. Remove the chicken and cool. Bone the chicken, cut off all fat and gristle, and dice into bite-size pieces.
3. To serve, reheat the soup to a simmer, then ladle into soup bowls. Divide the diced vegetables and chicken among the soup bowls and serve immediately.

Nutrition information (per serving)

Makes 6 servings

Calories: 250
Total fat: 7.5 g
Protein: 29 g
Carbohydrate: 8 g
Dietary fiber: 1 g
Cholesterol: 85 mg
Sodium: 250 mg
Potassium: 430 mg

— Cleveland Clinic Healthy Heart Lifestyle Guide and Cookbook.