Not your mama's chicken soup

Chicken soup is a delicious comfort food that evokes memories from all of us. For me, chicken soup reminds me of my grandmother. She would always use the carcass of a roasted chicken or turkey and turn it into soup. We had a game we would play in which my grandmother would swear that she had removed all the bones from the soup and then I would always find one and I would tease her about it and she would say "how did you find that? I thought I got all those damn bones!" and then we would giggle. It's silly I know but one of my fondest memories.

And so, this past Sunday I found myself with a chicken carcass and the desire for soup. I made some revisions and additions to this soup but was extremely happy with the results. I added shitake mushrooms for an immune boost and kale to pack it with good for you vitamins like A and C and calcium. For the past week there has been much enjoyment of the soup.

This soup takes several hours because the chicken needs to break down, so be sure to start it earlier. Or you could cheat and just buy chicken stock

Not Your Mama's Chicken Soup:
1 onion
2 carrot
2 celery stalks
Carcass of 1 chicken 4-5 pound chicken
1 bay leaf
3 garlic cloves
1/4 package soba noodles
1/2lb mushrooms- preferable shitake
3 cups chopped kale

Chop onion, carrot and celery into 1/2 inch dice (approx.)
Put big soup pot/pasta pot on stove on medium heat
melt 1 tablespoon of butter or olive oil
add onion, carrot, celery mixture to pot
let vegetable sweat until onion are translucent - 5-7 minutes
Place chicken carcass on top of veg
Fill pot with water to half way up chicken(or stock if you're cheating)
add bay leaf and garlic cloves
Allow to simmer for 4-6 hours
Add soba noodles(they will cook right in the soup) and mushrooms
Add kale 5 minutes before serving
season with salt and pepper to taste