Magic Soup Recipe (Low-Carb Chicken-Vegetable)

This soup really isn't magic.
It's a super-tasty chicken-vegetable soup that is
spiked with minced ginger and easy to make low carb

Magic Soup.

That's what Tippy Toes at the Low Carb Friends forum used to call it.

Supposedly, if you eat it for lunch and dinner, you'll see a lower number on the scale the next day.

"It's like magic," she said.

Well, not really, but it's a nice chicken-vegetable soup that hits the spot on a cold, winter day.

Loaded with chunks of dark-meat chicken, sliced celery, garlic, and freshly minced ginger, it makes the whole house smell wonderful while it's cooking.

And yep. I said minced ginger.

I love freshly minced ginger in homemade soup.

It gives the soup an Oriental feel, like the War Won Ton soup I used to eat whenever we went out for Chinese food when my kids were little. 

It's just missing the Won Ton noodles, is all.

And probably most of the magic, since this recipe has more vegetables than the original version that was posted in one of the Kimkins threads at the Low Carb Friends forum several years ago. It would work wonders for a cold, though.

Chicken Legs and Thighs are a Must

The original soup was basically chicken breast simmered in water to cover with a bit of chopped green onion, minced celery, and a single carrot.

It was created by Tippy Toes, who was cycling between Atkins and Kimkins at the time.

Since Kimkins was a low-fat low-carb program, it only worked for a very short time -- for her. She used Atkins to help her maintain the body fat she lost while doing Kimkins, then moved back to Kimkins for a week or two again.

I loved the name she gave this soup, but I honestly don't like chicken broth that has been made with chicken breast. Even if you use chicken breast that still has the bone in it, it never tastes the same.

Chicken breast is fine if you already have a rich salty broth to start with, but if you don't, you won't get the same results as you will with:

• legs
• thighs
• backs
• wings

Using leg quarters, instead of wings, keeps this soup economical because leg quarters in huge 10-pound bags are available in most areas of the U.S. for less than a dollar a pound.

When the kids were little, you could buy chicken backs at the grocery store for as little as 29 cents a pound. They made an excellent soup broth.

Same went for chicken wings. Chicken wings were never more than a dollar a pound because both backs and wings were throw-away meats in those days. Stores were just trying to get as much money for them as they could.

Chicken wings didn't get expensive until someone invented Hot Wings, here in the U.S., so I haven't been able to afford to purchase chicken wings very often ever since that happened.

Occasionally, stores will mark down their wings to a reasonable price whenever they're trying to get rid of their current stock. When that happens, I make Hot Wings or Teriyaki Sesame wings.

But never soup.

Alternatively, you could purchase a couple of whole chickens, if whole chickens are cheaper for you, and then cut them into parts, using the wings, and backs for the broth instead.

To compensate for the lack of flavor, Tippy Toes added some chicken seasoning to the broth after the chicken was finished cooking. With chicken leg quarters, that's really not necessary. Just a little seasoning salt and pepper will do.

Skinning the chicken ahead is important, as it will cut down on the amount of greasy fat in the soup, but if you're on a high-fat diet and like your broth extra greasy, go ahead and leave the skin on it.

If your knee jerks from having to skin the chicken, and you just can't throw that zero-carb chicken skin away, fry it up in a skillet and eat it that way.

Magic Soup (Low-Carb Recipe)

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken leg quarters, skinned
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 stalks sliced celery
• 1-1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1-1/2 cups chopped raw cabbage
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 medium-sized zucchini squash
• 1-1/2 tsp minced ginger
• seasoning salt
• pepper

Place the skinned chicken legs and thighs in a medium-sized soup pot and cover with water.

Add onion, celery, and garlic, and simmer uncovered until chicken is tender and broth is reduced by half for a more intensified flavor.

Remove chicken to cool; then shred or chop.

Chill the broth in the refrigerator overnight, so the fat that rises to the surface can be removed. If you don't mind an oily soup broth, you can use this right away, as there really isn't a whole lot of fat in the broth from skinless chicken.

I think I scooped off about 2 tbsp of it or so. That's all.

The following day, or whenever you're going to make the soup:

In a soup pot, combine half of the chicken meat (I saved the other half for another purpose, but you don't really have to if you want more meat in the soup), cabbage, zucchini, ginger, plus salt and pepper to taste.

You could also add other spices if you like, such as basil, onion powder, or poultry seasoning.

Let this simmer for about 30 minutes, until the cabbage is good and done.

This made about 2 main-dish servings or 4 side dishes.