Roasted Vegetable with Chicken and Rice Soup

2 ways to prepare the Chicken and Broth are discussed below:

Boiled Chicken using the procedure below or Roasted Chicken purchased from the store. Personally,  I like the soup both ways.  If you want to cut down on time then buy a whole roasted chicken from the deli at your favorite store and debone it.

Roasted chicken from the store procedure:

If you buy opt to buy a whole roasted chicken from the store you will need to debone it.

For the chicken broth, you can always use the broth from boiling the chicken if you choose that option.  If you choose to go with the store-bought broth, I like the “Better than Bouillon made with seasoned roasted chicken”.  The product does have salt so, if you use that or any other chicken broth then you need to lower the salt content in the stock pot cooking step to 1/2 teaspoon or 3/4 teaspoon depending on the amount of salt already in the broth.  Directions indicate 1 teaspoon for each cup of water.  I use 6 teaspoons to 3 1/2 bottles of purified water.  –  each bottle is 16.9 oz.  I still add 1 tsp of Dried Rosemary, 1/2 tsp of paprika and 1 tsp of Cilantro.

Or Boiled Chicken procedure:  boil chicken for approximately 1 hour.

• 3 Chicken Breasts (Cut into large chunks)
• 1 tsp Dried Rosemary
• 1/2 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Cilantro
• 10 cups Water (The leftover broth made in this step will be used in the Stockpot on the final Soup pot cooking step.)

Oven Roast the Vegetables Step 45 Minutes.  Line a large cookie pan with parchment paper and set the oven temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit  Mix the following ingredients in a bowl and stir to mix the seasonings.  Then pour them onto the cookie pan.

• 6 -8 medium Tomatoes (Quartered and then cut each quarter in half)
• 2 cups Baby Carrots (Cut each carrot into bite-size chunks)
• 1 Large onion (cut in half and then cut into slices)
• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil or Avocado Oil
• 1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
• 1 tsp Dried Oregano
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Sauté Step 7  Minutes – Saute these in the stock pot. You don’t want them fully cooked as they will cook more when you add them to the stock pot.

• 1 large Sweet Onion (Chopped)
• 3 ribs Celery (Cut lengthwise and chop into 1/2-inch pieces)
• 2 Bell Peppers ( 1 red and 1 yellow, chopped) 
• 3 Tbsp Minced Garlic
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil or Avocado Oil
• 2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
• 1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
• 1/4 tsp Dried Rosemary
• 1/4 tsp Dried Sage
• 1/4 tsp Paprika

Stock Pot Cooking Step
Here is where you are adding the ingredients from all the steps to the stock pot for the final cooking step. Set temperature to Medium add the following ingredients and cook for 1 hour.

• Add the Oven Roasted Tomatoes, carrots, and onions from the Vegetable oven roasting step.
• Add 8 cups Chicken Broth (The broth ingredient is from the Chicken Boiling Step or using the Better than Bouillon to make the broth.)
• Add the cooked shredded or chopped chicken from the (Chicken Boiling Step or the deboned roasted store-bought chicken)
• The sauteed vegetables should already be in the stockpot
• 2 Tbsp Salted Butter
• 1/4 tsp Grated or Ground Nutmeg
• 3 Tbsp Lime Juice
• 1/8 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 tsp Cilantro
• 3/4 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 tsp Salt remember if you used a store-bought broth with salt you need to lower this salt content down
• 1 tsp Dried Italian Seasoning
• 1 tsp Dried Oregano
• 3 oz Pecorino/Romano Cheese (crumbled) This doesn’t get added now.  It gets added after the soup simmers for 1 hour. 
• 3 Green Onions (Chopped) set aside to garnish the soup

Once the soup has simmered for one hour turn it off and do the final step below:

Ingredients to add at Serving Time as it is not cooked with the soup

• 5 oz Fresh Baby Spinach (optional) (It is essential to rinse the spinach even if it is pre-washed because a preservative with egg may be on them.) Note: the heat of the cooked soup will cook the spinach.
• 1/4 cup Cooked Rice per bowl (Add to bowl when serving soup. Don’t add to soup stockpot to avoid overcooking the rice.)
• Add 2 or 3 ounces of Pecorino/Romano crumbled cheese to the soup.  Give the soup a good stir so the cheese melts into the soup.