"Leftover" Chicken Soup and Biscuits

Leftover night is always an adventure.  I think about what I have left in the refrigerator and what I can use to make a meal.  I had saved the chicken broth from cooking the chicken the day before.

With the options I had, I decided to make homemade chicken soup.

First, because the broth sat overnight in the refrigerator, all the fat had risen to the top.  To make it a little healthier, I scraped the fat off the top of the broth.

 I put the broth in a large pot on the stove.  








To make it easier to take the chicken off the bone, I heated it just a little bit in the microwave to take the chill off.  Then, as I took the chicken off the bone, I broke it up with my hands as I dropped it into the broth.  This is what takes the longest in making the soup.  Even though there were a few pieces of barbecue chicken mixed in with the plain chicken, I added them in also.  It just added a little extra flavor.    

I know that you can thicken soup with instant mashed potatoes, however I've never tried to use regular mashed potatoes.  Well, I decided to try it.  I had about a cup leftover from a few days ago, and it worked nicely to thicken the soup!

After the chicken and potatoes, I added some frozen peas, a few mixed veggies, some rice and some green beans (from a can) and to give some more flavor, I added a can of cream of chicken soup.  I also chopped up some carrots and cooked them in the microwave and was going to add them to my soup, but I forgot them in the microwave and didn't discover them until the next day!  Oh well! 

Finally, I let the soup simmer on the stove while I finished the remainder of my meal.  I think the whole process took 20-25 minutes with the majority of the time used to take the chicken off the bone. 

However, since I am cooking for five children who really aren't crazy about chicken and vegetable soup, I always like to add something extra to serve with the soup like crackers or biscuits.  This time I made some homemade biscuits.  The recipe I used is from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, the basic cookbook I got when I first got married.  It is my "go to" cookbook which has all kinds of basic recipes.

  

Instead of rolling out the biscuits, I baked them in a 9 x 9 pan; I have done this before with success.  It saves a lot of time!  However, I have never used my food processor to mix the dough.  I decided to give it a try. 

Here is the simple biscuit recipe I used:  

First, I put all the dry ingredients in the food processor.  Then, I added 1/2 cup of butter, cut up into approx. 1 tablespoon slices.    

Then, I attached the lid, turned on the food processor  and gradually poured the 2/3 c. milk through the hole in the top.  I stopped when the dough balled up on the side of the container.  It only took a minute or so.  It went really fast and much easier than doing it by hand!

Next, I sprayed my pan with cooking spray and using just a little bit of flour, I spread the dough in the pan with my hands.  I try not to handle it too much. I've heard that kneading the dough too much results in tough biscuits.

I baked it for about 12-14 minutes.  It took just a little longer than what is called for in the recipe because it is in a pan and not individual biscuits. When it turned a light brown, I knew they were done.  I cut them and served them right from the pan.  They were moist and delicious!  

Kids (and hubby) loved the soup and biscuits. Leftover night was a success!