Back to A Wonderful Recipe. But first . . .

It's December 1st!  The advent calendars kicked in today at my house.  At the end of today's blog I will share with you what I think, in my humble opinion, is the best advent calendar ever.  But first, the winner of the giveaway.  With the assistance of my lovely assistants a name was drawn.

And the winner is . . . 

Congratulations!  I will come by someday soon to deliver this cute bag of goodies.

I know you will love the ornament especially.  It is beautiful on the front center of the tree as a reminder of what this time of celebration we are in is truly about.

Now, as promised, back to the recipes.  I've got another good one today!  This recipe came to me from my friend Cheryl and it is a winner.  So good, so good for you!  How can you top that?  You start with mostly many yummy and distinct flavored root vegetables.  Notice the cup of coffee in the picture below.  I added it in there because with this many veggies to wash, peel and cut, a good cup of coffee is nice to enjoy while you're doing it.  The good thing, though, is that the veggies are cut very large, making it really not that bad at all.  Look at those beauties.

You then take two whole chickens (I bought the whole chickens already cut up) and place them in a large pot. . .

 Add some water and pile all the coarsely chopped vegetables on top, along with dill, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper.

Sometimes I get so hungry when I'm working on my blog.  I could go for a bowl of this for lunch today.  And, as you would guess, it does make a lot!  So when you make it, you will have leftovers.  After you have simmered this for 1.5 hours, you strain the broth and place it back in the pot with the chicken that you have cut or shred into nice bite sized pieces.  The original recipe had you throw almost all of the vegetables away but I rebelled and cut most of them up into bite sized pieces and added them back into the soup.  I don't know if rooty tasting vegetables, like rutabaga, are an acquired taste or not, but I absolutely love that taste and found adding the vegetables back in just enhanced the flavor.  Even the sweet potatoes!  How many soups have you had with sweet potato chunks?  Yum, yum!!  

Before I give you the recipe I have to share with you the advent calendar I mentioned.  This calendar has a very special place in my heart because you can save money by assembling part of it yourself and it just so happens that on the evening I was assembling it, I was in labor with my beautiful second daughter who was a week overdue.  You moms out there now know why this calendar has a special place in my heart.  

On December 1st Mary and Joseph are placed on the first velcro dot to begin their journey to Bethlehem.  Isn't that an incredible, daily reminder to your children why we're having a celebration this month?!  On Christmas, when their journey is done and they have reached the Inn, you take the journeying Mary and Joseph off and replace them with this:

The company is still around and fifteen years later still sells these.  Every year I plan on buying two more so each of my kids can have one for their families some day.  This might be the year I actually do it.  If you are interested in this, go here: funfelt.com and type "advent calendar" in the search box and you will find it from there.  Now, I send you, and your family, very heartfelt wishes for a joyful, meaningful, fun time of celebrating the birth of our Savior, born a baby to live a perfect life so He could ultimately die on the cross to pay for our sins and rise from the dead bringing us new life when we come to Him acknowledging our sin and need for Him to save us.  Merry Christmas!


"But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."  Luke 2:10-11


Chicken Soup


2 chickens (3.5-4 lb. each)
2 lb. carrots, peeled
2 lg. onions, cut in half
5 lg. ribs celery, with leaves, cut in half
2 lg. parsnips, peeled, cut in half
1 small sweet potato (about 6 oz), peeled, cut in half
1 turnip (about 6 oz) peeled, cut in half
1 rutabaga (about 6 oz) peeled, cut in half
1/2 large green and yellow pepper, seeded
1 plastic container (2/3 oz) dill, coarsely chopped
1/2 bunch curly parsley coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste


Place chicken in a large stockpot and add water to barely cover the chicken.  Place all other ingredients in the pot and simmer for 1.5 hours.  Strain the broth and place back into the pot.  Shred or cut the chicken and place back into pot.  Cut most of the vegetables into bite sized pieces and place back into the pot.  Heat and serve.