Chicken soup!!!

You will find out this winter that chicken soup is one of my favorite things to make.  Friday I went to Whole Foods and bought stuff for chicken soup .... just a bunch of things I felt like eating - a whole chicken, carrots, onion, celery, already chopped cabbage, and sweet potatoes.  I had a jar of roasted garlic at home.

When I got home, I melted butter in the pot over medium heat and added four, small, roughly chopped onions.  I cooked the onions until they were caramelized (very brown).  Then I added a lot of garlic, the chopped carrots and celery.

I rinsed the chicken and added it to the pot, then filled it with enough water to cover the chicken.  I brought it to a simmer and simmered for about an hour.

After an hour, I removed the chicken, let it cool, then took off all the meat.  I put the bones back into a metal strainer (actually the steamer out of my pasta pot), then put the basket into the soup to let the bones simmer longer.

Several hours later, I added back the chicken and added the diced sweet potato and the chopped cabbage.  I let it cook about a half hour longer.

The picture is what it looked like when I added the final ingredients.  It was sooo good!!  And I made enough to last a few meals.  I did not put a lot of seasonings into this one.  With the sweet potatoes and the caramelized onions, it tasted sweet.  If you must have herbs, I would add thyme, but I think all it really needs is just a little salt.