Chicken Corn Soup

I live in a quaint small town called Jefferson. We have a beautiful view of the mountains and we are blessed to have a little over 4 acres with lots of wildlife. It was a perfect house to raise our two sons in. Our boys used to play in the creek that runs through our backyard. They would bring home crayfish and minnows from the creek and of course they would always want to keep them as pets. Bless their hearts they tried so many times, but I would send them packing to return them so that they would not die. The only prize catch that really shook me was when they brought the snake inside the house. They had the encyclopedia opened and were trying to figure out what type of snake it was. Snake-e-poo got the bums's rush rather quickly!  Another great thing about Jefferson is the local corn stand where people come from all around to buy the sweet white corn. That my Feasty Fans is what inspired me to post my Chicken Corn Soup this week. The sweet white corn with the little dumplings are simply delicious in this soup. Enjoy!

Chicken Corn Soup

• ½ cup chicken base
• 18 cups or 4½ qts water
• 1 Rotisserie chicken
• 1½ cup diced celery hearts
• 1½ cup diced sweet onion
• ¾  tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ears fresh sweet white corn or a 16 oz. bag frozen white corn
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour, all purpose
• ½  cup milk

In a large 8 qt soup pot add water and base. Mix well with a wire whisk breaking up base paste. Add chicken and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer covered for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile dice celery and onion, set aside. 

Remove chicken from pot and place on platter to cool. Strain broth through a wire mesh and return back to cleaned soup pot. Add celery, onion, and black pepper to broth in pot. Bring to a boil and cover and reduce heat to a simmer.

When chicken is cool enough to touch remove skin and discard. Pull chicken from bones and cut into bite size pieces. Add chicken to soup pot. Then cut away corn from cob and add to soup pot as well. 

In a medium bowl beat eggs until light in color. Beat in flour and milk until smooth. Drop batter into hot broth  (you may need to turn up heat) to make small ¼ to ½ inch round dumplings. Cook, stirring constantly for 2 to 5 minutes, until dumplings hold their shape and float to the surface. This soup is delicious, it is so much better with fresh corn. You may use 4 ½ qts. chicken broth instead of water and chicken base.

I keep a few rotisserie chicken in my freezer so I can make soup at a moments notice.