homemade chicken soup

I'm not much of a soup person, but I do enjoy making chicken soup from scratch, which means making chicken stock.  I'm always watching cooking shows, looking at cookbooks and reading food magazines, so I guess I like to think I'm somewhat of a gourmet chef.  I know I'm not, but I like to think I am.  Even if only when I'm making chicken stock a couple times a year.

I used to use a recipe from a soup cookbook, but I must have given that book away because it's nowhere to be found.  So, I tried a recipe I found in a cookbook I got for Christmas (How Cooking Works - awesome book!).  It's pretty easy and the ingredients are simple.

I kind of tweaked it a little based on the ingredients I had on hand.  I had some fresh herbs I needed to use up, so I used those instead of the dried herbs.  I also added some scallion scraps I had from another recipe and some dried dill.  I had the choice of using a chicken carcass or a whole chicken.  I had a whole chicken so that's what I used.  I just cut it up and tossed it in the pot (thanks to my dad for teaching me how to cut up a chicken properly!).

Here's the finished stock after I strained it and before I skimmed the fat.  Not so pretty, but it tasted good.  It needed more salt, though.  I should have added more at the end.

Here's the finished soup.  It has shredded chicken from the chicken I used for the stock, fresh carrots, elbow macaroni, and fresh parsley.