Dad's Chicken Soup

5 pounds chicken pieces
2 to 3 bay leaves
1 Tbsp. black peppercorns (tie in cheesecloth or put in a tea ball)
1 lb. carrots, scraped and cut in bite size chunks
2 to 3 celery stalks, cut in bite size chunks (some leaves are fine, too)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, or 1 to 2 Tbsp. dried parsley
Cooked noodles or rice

Cut up chicken if whole.  Remove extra fat and wash each piece.  Place in large soup pot.  Add water to cover chicken.  Bring to boil slowly and let chicken simmer about half an hour.  Skim top of soup periodically to remove foam which rises to top.  Add remaining ingredients except noodles and continue to simmer until vegetables are tender and meat is done.  Skim fat from top of soup.  Add salt to taste.  Cook noodles or rice separately.  Put in bowl and pour soup over.   Donald always left the whole pieces of chicken in the soup.  I like to remove the meat from the soup, pick it from the bones in bite size chunks and return it to the soup. 

Donald learned to make this soup from his mother.  He always made it when anyone in the family was sick and at other times in between.  He liked to serve it with little skinny soup noodles.  Everyone in the family looked forward to coming in from work or school and smelling the soup on the stove when they walked in the front door.  I’m sure none of you will ever forget Dad’s chicken soup.

Or try this to make it a Germans from Russia soup—

Cook as above.  Add noodles to the soup.  Make butterball dumplings—

8 cups bread crumbs (1 1/2 pkgs. hot dog buns) 

1/2 cup melted butter 

4 eggs

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp. Half n Half 

1/2 tsp. allspice. 

Combine ingredients and roll into firm 1” balls. Refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight.  Bring chicken broth to a simmer.  Add about 10 dumplings to broth (don’t crowd) and simmer for five to ten minutes until dumplings float to top.  If necessary, do a second batch.  Serve over noodles if desired.   Dumplings can be frozen before cooking.