That much chicken, barely covered with water - seems like it should have flavor! But I don't make chicken stock with breasts, that being the least flavorful part of the modern chicken in my opinion. I use the carcass, which has more connective tissue, skin, cartilage, and so on. That all breaks down to gelatin which you want in a chicken soup. So, I second the suggestion off adding some necks and backs. I also make my stock separately, strain it, then use it to make chicken soup. That allows you to cook the stock for hours until every bit of flavor is extracted from the chicken and veggies, then remove the now-tasteless mush, fat, clouding particles - that you don't want in the soup anyway. When you use that stock to make soup, in effect you are further enhancing the broth with a second pass of chicken and veggies, which you'll cook just enough and not too much. I usually put the veggies in last. I know this is not the simpler process your mother used, but those of us without "mom magic" have to resort to more laborious measures. One thing - your mom might have used more salt than you are using today. Salt enhances flavors and back in our childhood, people weren't usually trying to control sodium. Her "mom magic" might have been as simple as an additional tsp or two of salt.

Thanks Carol and Woodie... No it wasn't me that tossed the stock down the drain Carol, but I know I've nearly done it several times...LOL and someone else did do it as I remember. It would be so easy to do wouldn't it, when we're so accustomed to draining something in the sink. Woodie I'm sure Ken's chicken soup is first rate ! I used to make thick lentil or chickpea soups more often than chicken soup, but I now love the flavour after the bones, garlic and onion have been roasted first. I often sauté the vegetables first in garlicky oil when making a lentil or chickpea soup as well, as it adds to the rich, toasty flavour. Mmm I look forward to soup weather. It's still pretty warm here but nights are turning a bit cooler. SharonCb

oops! sorry. hit a wrong button. I wanted to comment on Campbell's soup. I totally agree about the taste. Dish water is a good discription of the chicken noodle now. and the Tomato, one of my favs, is so bland as well. I remember my mother making soup for us 6 kids and the condensed soup was really what you would call condensed. one regular can of tomato came out of the can in a almost can shaped mass and the directions said to add 3 cans of water! you had to really stir it like mad to get that condensed soup to mix smoothly with the water to create the creamy soup, it was that thicke! and it tasted great! Soup was an economical way to feed a family then. not so much now! Now you only mix in 1 can of water and the "condensed" soup just runs out of the can. really there is no sense adding any water because what you get now is red water, no longer the thick and creamy packed with tomato flavor. bland and watery. same for the chicken noodle. they just keep cheapening the product, like people wont notice. I get the whole "let's get rid of all the artificial crap and high sodium and make this healthier because that's what people want. but if you can't do that and still produce a product that tastes good and people want to buy it, you might as well realize your product is done. people are buying now on nostalgia only and eventually Campell's Soup will be no more.

Your soup night sounds fab! We did a nod to it being Christmas Eve with a beaded tree for a centerpiece. Ann T., avoid your eyes, and skip the rest. :) Soup was minestrone flavored stone soup. I think the caterer left as much food as was served at our big party, so there were a lot of celery and carrots, grape tomatoes, cauliflower and broccoli left. Those were all diced for the soup, plus a couple of onions, half a head of garlic, some yellow vine tomatoes, a bag of baby kale and a white cabbage. So I didn't have to go down to the garage, the base was what I had in the kitchen freezer. That's three cups of low FODMAP chicken stock and three cups of beefy cabbage soup. I added a can of crushed tomatoes, a small can of fire roasted, and a smaller can of tomato sauce, plus vegetarian no-MSG bouillion and a little jarred soup base, for the salt. :) Some pepper, Tabasco (because I was too tired to clean serrano peppers from the garden) and mostly red wine. The starter was salmon salad made from the cranberry mustard salmon skewers leftover, broken up and dressed with what I think was the remoulade from the fried chicken drummettes. It had separated, and was a thick mayonnaise consistency and very herby, with a good acid sharpness that went well with the fish (which hadn't gone fishy). That was served with the leftover tortilla chips and relishes: baby corn, spiced baby carrots, pickle chips, raddishes and mixed olives. I also made some kale chips for something light. :) The soup was served alongside a leftovers casserole: a layer of latkes on the bottom (I thought they'd make it easier to serve but they fell apart), then layers of jewel rice, butternut curry, chopped broccoli, then filled with a bread pudding made from dry, bready donut holes, a (new) pretzel baguette, the chicken from the drummettes, the Moroccan beef cubes from another skewer, a couple of sundried tomato chicken sausages I had in the fridge to add more meat, and a couple of (new) leeks sautéed with a packet of small diced pancetta. There was cinnamon on the donut holes, the flavor of which came up more in the custard than it had on the donuts, but it went well with the garlic pepper I seasoned it with. Dessert was a tarte made from a sheet of frozen puff pastry that needed using. It was brushed with leftover passion fruit sauce, topped with leftover crème anglaise, and leftover fruit. :) There were also everybody's favorite freshly baked Toll House cookies from the Toll House cookie expert and party colored Dutch chocolate half dollars (leftover). The pudding casserole could have been improved upon (custard in the bottom layer under the curry to glue it together--the curry was a rich paste so I thought it would do the job, but it just softened everything--and cut up the donut holes smaller so they'd stick better), but everyone liked it and ate well of it. I heard a few "stuffed"'s. :) My fridges heaved sighs of relief to see so many containers removed! Most of all, we had a delightful evening with loved ones who couldn't be at the big party.