Wow, what a story. I can tell you right now that there is no way I would have gone through what you went through. I woulda simplified the menu completely once I discovered the bad chicken. Realizing that eveyrone would be expecting one thing and getting something else, I'd probalby just issue a rain check for the ditched menu. I think that friends would understand! But then again, I'm not known for being the nicest person around LOL. You are WAY nicer than me, that's obvious!! I congratulate you on going through with as much as you humanly could. Next time, rather than depend on your masculine ability (or inability?) to hear what the wife said the first time have her write it down and tack it on the fridge with a magnet. It's not that I don't have faith in your good intentions, it's just that I know how men are, I'm married to one. And it's not that they don't try, sometimes they do! But sometimes they just can't help it. That was not male bashing, by the way. Just that it's best to be realistic and figure out workarounds instead of hoping for miracles. And I mean that in the nicest possible way, as I know my own shortcomings and have learned to NOT plan for me to overcome them, but instead plan for how to work around them! LOL

A bit boring but i've done the same method for years. A roasted chicken dinner, very comforting. I roast two organic chickens using the oven roasting heat. Cut some onions in half, cut side down in the roasting pan for 'feet' under the chickens....add some big carrots cut in large chunks and a few celery ribs. Garlic. Add a cup of water and roast. Another 1/2 sheet pan of mixed veg and root veggies go on the lower rack half way through the chicken roasting. Kale or collards as a side dish. I also have a mixed sprouted grain side and/or a bean, usually white beans. Sometimes black beans. A Saturday or Sunday no brainer dinner but comfort food. Pan juices and veg make a nice gravy. Stock pot is already simmering with veg cuttings and h2o when we sit down for a nice meal. That roast chicken is then picked of meat, usually more than half left over, then the bones, the carcass back, is cracked and broken then into the stock pot. I always have chicken feet, (great pup snacks), in the freezer. And duck paws frozen in packs with duck necks for stock. The other chicken i cut into parts and give it a spice rub and marinade for a bbq style roasted chicken dinner. Pick more of the meat and fridge it. I end up with a dozen or more meals that are not at all left-overs. Chicken salad, a few qrts of soup...add some of the picked chicken to each qrt, then some of the finely sliced greens uncooked i set aside, some rice or some of the beans, fridge those container, then top with the stock/broth once it is chilled, then freeze. A few smaller pints i fill with beans and rice, then top with stock as well for the freezer. Gives me quick options later for soups. I often food saver some picked chicken with a spice rub that can be pulled out of the freezer for tacos or a filling for arepas...easy small sauce pan heat-up with some miropoix and chili sauce. Still have a few pints of just stock i freeze. Produce is expensive. My garden produce is special enough that canned or purchased stock/broth is not worthy. Making our own stock is practically free. Just the stovetop heat cost. And maybe i just enjoy it. I'm making my own choices and using basic cooking skills. I never salt it. Enough sodium in the veg. Celery and carrots and greens have plenty of salt. Fresh greens i may add later when i make soups and stews from the stock/broth have sodium as well. I may add some parm to a soup later. I adjust for salt to the table. A spicy garlic yogurt salsa as a topping for a stew or soup is huge in flavor and i may not want an extra salty. We made sea salt last spring and find a finishing salt much better added when needed, a pinch, at the table, is a better flavor enhancer as a last minute ingredient.

Curious what you mean by just broth. Or do you mean boneless chicken parts. Or do you mean canned broth. I make a vegetable stock all the time using vegetable scraps. Both ends of a large onion and the first outer ring with the skins, top and bottom of a whole celery, a couple whole carrots, (they are cheap), parsley stems. Peppercorns, coriander seed, a couple bay leaves, thyme...i usually have green leek tops. I like cilantro stems for that zip-zing. Like Lindac mentioned, poaching your chicken makes a nice delicate broth full of flavor. Using bones gives a much better flavor but still good by poaching with veggies and no bones. Poach chicken in the veg stock, remove when done, let cool while simmering the broth and preparing the soup veggies. Veggie stock just takes 45min-1 hour. Strain stock, (chicken-n-rice soup?), add rice and cook in broth till tender, then add your fresh saute veggies and chopped chicken. It is a very simple clear broth soup. A classic 'ladies lunch' soup in NYC. Light, not fatty. Usually a garnish of parsley and a slice of lemon. Chive sprig, lol.

I've also made chicken soup my whole life, but it never seems to be the same twice, because I use what I have. I start with onion, celery, carrot, chicken parts, salt and pepper. Never any lemon because Mother is allergic. I love parsnips and often add them, but don't always have them on hand. Sometimes I add noodles, sometimes rice, sometimes just lots of vegetables. Peas at the last minute or everything just tastes like peas. Fresh herbs if it's summer here and I have them, I especially like tarragon in chicken soup. Salt to taste. Simmer for several hours, until it tastes good and the chicken falls apart. And now I'm thinking about Maurice Sendak: "In May I truly think it best To be a robin lightly dressed Concocting soup inside my nest Mix it once, mix it twice Mix that chicken soup with rice." So see? You can have soup all year, Maurice Sendak says so, LOL. Annie