This week, Kim Thrash asked me a question about the following chicken soup recipe of mine she saw in a magazine.

Ingredients

3 large thighs (I always have frozen chicken parts) so I used frozen thighs

1 teaspoon each salt, pepper, garlic powder

1 tablespoon season salt

1 / 2 teaspoon each red pepper, dry sage and thyme

1 medium to large onion peeled and sliced or diced

35 cloves garlic (cut maybe 10 of the cloves in half)

6 cups water

Method

Place thighs in large stock pot, add dry seasoning. Next, add half the water, the garlic and bring to boil. Boil for about 10 minutes and add remaining ingredients and bring water back to boil. Then lower to simmer and simmer about 40 minutes.

For great chicken and rice add 2 more cups of water and a cup of rice.

Kim’s question was, "In the chicken soup, are the thighs boneless? If not, when do you remove the bones? Do you cut the thighs up or does the meat come apart when boiling? And is 35 garlic cloves correct?"

Good question. The thighs are bone in. Before serving, remove them from soup with a fork and pull the meat from the bone before returning to pot to heat and serve.

Now, for another recipe:

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef

1 / 3 cup uncooked long-grain rice

1 onion chopped medium to large

1 / 2 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

Dash ground black pepper

1 can tomato paste

1 / 2 teaspoon chili powder

1 / 2 cup water

Method

Combine the ground beef, rice, onion, 1 / 2 cup of the water, salt, and pepper. Shape meat mixture into 12 to 15 meat balls. Combine the tomato paste, chili powder and remaining water in a large saucepan; bring to a boil.

Add meatballs; reduce heat, cover, and simmer over very low heat for 1 hour. Stir occasionally.

Add more water if needed. Great with pasta or meatball subs. For more food tips and ideas visit my web-site www.curtisaikens.com.