Chicken Soup — or is it a Casserole?

As I run down the list of ingredients I wish to consume before the clock runs out, I struck upon the idea of taking that piece of chicken sitting in my freezer and the quart of chick stock sitting in my fridge and combining them to make a pot of chicken soup.  So I set about collecting some vegetables for the soup yesterday: Celery, Baby-Cut Carrots, Green Onions, Mushrooms, Thyme and Paprika.

I poured the chicken stock into the 2 gallon pot and then chopped the celery and scallions and rinsed them with the baby-cut carrots and sliced button mushrooms.  I added another 3 pints of water an brought the mixture to a boil.  While I did this, I defrosted and chopped the chicken into thin slices.  I washed the chicken as I added the spices and finally once everything was stewing nicely I added the pieces of chicken.

As I didn't know how long the chicken had been in the freezer, I cooked the soup for a good long time to make sure everything was well integrated and there was no risk of bacteria.  We then tried the soup.  The Mrs. said it tasted like canned soup, which given that the vegetables were fresh, is no doubt a compliment to soup canners!  So I had a couple of large bowls of the soup and my wife had some and although it wasn't the best soup I've ever had — that is doubtless a properly piquant bowl of Tom Kha Gai — it does have its virtues.  The biggest drawbacks are:

1. all those vegetables produced too much soup, and
2. all that cooking reduced the broth into something more resembling a casserole!

In any case, with only 4 days left to consume all this meat, I'm afraid I won't get it all down before time runs out!

So tonight, we're planning to go to Chima.  This is my last chance to enjoy the delicacy of a Brazilian Barbecue and I need to keep my stomach empty to prepare my palette to sample the savory, sweet, juicy, delectable delights of this delicious restaurant's offerings!  Clearly, I'm excited.

But by the same token, I am very disheartened.  I have so much left to eat between quarts of soup, a microwave mini Lasagna, 2 Buttered Chickens, 2 small bowls of Wan Tan soup, 1 Beef Udon, a Chicken Tikka Marsala, some Salmon Quesadillas, a box of Chicken Shu Mai and 2 Burger King large Triple Whoppers with Bacon and all to be consumed in the next 4 days!  Incredible!

And that doesn't even include the Thai Fish Sauce or Worcestershire Sauce, which has anchovies…