Oh the goodness!  Nutritionally superior to any soup you can buy in a can.  Home cooks used to make whole bird chicken soup and glean all the goodness they could from the chicken.  Rich in gelatin and vitamins and minerals.  Chicken soup is good for you and easy to make enough for several meals.

Instructions

1. Start with a large stainless steel pot and put 4 Tbl butter in the pan.  Warm the pan and add onions to saute’ them thoroughly.  
2. Add spices like basil, bay leaf, onion and garlic to the water to flavor the chicken/broth.  
3. Your house is going to smell EXCEPTIONALLY good at this point.  Press in garlic and begin adding water.  
4. Put your WHOLE, rinsed chicken in the pot and add remaining water.  I usually eyeball this and fill it close to the top.  Heat up the pan and add all other ingredients.  (save back carrots if you want them firmer at the end)
5. The only mistake you can make is heating the butter too hot and burning the onions or over filling your pan.  Go slow and easy and pretty soon, you will have a large pot filled with veggies and a whole chicken.  
6. Cook your soup on medium/high heat  until you see a light boil and then turn down to simmer for several hours. (you can make this and allow it to simmer all night if you want. . .some say you will extract more nutrient that way!)
7. 1 Hour before serving, take the entire bird out and let it cool.  Pull off all meat and put it back into your soup in tasty bite-sized pieces!  Add in carrots or other veggies and simmer 30 more minutes.
8. Oftentimes, we will save the bones and leftover bits and create more broth so we have a base for other soups.  Simply put the leftover bird parts in a pan, add pure water and cook to your hearts content. . .several hours is fine.  Always add onion and garlic and you will have a delicious, nutritious base.
9. Anytime we want our soup to go further, we cook quinoa or brown rice and serve that with the soup.
10. This soup goes especially well with the Barley Bread (with Thyme added)

Enjoy!