Mom’s Chicken Soup

Rinse chicken (and make sure to take out the bag of gizzards!).

Place the chicken in a large pot or Dutch oven, and pour the 6 cups of chicken broth over the chicken. Add peppercorns and cloves. Heat on the stove on high until boiling, then lower the temperature to low and simmer, covered, for 1-1/2 hours. Remove chicken from broth and place on a plate or in a bowl to cool down until you are able to handle it without burning your fingers. Once it is cool enough, pick the chicken apart into bite-size pieces. Set aside chicken pieces and discard bones. (Bones can be saved to make your own broth.)

Strain the broth you cooked the chicken in into a bowl or pourable Pyrex container, and skim as much fat as you can from the surface of the broth. Then pour the broth and chicken pieces back into the pot.

Add the cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, and remaining 2 cups of broth. Add the chopped celery, carrots, potato, onion, and bay leaf. Stir to incorporate ingredients together and simmer on low for approximately 2 -3 hours. In the last half-hour of cooking, add the frozen peas.

This soup should be thick and creamy, almost like a soup version of chicken pot pie. Serve with dumplings or hot biscuits.