Tom Yum Soup - thai vegetable soup

I love to make a soup like this and use up whatever bits of vegetable or fish or chicken is hanging around, so do be sure to adjust to whatever you have on hand.  We found the rotisseried chickens half price so bought 5 and hubby cheerfully removed the meat from the bones and packed them into small ziplock bags. Those are great for adding to the top of a salad or wrapping up into a tortilla. I dumped all the bones and skin into the crockpot (minus the stuffing) and cooked for several hours.  Once strained and left to cool so that I could scrape off the fat, it makes the most delicious chicken stock.  This can be frozen, and used as desired.
I am also incredibly lucky to have lemongrass and kaffir lime in my garden.

 this is an assortment of vegetables that went into our soup, but use whatever is on hand.

4 cups chicken stock
about 1/2 cup coarsely chopped and bruised lemongrass stalks
3 kaffir lime leaves
1 tsp dried chili flakes or more to taste
4 cloves garlic, chopped.
4 Tbs fish sauce
2 Tbs lime juice
An assortment of prepared vegetables - brocolli, snow peas, carrots, beansprouts, mushrooms
Small pieces of chicken or prawns, or both.
1/2 cup coconut milk (optional)

Mix seasonings in with the stock and simmer gently for about 15 minutes to infuse the flavours.  Taste and adjust seasonings. Strain liquid and discard solids. I like to stir fy the vegetables and fish or chicken and then add to the infused stock just before serving so that they remain crisp and brightly coloured.  Stir in coconut milk and serve.