We made chicken, vege, pasta soup within past couple of weeks using thighs that were $0.79 a pound, fresh and frozen veges. They had the skin and a good bit of fat, but I decided to use them to make cracklings. Cooked the chicken in broth from the pantry.
Cooked the skins in a skillet until they were nice and crisp over medium, medium high heat, then rendered the fat pieces over medium low to medium at end until I had crispy cracklings and lots of schmaltz. Poured out about half of the schmaltz for other uses, sauteed some chopped onion and garlic until soft and translucent in the remaining, then made a light blonde roux.
I also diced up some carrots, green beans, and 1 small yukon gold potato, plus pulled a couple of handfuls each of corn nibs and green peas out of freezer to defrost a bit.
When chicken was done, I pulled it out of broth and used the tongs and a fork to break up the pieces slightly so they would cool faster. I put the carrots in to cook for 5 minutes or so, then the green beans and potato pieces for about 5, and finally the frozen veges for 5-7 until all the veges were done. Add a couple of tablespoons of roux to the boiling soup to thicken the broth just slightly, add more roux if needed.
In the meanwhile, shred the chicken and add it to the pot.
DH wanted pasta, so I cooked up some datalini in a separate pot so as not to soak up all my broth. You could do it in the broth though if you want, you'll just have to add extra liquid at some point. You could also use orzo or elbows, or any other small pasta.
I just used salt and pepper, but I think I would add a bit of thyme next time.
I crumbled up the chicken skin and the bigger crackling pieces and sprinkled over the soup in the serving bowls, but I think I will keep the chicken skin pieces whole next time for more of an impact.