Chicken Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 whole roasting chicken (can use parts if you use both light and dark meat)
onion, peeled and trimmed
celery, trimmed
carrot, peeled and trimmed
salt
pepper
fresh dill
fresh Italian parsley (or regular) (optional)
1 (28 ounce) can sliced stewed tomatoes, drained

Preparation

Place chicken in a large pot and cover with a few inches of water (maybe a little more if you are using pieces).
Add onions, carrots, celery, dill. Add parsley if using. Add salt and pepper to taste. In response to reviews, I usually use a minimum of 2 large onions, 3 large carrots, 3 large stalks of celery, and a sprig or two of dill, but it is a very flexible affair.
Bring to a boil.
Skim off all the gross scum that rises to the top.
Add the stewed tomatoes. Adjust salt as needed at this point.
Simmer with the pot lid part on (if someone could tell me why you need the lid part on, i'd love to know) for an hour or so until chicken is well cooked and veggies are soft.