Chicken Soup for Lunch

Chicken Soup with Kale & Carrots

This recipe – Chicken Soup with Kale and Carrots – is all right. It’s certainly easy, if a little time consuming, just because you’re making the stock from scratch. However, it’s a little bland. I made it a week ago and have been heating up the leftovers for lunch. I should have added more salt & pepper when I made it, I think. Overall, though, it’s a filling, healthy lunch.

Chicken Soup with Kale & Carrots (from It’s All Good)

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
1 large leek (I used 2) roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 large carrot, roughly chopped + 2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 yellow onion, quartered
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
0.5t black peppercorns
2t salt
1 bunch kale, leaves stripped off stems in bite-sized pieces
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the chicken, leek, celery, roughly chopped carrot, onion, bay leaf, thyme, peppercorns and salt in a large soup pot and cover with water (~10c). Bring the soup to boil over high heat, then reduce to simmer for about 2 hours. Strain the stock and pull out the white meat (I used both the white and dark meat, you can use just the white and reserve the dark for another use. However, pulling just the meat out wasn’t the easiest thing in the world and further separating light from dark just wasn’t going to happen.) Dice the chicken meat. Add to soup along with remaining carrots and the kale (I also threw in a handful of brown rice.) Simmer for an additional 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt & pepper.

Breakfast quinoa, now with kale

breakfast quinoa

 

I’ve dubbed this Breakfast Quinoa. The recipe is from It’s All Good, and it’s a filling, simple, delicious start to my day. I actually don’t mind eating Kale!

1T olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 leaves kale, sliced thinly, stem removed
0.5c cooked quinoa (I often cook up a batch of quinoa on Sunday and leave it in the fridge through the week for this and for salads)
salt & pepper

Heat olive oil and garlic in a small skillet over medium heat until oil is shimmering. Add kale and cook until just slightly wilted – it should look to be a really bright green. Add quinoa and cook until just warmed through. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Serve with an egg in some form: hard-boiled, scrambled, poached, whatever. I prefer hard-boiled because it’s easy when I’m bleary-eyed in the morning. This recipe makes just enough for one.