Hearty, Warming Chicken and Peanut Soup

I'm not feeling so well these days, therefore bland foods (ie. not fried, low sodium, low spice) that are nutrient rich, have been my focus. There have been alot of boring, low in flavor, non-blogworthy baked lean meats with sides of plain steamed veggies and steamed rice, in our diet. My poor hubby has been pouring hot sauce over just about everything I cook lately trying to add some pizzaz and flavor to his plate. Oh well, at least this is a temporary situation....I don't think I can take much more of this myself!!

Moving on to this soup recipe...the veggies and peanuts give this soup heartiness and a beautiful flavor combination.

Ingredients:


1 skinless boneless chicken breast diced
1/2 turnip (or rutabaga) peeled & diced
1 parsnip sliced
2 carrotts sliced
1 onion diced
2 stalks of celery sliced

1 carton low sodium chicken broth
1cube McCormick Chicken Boullion

Water to top up periodically throughout cooking
1/2 cup raw unroasted peanuts (an afterthought, I felt the dish needed more protein, I won't do this again as the red color in the peanut skin darkened the chicken peices and the broth, which I thought looked rather unappealing)

Add chicken broth, water, and dry chicken stock to a large pot filling it to 2/3 full

Bring to a boil (taste and add more stock if too bland)

Add chicken pieces and let boil until cooked (about 10 minutes)

Add veggies and let boil over medium heat for 2-3 hours, add H2O as needed to top up.



There you have it, simple and delicious, my favorite combination ;)

Chicken Ball Soup

I'm concocting today. Still on a soup kick, I decided I wanted to try something a little different....I knew I wanted a clear broth soup, but I didn't feel like a heavy soup with alot of veggies, and boring chunks of meat, etc. so I decided to go with a chicken ball in a soup. Here's how it went...
Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
1 stalk celery
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 egg
approx. 1/2 cup bread crumbs
white pepper
salt
dried parsley and basil
Knorr Chicken Stock
Rice Vermicelli


Puree chicken breasts, egg, onion, garlic, & celery in a food processor. Stir in white pepper, parsley, basil, and salt, and add bread crumbs to thicken enough so that mixture can be formed into balls.



Bring approx. 6 cups of water to a boil.

Form chicken mixture into balls and drop into boiling water. Reduce heat to med-high and let boil for approx. 15 minutes. Top up with boiling water if necessary.



Add 2 tbsp. Knorr chicken stock to the broth.



Break up vermicelli into shorter strands, boil in a separate pot until fully cooked, drain, place in bottom of bowl, and pour soup over top.




Serve and enjoy!!

This actually turned out to be very good. I may have added some sesame oil or soya sauce to the balls for a little added flavor, but I was going for something light and mild, and this recipe accomplished it! :)



Cheers!!