Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Kale

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Piping hot, chicken and wild rice soup with kale, good for you and good too!

Good morning friends, how are you? I hope that you are surviving the storm that is blowing across the country. This has been a very strange winter but considering the last year I cannot say it is surprising. I don’t know about you but cold weather to me means a pot of soup or chili on the stove or some sort of comfort food. As I am still trying to loose my 5 pound Christmas gain it’s meant chili and chicken soup instead of macaroni and cheese. Today I want to share my newest iteration of chicken soup, chicken and wild rice with kale!

I normally do not eat a lot of kale but it is delicious in this soup and it is good for you. Did you know that kale is one of the most nutrient dense vegetables on the planet? Or that it is loaded with antioxidants? It is also good for digestion, has lots of vitamin K, C, A and iron can help lower your cholesterol and is anti-inflammatory to name just a few of its benefits. I think I probably need to eat a lot more of this “superfood.”

This recipe is very easy and uses a technique that I learned this year in which you first cook the chicken along with the scraps for the vegetables and a few springs of herbs, this makes a delicious chicken stock that becomes the base for the soup. What I like about this way of making the soup is that you control the amount of sodium and other ingredients in the stock.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Kale

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

4 ribs of celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces(save the tips, bottoms and the leaves)

4 carrots cut into 1/2 pieces(save the tops, bottoms and the skins)

1 large onion, chopped(save the skins and outer layers)

3 cloves of garlic, chopped(save the skins)

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

2-3 spring of fresh thyme

3 large chicken breasts

10-11 cups of water

1 cup of wild rice

3-5 cups of chopped kale

Directions

Add the chicken breasts, the water, the skins and the tops and bottoms from washed carrots, the tops and the bottoms as well as any leaves from the celery(beside to wash), the skins from the garlic and the onions, add the Italian seasoning and the thyme sprigs. Bring the mixture to a simmer and then cook until the chicken is tender. Once the chicken is done remove it from the pot, then place a colander over another pot and pour in the liquid, discard the vegetable pieces.

Take the empty pot and place it on the stove, heat the butter and the olive oil, once heated add the onion, garlic, carrots and celery the sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the wild rice and the reserved stock that you just made and drained, stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling turn the mixture on low to medium heat and cook until the vegetables are tender, this should take about 20-30 minutes. In the meantime shred the chicken then add to the pot and cook another 15 minutes or until the rice is cooked. At this point you can add in the kale. Cook a few minutes more and then serve.

I actually like to place the kale in my soup bowl and ladle the soup over the top, I don’t like the kale to get whimsy and well cooked. This is just my preference, you do it the way that you like

You can serve with crackers, crusty bread or even open faced grilled cheese.

Tips

You can use a rotisserie chicken if you prefer or turkey, you can also cut the chicken in chunks if you want a “meatier” soup.

If you want the soup creamy, add a cup of heavy cream the last few minutes of cooking time.

If you don’t like rice, skip it and add noodles.

If you want to skip making your own stock then add store bought stock instead of the water.

There are many additional vegetables that you can add to this chicken and wild rice soup with kale, make it to suit the tastes of your family.

Another thing I like to do it to add a package of “poultry herbs” to the stock, when I made this particular batch I did not have that fresh bundle.

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I hope that if you make the soup that you let me know. Or if you have a favor soup recipe please share. This is soup season and I am sure that we could all use a new and tasty recipe.  Have a great day friends and please stay inside out of the ice and cold, stay warm and stay safe.

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