Homemade Chicken & Veggie Detox Soup

Happy Monday food lovers!!!

I hope you all enjoyed your long Thanksgiving break and it was full of great food & company! 

Today is the first official day back from break and let me tell you...Everything I've eaten these past four days have definitely caught up to me. 

Thankfully I had some time today to put together a cure for my body after eating one too many servings of pumpkin pie...

Chicken & Veggie Detox Soup

This recipe is very simple and easy to make! Once everything is prepped you can cook and let simmer while you go about your day and enjoy later. I have plenty of leftovers for the week and I'm excited to get back on track before another holiday full of food wins over my temptations!

My favorite part was only adding 1 teaspoon of salt and not needing anymore! 

All the flavors combined plus the broth didn't require additional sodium to the soup. I also didn't use any oil in this recipe, I cooked my veggies in the beginning with just water, and my chicken was cooked in lemon water!

Let's Get Cookin'

Ingredients:

- 2 Pounds of boneless chicken, breast preferred, raw or cooked

- 2 Cans of College Inn Low Sodium Broth (4 Cups of Chicken Broth)

Keep an additional can if needed in Step #7

- 1 Sweet Onion, diced

- 2 Cups of Celery, diced

- 2 Cups of Carrots, diced

- 2 Red Potatoes, diced (Each Potato was about the size of my palm)

- 1 Head of Cabbage

- 1 Bunch of Raw Kale

- 1 28oz Can of Crushed Tomatoes (My can was mixed with Basil)

- 1 14oz Can of Diced Tomatoes (No salt added)

- 2 Whole Lemons

- 3 Teaspoons of Minced Garlic

- 2 Bay Leaves

- 3 Tablespoons of Oregano

- 3 Tablespoons of Parsley

- 2 Tablespoons of Cumin

- 3-5 Teaspoons of Black Pepper (or to taste)

- 1 Teaspoon of Basil

- 1 Teaspoon of Ground Ginger

- 1 Teaspoon of Thyme

- 1 Teaspoon of Sage

- 1 Teaspoon of Paprika

- 1 Teaspoon Salt 

Step 1

Take a large pot and place it on your stove.

Dice your onion, carrots, and celery. Add these to the pot with 1 Cup of Water, NOT OIL, turn on medium/medium high heat. Add your garlic and some black pepper.

Stir periodically while you dice your potatoes and then add them to the pot. 

Onion, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes cooking in water!

Step 2

Next, add in 1 can of chicken broth, (College Inn contains 2 cups of broth in each can).

Then take your head of cabbage and start cutting and dicing pieces to add to the pot.

As you add pieces to the pot, stir them in and place a lid on the pot to let the cabbage melt in the heat while you cut more pieces. 

Add in another can of College Inn broth when you finish with your cabbage.

Veggies and Cabbage being added to the pot!

Step 3

Take your bunch of kale and do the same exact thing you did for your cabbage.

Cut it up, add pieces at a time to the pot, stir and place the lid on for the heat to melt the kale in the soup.

Once all the kale is added, add the crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes to the pot.

Veggies, Cabbage, Kale, Crushed Tomatoes & Diced Tomatoes
All added and simmering together!

Step 4

As soon as everything is added, it may seem very thick but DO NOT WORRY!!!! Once you let things simmer and cook the cabbage and kale longer, they will continue to decrease in size and your broth will become more thin as it cooks.

Next, place all the spices in the pot. This includes: Bay Leaves, Parsley, Cumin, Ground Ginger, Oregano, Basil, Thyme, Sage, Paprika, and more Black Pepper. Save your extra salt until the end once you taste test it and are about to serve. You want to wait until the end to make sure you need the extra sodium for taste. 

Take 1 of your lemons and cut them in half. Squeeze the juice out of 1 lemon into the pot. Take the other half of lemon and cut it up into small pieces and place in pot to simmer with the flavors. 

Step 5

While your soup is cooking/simmering, it's time to cook your chicken!

NOTE: If you are using already cooked chicken, prepare them into diced pieces or shredded and then stir them into your pot.

To cook your chicken, we are once again not going to use oil! 

Place the chicken pieces in a pan on your stove. Add about 1/3 Cup of water or just enough to fully cover the bottom of your pan. Add in lemon juice to the pan, and turn on the heat. 

Sprinkle seasonings on the chicken, I used Black Pepper, some Oregano, Parsley, and Basil. 

Cooking the Chicken with Lemon water!

Step 6

I let my chicken cook a little less than halfway, and then I removed the chicken from the pan. I shredded and diced it and placed it in the pot to continue cooking with the heat raised a little bit more. 

Step 7

I checked on my soup and tasted to add more flavors if necessary. 

I added more Black Pepper, Cumin, and Oregano.

Add in your 1 Teaspoon of Salt if necessary. 

I also found my broth to be a little more thick than I preferred so I added that third can of College Inn Chicken Broth and also 1 Cup of water and that worked perfectly!

I continued to let everything simmer for another 15 minutes until I found everything cooked well together. You can simmer longer if desired!

Simmering all together!

Once everything is completed, remove bay leaves, serve into bowls and enjoy!

As a compliment, I had shredded pieces of Pita bread on the side for dipping into the juices!

ALSO adding some Red Pepper Flakes was amazing and is something I am highly recommending you do once you are ready to eat! (I didn't add the red pepper flakes to my pot because my sister does not like spicy foods).

All ready to go with added Red Pepper Flakes!

Well that's all I have for today!

Please let me know if any of you make this soup! It was very delicious, fresh, and cleansing.

The broth was flavored perfectly and the ingredients all went great together. 

A perfect way to get back on track because before I know it, holiday baking will take over my kitchen!

Leave a comment or any suggestion you have for my next dish!

Thanks for stopping by! xo

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Hello everyone!

It has been awhile since my last real post, my apologies for that! School and work has been consuming most of my time. 
For those who follow my Instagram account I had posted about a week ago an easy Slutty Brownie recipe which was to die for. Cookie dough, Oreos, and Brownies all baked together, YUM! You can find this by searching fabulous_foodie_ on Instagram!

Today I wanted to share with you a recipe I had done for the first time yesterday!

As the cold hits New England more and more this month, I've noticed the sniffles and colds in people start to increase around me. What is the best thing to eat when you are feeling sick?

Chicken Noodle Soup

What I love about this recipe is how simple and easy it is to make! 

My twist on the broth and ingredients differ from the traditional canned versions you typically find. I added more spices, more ingredients, to add flavor and to make my broth feel clean and full of herbs to help you get back on your feet!

Let's Get Cookin'

Let me start off by recommending a great product I find while grocery shopping!

This brand makes regular chicken broth but also makes fat free/lower sodium! I find it at Market Basket.

These cans are very affordable, I think they are the same price as the regular broth! The taste when using these while cooking is amazing! You can't even tell you are using a product with less sodium or fat, it still adds great flavor.

Each can has 2 Cups of broth in it. The fat free & lower sodium is healthier and you can always add more salt while cooking but it's always harder to take away once you add salt. 

PLUS you don't want to eat something that could dehydrate you while on the road to recovery.

Each Can only contains 450mg of sodium which is low for broth and definitely worth the switch!!!!

Ingredients:

- 8 Cups of low sodium Chicken Broth (This is 4 cans of College Inn)

- Once the Chicken Broth goes in, take your empty can and fill it with water 2 times and add this to the broth as well. 

- 1 Cup of peeled and chopped carrots (I used baby carrots)

- 1 Cup of chopped celery

- 1 Cup of peeled and chopped sweet onion

- 2 Cloves of chopped garlic or 3 teaspoons of minced garlic (from a jar)

- 2 Cups of shredded or diced Chicken (I used raw but you can used pre-cooked)

- About 12 ounces of wide Egg Noodles, or selected choice of pasta

- Juice of half a lemon, 2 lemon slices from the other half needed

- 2 Bay Leaves

- 3-4 Tablespoons of Parsley (either dried or freshly chopped)

- 2-3 Teaspoons of Black Pepper

- 2 Teaspoons of dried Oregano

- 2 Teaspoons of Thyme

- 1 Teaspoon of Cumin

- 1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Ginger

- 1/2 Teaspoon of Rosemary

- 1/2 Teaspoon of Sage 

- Salt to taste if needed

Step 1

Take a large pot for your soup, add some olive oil to the bottom of the pan, start up heat medium-high.

Add your onion, carrot, celery, and garlic to the pot. Stir in heat for about 7-8 minutes or until your veggies begin to soften. 

Next add some additional Black pepper, Oregano, and a small amount of Thyme to the veggies. These are not included in the ingredients list, add some to give flavors to your veggies as they cook. 

All the veggies cooking!

Step 2

Add your diced raw chicken to the pot and stir until it is mostly cooked through all the way. 

If you are using pre-cooked chicken, stir together for about 1 minute so you don't overcook your chicken. 

Step 3

Add your Chicken Broth, Water, and everything on the ingredients list from Bay Leaves to Sage. Don't add your additional salt yet. Let everything boil for about 5 minutes until your vegetables are ALMOST at desired tenderness. Then adjust to a simmer. 

The pot as it boils!

Step 4

Add your lemon juice and 2 Lemon slices to simmer in with the pot.

Next, add your noodles. Cover the pot and let simmer with all the flavors and while your noodles cook for about 10 minutes. 

After 10 minutes, you want to get a good taste of your broth. Add salt if needed but you don't want to add more than 2-3 Teaspoons of additional sodium. 

Also get a bite of your chicken, veggies, noodles, etc. Make sure everything is cooked to your liking. If you feel like you need it to simmer more, please do for no more than 10 additional minutes or so. You don't want your pasta to be too mushy! 

Step 5

Remove Bay Leaves and Lemon Slices, ta da!!!!

You now have quick and easy Chicken Noodle Soup to help you recover, freeze for when you need it, or to serve to a family member or friend who needs a pick-me-up!! 

What are some of your favorite things to eat or drink when you are sick?? 

Comment in the box below!

Let me know if any of you decide to make this and how it comes out!

Thanks for stopping by! xo