Homemade Chicken Vegetable Soup

This has been my lunch everyday for at least the past 5 months... I make it in bulk about once a month and freeze the rest, so I can easily have a healthy lunch everyday!



Step 1: Poach the chicken. Place the chicken in a big pot of water with onions, celery, carrots, rosemary, and a bay leaf. Simmer for 1 hour.












It should look like this when it's done... Remove the chicken and strain the broth with cheesecloth. The broth is the base for the soup!











Step 2: Chop up lots and lots of veggies! I like onion, carrot, zucchini, squash, celery, brussels sprouts, and broccoli.











Step 3: Cook vegetables in a big pot with a little bit of EVOO.












Step 4: When vegetables are tender, add crushed tomatoes and more broth. Then I add two bags of Trader Joe's Southern Greens (collared greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, and spinach!)








Step 5: Add cooked barley.















Step 6: Add whole wheat pasta and cook until al dente. Shred poached chicken and add.










This feeds me for weeks! This post is dedicated to grandmas, because making large quantities of soup and freezing some for later reminds me of my grandma. Just like tonkatsu reminds Casey of his late grandma :-)