Chicken Vegetable Boule Soup

Written while: Listening to Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15 (Lang Lang – Beethoven)

Don’t mess with yourself guys. If you’re sick, you’re sick. Admit it. Take your time to rest up, eat soup and, I know you’ll be surprised when I say this but, cheat.
That’s right, you heard me. There’s absolutely nothing worse than being sick and not being able to eat comfort food. Now I’m not saying go crazy. If you’re allergic to something, please don’t make yourself worse. However, if you’re like me and don’t dream amount a quality boule of sourdough on a regular basis, I say live. Be free and eat the damn loaf.

This past Saturday I was so sick. I went to bed late and got about 2.5 hours of sleep. I was a mess. I felt like I had gotten hit by a bus and my stomach couldn’t decide if it wanted to throw nothing up (cause there was nothing in it) or just lay there in misery. I choose to lay in misery cause I’m the worst sick person ever. Eventually I forced myself to get up because I didn’t have any food in house. I burning up. It was literally 43 degrees outside and I walked to the grocery store… in running shorts.

I made list but didn’t buy half of it, still not sure how or why (head sick happened). I walked out with a turnip but somehow forgot to buy almond milk. Anyways, I came home, cut up the chicken and added olive oil to my cast iron. I got to work on making soup because once everything is cut up, it’s an easy waiting game.

This may come as a surprise but I don’t like canned soup. I never have and I’ve always tried to figure out why. It wasn’t until very recently when I started experimenting with creating my own soups that I’d come to realize I only like homemade, from scratch, all veggie soups.

Here are my secrets/instructions for success soup:

1. Use a cast iron pot. They work wonderfully and are easy to clean.
2. Start with olive oil and add Mirequoix (1/4 cup onions, 1/4 cup carrots and 1/4 cup celery) and 2-3 garlic cloves to a pot.
3. Add 1 diced chicken  breast into the mirequoix and let it cook/whiten on both sides. No need to cook through because the rest will cook while boiling.
4. Add 48 oz of chicken stock to the mix and allow the soup to come to a boil.
5. Add your 1 diced turnip when the soup barely starts to boil.
6. I add in majority of my spices at this point because I like mine a bit spicy. (Spices I generally use: Himalayan salt, pepper, chili powder, red pepper flakes, basil and oregano.)
7. Let this cook on medium for 20 minutes.
8. Add your soft veggies (I love squashes here. I add 1/2 of one zucchini and 1/2 of one yellow squash to my soups)
9. Let cook on medium-low for 15 minutes.

Serve in either a warmed boule (in the oven at 350 for 3 minutes) or in a bowl with crackers.

Stay warm and stay healthy, my friends!