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First published 11/26/13; recipe updated 4/11/16
Well, I wasn’t going to update for a few days, but my friend Lena from Montana was visiting and we made soup for supper and it was *so* good that we just had to share it. We didn’t really measure, and we just used what we had in the fridge, but it turned out *amazing.* So take our ideas, use what you have on hand, and tweak to your own taste. The flavor reminds me of Taco Bell’s Salsa Verde, which I love. Fresh, green, with a hint of spice. Kind of a Mexican-inspired dish.
We served the soup with Gwen’s bread, and I made a batch of Tummy Tucking Ice Cream (recipe found in the book Trim Healthy Mama) for dessert. The soup received rave reviews by the family; and as the weather is cold and nasty right now, soup hit the spot. If you have trouble coming up with E meals, this is a quick, easy solution. It’s filling, especially when served with an E bread of some sort.
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You can find this recipe with an updated picture in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 2½ lb. chicken tenders or chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup loosely packed fresh cilantro, chopped, divided
- 1 T chicken bouillon (use an allergy friendly brand if necessary or substitute nutritional yeast)
- 2 tsp. crushed garlic
- ½ tsp. curry powder
- ½ tsp. garlic powder
- ½ tsp. chili powder
- ½ tsp. cumin
- ¼ tsp. paprika
- ¼ tsp. lemon pepper
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 2 cups leftover cooked cauliflower
- 1 16-oz. can fat free refried beans
- 2 15.5-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 10-oz. can diced tomatoes with chilies
- 1-2 cups corn (optional; corn is not super weight-loss promoting, but it's spread out among quite a few servings here)
- Fresh zest and juice from 1-2 small limes
- Salt to taste, if needed
- Cook the chicken, onion, water, ¼ cup fresh cilantro, bouillon, garlic, and spices together in a large soup kettle until the chicken is cooked through.
- In a blender, blend the water, spinach, cauliflower, refried beans, and the other ¼ cup cilantro together until smooth. Add this to the chicken mixture.
- Add the beans, tomatoes, corn, and lime juice/zest to the soup kettle as well and simmer everything together for 15-20 minutes. Taste and add salt if desired.
- Yields 12-14 servings
May I substitute 4 cups of chicken broth for the water and bouillon cube?
That would probably be fine. Use fat free chicken broth since this is a THM E recipe and add some extra chicken bouillon if needed for a stronger chicken flavor at the end. 🙂
I made my own version of this yesterday out of my bits and pieces in the fridge and it turned out great! I was boiling venison bones, si used that broth and bits of meat along with some chicken broth from earlier in the week. I would never have thought of blending greens but we have fresh kale growing so I blended some of it along with cilantro that I had stuck in the freezer a couple of weeks ago. Perfect way to get more greens into my children! And the fresh lime juice I squeezed into my bowl! Yum! I like your fresh ideas!