Pesto chicken and kale soup

On Wednesdays I like to cook up something quick and easy but really tasty! It is that part of the week when you just want to either put your feet up and relax or get out and do something fun. So the mid-week meal series I will bring you,
will have you enjoying your evenings without spending too much time cooking or cleaning!

Souping is apparently the new juicing which is good for me as I am trying but not quite succeeding to cut out sugar. This soup is fragrant and light and extremely good for you! It is packed full of greens including kale which is an excellent choice for people who are dairy free as it has more calcium per calorie than milk. I love pesto and have a dairy free recipe below, its great on pasta, prawns or stirred into bread mix and thanks to the basil it is packed full of iron.

I love cooking up a stews in winter, they are warming, hearty and healthy which is just what you need to tackle the cold and lack of sun, plus you don’t waste any nutrients since they are all collected in the broth. They are also very forgiving, I find that using frozen vegetables it a good way to cut the cost and the upside is they are frozen at their peak so the quality is very good and once they are in the soup you really can’t tell if they are frozen or not I have made it many times both ways and it always tastes the same.

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2 Skinless Chicken Breasts cubed
• 1 cup of petits pois
• 1/2 bunch of Kale (approx 6 leaves) sliced
• 1 large leek sliced
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• 1 medium head of broccoli
• 10 – 15 small purple or new potatoes
• 1 liter of vegetable stock
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of crushed garlic
• 3 tablespoons of DF pesto (Recipe below)
• a couple of slices of lemon

Dairy free pesto:

• 1 cup of fresh basil
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves
• dash of salt
• Blend all of the ingredients together in a food processor until smooth.

Over a medium heat saute the onion and leeks for 5 minutes, add the chicken and fry until it is no longer pink, then add the potatoes, crushed garlic, pour over the vegetable stock, season and stir. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Bring to the boil then add the frozen petits pois, kale, broccoli and lemon remove from the heat stir in the pesto and spring onions and allow to sit for 5 minutes this will cook the frozen veggies through without over cooking them.