Winter warming, mildly spicy, or as spicy as you want. Creamy but without any dairy or gluten. Immune boosting. What more could you want on a cold winter's day? Even my kids eat this!!
Make it super healthy by using chicken bone broth instead of store-bought chicken stock. I find the best way to do this is to cook a whole chicken in the crock-pot (slow cooker) for dinner and then use all the juicy leftovers to make the broth. (Click here for a crock pot chicken recipe). Do not wash out the crock-pot, but keep all the juices and fat to make the broth. Put all the bones and leftovers back into the crock-pot, add filtered water, bay leaves, celery sticks, garlic, onion, apple cider vinegar and pop the crock-pot back on low overnight. In the morning strain the mixture to get your beautiful, health-giving broth.
CREAMY KALE, BROCCOLI & CARROT SOUP
1 T extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil or butter
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 carrots, roughly chopped, on the smaller size
1 small head of broccoli, roughly chopped
2 cups of baby kale or kale with the stalks removed
1/2 - 1 fresh red chilli, sliced finely (the amount depends on how spicy you want it - my kids do 1/2 no problem)
fresh coriander (optional)
4 cups of chicken stock or bone broth (broth tastes better)
In a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in your oil of choice for a few minutes over medium heat. Don't forget to stir. Lower the heat to low and add the carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly soft. Then add the broccoli and chilli, stir and cook a few more minutes. Now add the stock/broth and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes. Add the kale during the last few minutes, so that it only wilts. Stir. Allow to cool a little before blending with a stick blender or food processor until smooth.
Note: As with most soups the taste really comes down to the quality of your stock. I also feel the chilli really is needed to boost the flavour. You can pop some fresh coriander in at the end also for additional flavour.
Enjoy!