Creamy Chicken and Bean Soup

Recipe Description:

Soup is my favorite wintertime meal, and because it is so easy to make in bulk it is also my favorite stock up meal. I love that it takes just a tiny bit more effort to make soup for 3 meals as it does for 1 meal. This soup has it all for me, creamy and still brothy, chicken and beans to fill me up, and of course veggies. This recipe make about 9 cups and can easily be doubled or tripled to make more to stock up.

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

Cook Time: 1 Hours and 45 Minutes

Servings: 9 cups

Difficulty: Easy

Recipe Ingredients:

1 cup soaked, uncooked white beans

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

6 cups chicken stock or broth

6 carrots, sliced

3 cups kale, chopped to bite size pieces

1/4 c flour, unbleached white or whole wheat or sprouted flour or arrowroot powder

Recipe Instructions:

Brown your meat in a large pot, with a little salt and pepper, when browned, remove from pot and set aside.

Place your stalk/broth in the pot and add the beans bring to a boil, then reduce heat to keep the soup at a simmer Simmer until beans are just about cooked trough, about and hour, it really depends on how long you soak them, the temperature they are cooked at, altitude, and etc. Just keep checking them every half hour to start with and then every 15 minutes when they start to soften some.

When the beans have about 30 minutes left (they will be slightly soft but still a little hard), add your carrots and seasoning and simmer until carrots are softened but not mushy (unless you like mushy carrots). I find that about 30 minute of light simmering is just perfect for us. You may need to adjust the time depending on how you like your carrots.

During this time you will want to make a rue to thicken your soup. In a small pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted add your flour and whisk until the flour has absorbed the butter, let cook on low for about 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally, to get rid of the flour taste.

After the carrots and beans are cooked, add the chicken. Now it's time to add the rue and kale. The order of this doesn't really matter. I like to add the rue first because then you don't have the kale getting stuck in the whisk. Take the rue and add about half to your soup and whisk. Make sure you get it all mixed in well without clumps. Don't add all the rue at once, you can always add more rue but you can't take it out. Make sure the soup comes to boil and starts to thicken before adding more. Add enough to make your soup just a little thinner than you would like. It will thicken just a little more when you take it off the heat. After it is as thick as you would like add your kale and stir it in and let it cook for just a couple minutes more to cook the kale and you are done.

If you don't or can't use wheat you can thicken your soup with arrowroot or tapioca starch. To get the creamy color in the soup just add a little bit of milk at the end so that it won't curdle. Make a slurry of about 1/2 cup starch and 1/2 cup water. Add some slowly to the soup and mix, let this thicken and then see if you need to add more. If you do need more, add a little at a time waiting for it to do it's job until you get to the thickness you want.

Serve with some warm Foccaica Bread for dipping.

Author: helay8403

I'm a stay at home mom doing my best to feed my family real food on a budget. View all posts by helay8403

Recipe Description:

Recipe Ingredients:

Recipe Instructions:

Author: helay8403

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