Easy Chicken, Kale and Potato Soup

If you're like me, you are always on the lookout for quick and easy dinner ideas. And if it uses leftover chicken, even better! I have been making this soup lately as a second dinner after roasting a chicken. I am not much of a recipe girl and usually cook by how it looks and tastes. So when I made it this week, I actually measured the ingredients and timed the cooking so I could share a recipe that makes sense. 

I included my roasted chicken and homemade broth recipes at the end of this post BUT you can totally make this with a rotisserie chicken and ready-made chicken broth if you are in a hurry.  Then you can have it ready in under 30 minutes. So here it is and I hope you like it as much as our family does. 

Ingredients:

8 cups broth

1 minced clove of garlic

4 cups diced potatoes 

8 cups chopped kale or collards

3 cups shredded chicken

1 can great northern beans, rinsed 

1 lemon, juiced

Recipe:

Bring the broth to a boil and add the diced potatoes, greens and garlic and reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes and greens are tender. Add the shredded chicken and beans and cook another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and squeeze and stir in the juice of the lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Roasted Garlic and Lemon Chicken Recipe:

Stuff a chicken with a whole head of garlic and two lemons sliced in half. Salt and pepper the chicken. Roast in 350 degree oven till done, when a meat thermometer inserted into the meaty part of the leg reads 165 degrees. 

Roasted Garlic and Lemon Chicken Broth Recipe:

Reserve the lemons and garlic from inside the chicken. Remove most of the meat from the chicken. Add the chicken to a large pot and fill it with water. Add the a quartered onion, a bunch of celery, some carrots, and the  lemons.  Squeeze the roasted garlic from the head onto a plate and use a fork to mash the garlic. Add the garlic to the pot along with two bay leaves, a half teaspoon of thyme, salt and pepper. Simmer for at least two hours, three or four is better. (Or if you can, after 12-24 hours it's honestly like drinking velvet) Skim any fat that rises to the top. Strain the broth through a colander and continue on with the recipe above. 

Note: If you use this broth for the above soup recipe, you can exclude the garlic and lemon from that recipe, unless you like it extra garlicky and lemony...