Recipe - Slow Cooker Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 400 grams of boneless, skinless chicken breast or thigh
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 Bay leafs
• 1 onion (or leek), diced
• 5 large cloves garlic, grated
• 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
• Fresh chili, chopped (to taste)
• 1 celery stick, diced (including leaves)
• 2 small potatoes (or equivalent qty in other root vegetable)
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 broccoli head, chopped
• 100g baby spinach
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1/4 bunch parsley
• 8 cups good quality chicken stock
• Optional: 1/3 cup red lentils

Method:

1. Prepare all the ingredients as listed: dice the onion, garlic, ginger, celery, potato, carrot, and chicken. Chop the chili, broccoli, spinach, and parsley. Rinse the white beans and red lentils thoroughly.
2. Place all the prepared ingredients, except for the spinach and parsley, into the slow cooker.
3. Pour in the chicken stock, ensuring that all the ingredients are submerged.
4. Set the slow cooker to low heat and cook for 6-8 hours or until the vegetables are tender and the flavors have melded together. If you're short on time, you can cook it on high for 3-4 hours.
5. About 30 minutes before serving, add the baby spinach and chopped parsley to the slow cooker. Stir well to incorporate them into the soup.
6. Continue cooking until the spinach has wilted and the flavors have fully infused into the soup.
7. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning if necessary, adding salt and pepper to taste.
8. Once the soup is ready, serve hot, garnished with additional fresh parsley if desired.

Notes:

• Have a play around with the vegetable types and also quantities based on whether you like a thick soup or other. Try to always have these vegetables as base though: onions, carrots, celery
• Have a play around with chopping vegetables vs using the food processor to chop down into a small but rough dice
• To play with flavour you could add 1 tsp of turmeric and/or mushrooms at the start. Or, the juice of a lemon and/or swirl in greek yogurt at the end
• Note: To make even more hearty, you can add noodles 135g (or 1/2 packet) soba noodles⁠⁠