Chicken Soup with Cabbage and Mushrooms

YIELD:
Makes 12 servings

ACTIVE TIME:
20 mins

TOTAL TIME:
30-45 mins

INGREDIENTS:

*Remember, this is soup, which is eaten with a spoon. If you want to get all the ingredients in every bite, you need to keep that in mind when you’re chopping and make them smaller, or else you’ll have to alternate which flavors and textures you get on your spoon at once).

• 4 stalks of celery (cut to however small you like celery to be in your soup. I use a spin chop, so mine is generally like confetti, but if you want to hand-dice it in bigger chunks, you do you)

• 12 oz white mushrooms (I dice mine into tiny cubes, but I’m sure it would be just fine sliced)

• 4 cloves of garlic or 2 tsp of minced garlic

• 3 celery ribs, quartered

• 4 TBL dried, minced onion

• 8 oz of butter (two sticks)

• 4 tsp dried parsley (if you don’t like parsley, leave it off, it’ll still be good)

• 2 medium carrots cut in thin circles

• 80-ish oz chicken broth (I use two and a half 32 oz boxes of College Inn chicken broth, but I’m sure two 48 oz cans would work, it all depends on how much broth you like)

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (if you have leftover chicken–be it rotisserie, fried, breast, whatever–you can shred that and use it as long as you cut off any breading that might get soggy and gross in soup). If you use leftover shredded chicken, you’ll need 6-8 cups.

• 3 cups green cabbage (cut thin and small enough to stay on your spoon)

PREPARATION:

Get the biggest pot you have. There’s no such thing as a small amount of soup.

First, you saute the celery, mushrooms, garlic, and onion in the butter. This should take a few minutes, just eyeball them until they look tender. Don’t stress about it, you’re going to cook it in broth after this and it’ll sort itself out.

Now add the parsley, carrots, and broth.

Season with salt and pepper.

Simmer until the carrots are tender. How long this takes will depend on how big the slices are, but you’re cooking it another 8-12 minutes after you add the cabbage, so again, don’t stress.

Add cabbage and chicken.

Simmer until cabbage is tender (about 8-12 minutes).

If you have some crusty French or Italian bread, this soup pairs nicely with that. If you’re a huge butter fan, pair it with Red Lobster-style cheddar biscuits.