It’s been a sleepy Sunday here.  I just finished eating this bowl of soup for lunch.  Soup that was so delicious it deserves a blog post – for you, and for me, because I don’t want to forget what I did so I can make this again.

Selfish, selfish woman.

Also note that I did burn my tongue on this soup.  I couldn’t wait for it to cool.

I roasted two bone-in chicken breasts yesterday afternoon and once I removed the meat from the bones, I put the bones into the crock pot with a handful of other miscellaneous chicken parts I’ve been hoarding in my freezer (thanks to you genius people who gave me this tip!) for homemade bone broth.

The bone broth step isn’t necessary, but it’s likely to boost the nutritional profile when you make your own stock.  If you’ve yet to give bone broth a try, don’t despair.  You can still make a delicious, healthy soup with store bought broth.   (If I were using store bought I would probably go with Pacific Natural Foods brand.)

This soup is “hearty” for a couple reasons.  One, lots of chicken!  Two, lots of vegetables – but chopped up kale stole the show and tipped the soup scale from “plain old soup” to “hearty”.  Hearty enough that it could easily be served as dinner too.

Hearty Chicken Tomato Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

3 c chicken broth (homemade or store bought)
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes (I use Muir Glen Fire Roasted)
2 chicken breasts, cooked, cubed
2 stalks celery, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
4 or 5 kale leaves, roughly chopped

Spices

1 tsp smoked paprika
a tiny pinch of crushed red pepper
black pepper and salt to taste

Combine broth, vegetables, tomatoes and spices bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer until carrots are soft. Stir in chicken and kale, bring to a boil again, reduce to simmer and cook until kale is soft and enjoyably chewy. (i.e., not so chewy that you’re chewing until dinner.)

At the very last minute I decided to top this with a little shredded mozzarella and I’m so glad I did, it was a great finishing touch.

Even the boy had some after an unusually long nap.

A nap so long that enabled me to eat lunch and write this blog post.  Sleepy Sunday indeed.

If you make this, I hope you it enjoy as much as we did!  I predict a Hearty (Leftover) Turkey Tomato Vegetable Soup for next week’s sleepy Sunday meal.