My Favorite Chicken Soup

This is currently my favorite chicken soup recipe because it's simple, easy, healthy and delicious. Both Roman and I love it. For him, I add udon noodles. I keep noodles separate and add prior to serving or before warming up.

This recipe comes from one of my fav cookbooks, Gwenyth Paltrow's "It's all Good". Whether you are a fan or not, she has amazing recipes.

Serves 4, with leftovers

• 1 whole 3 to 4-pound organic chicken, washed
• 1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
• 1 large leek, thoroughly washed and roughly chopped (including dark green part)
• 1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped, plus 2 more carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 yellow onion, quartered
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 leafy sprigs thyme (I used 1 heaping tsp dried thyme)
• 1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 2 tsp coarse sea salt
• 1 bunch kale, leaves stripped off stems, in bite-sized pieces
• Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the chicken, the celery, the leek, the 1 roughly chopped carrot, the onion, the bay leaf, the thyme, the peppercorns, and the salt in a large soup pot and cover with cold water (it will take about 10 cups). Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and simmer the soup for 2 hours. Strain the stock into a clean soup pot and discard the cooked vegetable. Pull the white meat off the chicken and cut into a rough dice. Reserve the dark meat for another use (or you can add it to the soup if you like). Add the diced chicken breast, the 2 diced carrots, and the kale to the soup and simmer for an additional 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

* My goal is to cook once and have extra meals. So I use the leftover dark meat for Roman's sandwiches for lunch, and chicken tacos for dinner!

Let me know what you think!