I feel like I’m playing “The Mom” character in a homestead movie every day these days – It distracts me from it all and gives me a sense of “a role.” I wake up, put on my apron (costume), and get to work cooking, cleaning, or doing some sort of DIY. I have to remind myself to check emails and have calls with my team (reality! no!), but how can I when I have an important soup to make?? Now I’m not a food stylist nor photographer (and it pains me that I don’t have my bins of napkins, bowls, and spoons from our prop storage unit up here), but I am making food and feeling compelled to shoot and share it when it’s delicious – AND THIS RECIPE WAS.
Also, in order to shake up my soup flavor profile (and stay busy/keep anxiety down) I’ve been experimenting SO MUCH. A lot of the vegetables were gone from the store (this was over a week ago), but there was a plethora of peppers and tomatillos, so I looked up how to make a tomatillo soup. I found this recipe, which I made and liked but I wanted more veggies and more heat, so I adapted it and guys – THIS RECIPE IS SERIOUSLY GOOD. Brian’s exact reaction was “Woah, this is good, this could be at a restaurant.” Watch the pretty hysterical but informative video below to see more (but definitely follow the written directions – things changed). For instance, I realized after that the yellow peppers would have been better if they were cooked just a bit because the cherry tomatoes were enough on their own as the cold crunch on top. Also if you can find fresh peppers, roast them along with the tomatillos (just remove seeds if you don’t like super hot – Brian informed me of that, I didn’t know). Oh and I used cumin seed instead of powder (but likely powder would be better, right?). And Brian convinced me to not smash the garlic and just throw it in the pan since we were going to blend it all anyway, but not sure if that releases the flavor the same way.
Now enjoy this quick video tutorial (FYI there’s an ad first so just give it a sec), and if you end up making it please use the hashtag #showemyourfood, even if it’s ugly – although you can read Sara’s post about how to take a REALLY GOOD iphone photo to help. 🙂
Roasted Tomatillo Shredded Chicken Soup Recipe
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4 (not four grown men, double it for bigger family) 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
6–8 tomatillos (peeled and washed) or 1 16 ounce can of tomatillos
1 4 ounce can hatch chilis
1/2 4 ounce can jalapeños (or fresh)
1/4 cup cilantro
1 onion (white or yellow, or leeks I’ve done all)
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 large chicken breast
1 tsp cumin (I used cumin seed, but likely ground cumin would be better?)
4 cups chicken broth (or veggie)
4 cups spinach
1/2 cup diced yellow pepperFor garnish (all optional):
1/2 avocado
Cherry tomatoes
Sour cream
Corn Tortilla chips
Instructions
1. Peel and clean tomatillos, then roast in oven at 350 for 20 – 30 minutes (until soft with brown marks)
2. Sauté diced onions and smashed garlic in a large stock pot until transparent and fragrant, add 1/2 tsp salt and pepper
3. Add 4 cups broth to pot, bring to boil, then turn down to simmer
4. Poach chicken in broth for 15 – 20 minutes, then remove and set aside
5. Chop/prep garnishes while chicken and tomatillos are cooking
6. When tomatillos are done, let cool then blend with cilantro
7. Blend tomatillo and onion/garlic broth (chicken removed) in batches til creamy
7. Shred chicken and put back in pot with blended mixture, bring to simmer 10 minutes
8. Add spinach (chopped or baby spinach) and yellow peppers (near end, only need 5 minutes in pot to soften and wilt)
Ladle into bowl, throw on all the garnishes to your pleasure. Put in your mouth. Chew, swallow and enjoy that warm healthy heat in your tummy!!!
Keywords: healthy filling soup recipe
And that’s a wrap! A lot of you might wonder if our kids will eat it. Well, they looked at it (green soup! with green lettuce!) and in their spoiled way did NOT want to eat it. I don’t think they would have liked it anyway, but we are that family inadvertently making separate food for them and us and we are trying to stop it. They love pasta and quesadillas (anything with something white and some sort of cheese), and we love meals very heavy on veggies and lean protein. But we figured now is the best time to make this shift (their palettes are getting more mature) so we are trying to enforce the “we all eat the same thing” meal. And no it wasn’t always this way – at 18 months they ate salmon and avocado, but once they had their first PB and J (I blame their grandfather, Bobba) they were like “THIS IS AN OPTION?”
Our pediatrician reminded us that they do have a different palette and their tastebuds, when young, really don’t like certain things – it can actually taste disgusting to them – and when busy (pre-isolation) it just wasn’t a nightly battle we wanted to fight. So we mostly hide veggies in sauces or burritos or cover them in cheese and salt. But it’s time. So I’d LOVE for any recipe that is really healthy and delicious or maybe easily adaptable to be more healthy or more delicious based on the toppings. Let me know in the comments. xx
