CSA -Away

So last week was spring break, and I spent most of the week either prepping for my camping trip, or on it. :)

I'll be reviewing the trip in upcoming posts.  But for now.... my CSA update!

I was away when the shipment came, but here it is:

Bananas
Cucumbers
Squash
Tomato
Radishes
Sunchokes 
Oranges
Kale
Green Onions
Spinach ( I'm loving this stuff)
Strawberries

I'm really glad I only got the small box.  I don't know how I'm going to get through all this each week.

I still have sun chokes and grapes leftover from last week.


Although I finally managed to use up my kale, and gave away most of my spinach and squash.  The spinach I have been getting looks absolutely fabulous. Its dark green and big leaves.

Guess I need to save back lots for veggie broth.  And on that note..... We got home and my son started in with some sniffles.  So on with the chicken soup!

I love making chicken soup.  It makes the whole house smell fantastic.
Nothing better to stave off that cold.

But as I have a whole bunch of post trip laundry to tackle... I needed to make this fast.

freezer components of soup

So out of the freezer:  The carcass of a chicken I roasted, a bag that I collect veggie scraps with, and my kale from last week that was in the fridge.

Making the base broth:
3/4 of 1 onion (that I have left over from a prior week)
4-5 cloves of garlic
2-3 brocolli stems (frozen)
chunks of cabbage leftovers (frozen)
1 bunch of kale that was starting to wilt and yellow (from a prior week)

I added 2 Tablespoons of olive oil to the bottom of my huge stock pot
tossed in the chopped onion and garlic and sauteed for about 5-10 minutes on medium heat.
Then added my baggie of frozen veggie bits and my leftover kale (make sure you wash kale very carefully to get all the dirt off)

Then add enough water to cover the veggies, and boil.  I did this for about 1 hour (approximately)

This made a wonderful deep green broth.  I used this veggie broth as my base for the chicken soup.  (Trying to make it as healthful as possible)

I removed the veggies and added the frozen roasted chicken carcass.  Boil this for about 1 hour. (approximately)

I say approximately as I was going back and forth between the kitchen and playing skylanders with my son.


Next I removed the carcass and all meat and bones from the deep golden brown broth.

I put some of the broth away for freezing, and set about 4-6 cups of it in a soup pot.
I added a couple handfuls of noodles, about a 1/4 cup diced onion, 1/4 cup diced carrot, 1/4 cup diced celery, 1/4 cup sliced radishes, a couple handfuls of chicken meat pulled from the carcass.... and about 1/4 cup finely chopped kale. (It almost looks like parsley)

Let this simmer until the veggies and noodles are soft. (~30 minutes or so? - I really need to start timing this stuff :)  )

Then season to taste.
I added garlic powder ( a staple in my house), rosemary powder, salt and pepper.

It was delicious. :)