RECIPE: Roasted Chicken Vegetable Soup

I absolutely LOVE the Roasted Chicken and Barley soup I posted while back, but I wanted to adapt that recipe to something totally grain-free. I had several varieties of squash, so I altered the recipe a bit. Here's what I came up with ... a healthy, nutritious, Paleo/Primal soup!
ROASTED CHICKEN VEGETABLE SOUP

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons Olive Oil
½ cup white Onion – fine dice

1 stalk Celery – thinly sliced
1 large Garlic clove – minced (I used Wildtree Garlic Galore)

6 ounces white Mushrooms – chopped
1 medium roasted Chicken – meat shredded
2 Bay Leaves

1 Zucchini - cut in half, then sliced

1 Yellow Squash - cut in half, then sliced

2 - 3 cups organic Spinach
1 14 ½ ounce can chopped Tomatoes
6 cups of organic Chicken Broth (I used Wildtree Chicken bouillon soup base and water)

Sea Salt

Fresh ground Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Begin by preheating soup pot on medium heat for 1 minute.

2. Add olive oil and sauté the onions and celery for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not brown.

3. Add garlic, mushrooms and bay leaves and continue sautéing for additional 3 minutes.

4. Add 1 cup broth, zucchini and yellow squash. Stir and bring to a boil.

5. Add tomatoes and the rest of the broth. Stir and bring to a boil.
6. Once boiling reduce to a simmer and partially cover with lid.

7. Cook for 15 minutes.

 8. Add shredded chicken and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes.

9. Add spinach and simmer for 3 - 5 minutes.

10. Taste and season.

There's even some left for another meal or three!

RECIPE: Chicken Salad

Last night we had a roasted chicken for dinner. Okay, we only ate half of it, so I decided to make chicken salad out of the other half. Now I'm going to make some Paleo bread so I can have a 100% Paleo sandwich for dinner!

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 roasted chicken, obviously de-boned
1/4 cup Paleo mayonnaise
1/4 cup bleu cheese crumbles (optional)
1/2  stalk celery
1/4 sweet onion
14 walnut halves
1 teaspoon curry
salt
pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and place in a medium sized bowl.
2. Cut celery and onions into small pieces, and add to bowl with chicken.
3. Add mayonnaise, bleu cheese, chopped walnuts, and curry.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

RECIPE: Roasted Chicken & Barley Soup

I have been a big fan of Gavan Murphy for a while now. I will be posting several of his recipes ... Some as he posted them, some with my modifications. 
We have been invited to attend a Christmas Eve "Soup Potluck" and I was at a loss as to what to take. I checked Gavan's recipes and found this one. Since my neighbor sells Wildtree Products I wanted to incorporate at least two of their products into the recipe. I used their Chicken Bouillon Soup Base and their Garlic Galore Seasoning Blend. Here's a link to her Wildtree page for more information about their wonderful products: Wildtree
So, here's the recipe!
INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons olive oil (I substituted Wildtree Grapeseed Oil)
½ cup white onion – fine dice
½ cup celery – thinly sliced
1 large garlic clove – minced (I used 1 tsp. Wildtree Garlic Galore Seasoning Blend)
6 ounce baby portabella mushrooms – chopped
1 medium roasted chicken – meat shredded
1/3 cup barley
2 bay leaves
1 14 ½ ounce can chopped tomatoes
6 cups of low-sodium chicken broth (I used 6 cups of water and 4 tablespoons Wildtree Chicken Bouillon Soup Base)
3 tablespoons. fresh parsley – chopped


½ lemon – zested (I didn't have a lemon, so I omitted this)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Begin by preheating soup pot on medium heat for 1 minute.
2. Add olive oil and sauté the onions and celery for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not brown.
3. Add garlic, mushrooms and bay leaves and continue sautéing for additional 3 minutes.
4. Add broth and tomatoes. Stir and bring to a boil.
5. Once boiling reduce to a simmer and partially cover with lid.
6. Cook for 15 minutes.
7. Add barley and cook for 20 minutes.
8. Add shredded chicken and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes.
9. Finish by adding fresh chopped parsley and lemon zest.
10. Taste and season.
And now for some photos ... 

 Soup's ready ... Just added the fresh parsley and a little fresh ground pepper!
Could this possibly look any more festive?

 We each had a HUGE mug of soup and this is what was left over. 

 These are the Wildtree products I used ... Well, and their Grapeseed Oil.