gluten-free immune booster holiday soup

 

Immune-Booster Soup (Gluten-Free)
What you need

• 1 small to medium potato, peeled and chopped *
• ½ cup shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
• 8 cups chicken bone broth, divided (if not homemade, I use Imagine Gluten-Free Organic Chicken Broth)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 small onion, about ½ cup chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 8-ounce can organic tomato sauce (not tomato paste)
• 1 cup cooked and diced chicken
• 2 cups spinach
• herbs, sea salt, black pepper *

What you do

1. Place chopped potato in a medium saucepan. Cover with about 2 or 3 cups chicken broth and bring to a light boil. Use enough chicken broth to simmer potatoes until fully cooked. After about 10 minutes of simmering, add the chopped shiitake mushrooms to the potato/chicken broth mix. Continue simmering for another 5 to 10 minutes, until potatoes are fully cooked and mushrooms are cooked, but not mushy. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. In a large soup pot, heat oil over low-medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring often. Add 2 cups chicken broth, celery, carrots, sweet potato, tomato sauce, and cooked chicken. Turn heat to low.
3. Place cooled chicken broth-potato-mushroom mixture into a VitaMix or other blender. Make sure the mixture has cooled enough to blend. Add 1 to 2 cups of room temperature chicken broth and blend until all ingredients are incorporated. Mixture should be a gravy-like consistency, but not too thick. Add more broth during blending as needed. Pour the mixture into the soup pot, along with any remaining chicken broth, and stir gently. At this point, all the chicken broth (approximately 8 cups), the cooked chicken, and the vegetables, with the exception of the beans and spinach, are in the pot simmering on low.
4. Cook on low for 2 hours or more. This can simmer on low all afternoon.  herbs, seasonings, and spinach about 15 to 30 minutes before serving.
5. Enjoy and stay healthy!

My notes (worth reading):

• I normally use a small-medium, organic RED potato for this base, because it has less starch than a Russet or Yukon Gold. I use potatoes as a thickener in lots of my recipes, rather than using a processed gluten-free flour or starch, but I choose my potato variety according to how much thickening I want in the recipe.
• I often use dried, cooked beans, but when I’m pressed for time, I use a can of beans from Eden Organics. Canned beans retain their fiber and Eden Organics uses BPA-free cans. Canned beans are a healthy option in soups and stews.
• Simply Organic All-Purpose Seasoning is my favorite “go-to” seasoning. I use about 2 tablespoons in this recipe.
• Rather than adding the spinach to the soup, place ½ cup of raw spinach (or kale, chard, beet greens) in a bowl or soup mug. Ladle the hot soup directly over the spinach and gently stir. This warms the spinach, but also keeps it fresh and slightly wilted.