Recipe: Wholesome Chicken Super-Soup to blast away the bugs

I was never much of a soup fan when I was younger but as my taste buds have matured (along with everything else) I have come to love soups. I recently received the Busy Bees Sensational Soups recipe book which is packed with ideas for soups the whole family can enjoy but if you look on their website you’ll see lots of lovely recipes to try out too.

A couple of years ago the Beans and I learnt to make soup at a 6-week cookery class we attended at their school. That course really fired up their imagination and now they all love the opportunity to cook alongside Hubby or myself whenever we have the time.

The Busy Bees Sensational Soups recipe book is the culmination of recipes created by the Busy Bees chefs up and down the country from nurseries in Newcastle to nurseries in Brighton  who provide healthy balanced meals for children and adults alike. Their hope is that it will inspire younger generations to eat healthy and nutritious meals as part of a balanced diet.

My favourite soup from the recipe book is the Creamy Carrot and Coriander Soup submitted by Carolyn Lemar from Busy Bees at Hatfield Road. This is always my go-to soup on a cold winters day. But actually I’m not going to share that recipe with you, I’m going to share our family favourite, we call it Chicken Super Soup.

Ingredients

• 55g/2oz butter
• 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 parsnips
• 1 small turnip
• 25g/2oz plain flour
• 1.2 litres/2 pints chicken stock
• 450g/1lb cooked chicken, skinned and shredded
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Begin by melting the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat.

2. Chop the carrots, parsnips, turnip and celery into chunks and gently fry to soften slightly.

3. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add chicken stock and then bring the mixture to the boil, stirring as you do so. Add salt and pepper to taste, then reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering and simmer for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

4. Add the cooked chicken and cook until heated through. Adjust the seasoning, stir in the parsley and serve. This is a really nice recipe to make in a slow cooker for really tender meat and vegetables.

Serve

We are a little bit naughty as we serve ours with Suet Dumplings for a real treat. This is our family’s favourite meal when we are feel poorly or after a fun day spent outdoors when we all need warming up. Although of course, when I say ‘family’ I mean me, Daddy, Curly and Beanie Boy since Little Bean and Jelly Bean are still extremely fussy when it comes to food.

When Jelly Bean starts school in September we are hoping that he will be swayed by his peers and will choose healthier foods like Beanie Boy did. We already have his packed lunch box at the ready but will do hot meals 2-3 days a weeks from the start to help him on his road to happier, healthier eating. Wish us luck!!

DISCLAIMER: We were sent the lunchbox along with the recipe book for the purpose of this post. All words, images and opinions are my own and may not be copied without my permission. I have not been instructed what to write.