Healthy Chicken Soup

Friday I posted a healthy passover recipe and I plan to do it over and over again this week! Passover is actually a wickedly cool holiday but I'll spare you the story. Let's just say the Jews were slaves in Egypt, Moses came by and said "let my people go" - so, the Pharaoh did... and then he went running after them. The Jews didn't have enough time to let their dough rise, so what was baked was actually a cracker-like thing called Matzah. The end. Well, not quite...

Anyway, I've been on a mission since just before Shabbat started this week. My mission: finding healthy Kosher for Passover meals. Why? I really really REALLY want to keep with my new health goals and I'd like to keep losing weight.

In truth, all I can think about right now is chicken soup. I came down with a cold yesterday so chicken soup is on my mind. I don't make traditional, high fat chicken soup. Instead, I make a lower fat version by substituting some of the chicken pieces with boneless chicken breast. I went in search of a low fat kosher chicken soup recipe and came up with ... nada. None of the recipes compared to my soup.

Not really my soup, but still yummy!

I don't own a stock pot so all of this goes into a small-ish Israeli style (read: piece of crap) crock pot. This recipe takes half the time to cook when compared to my grandmother's recipe. Oddly enough, I learned this recipe from my cousin Shula. When I moved to Israel, I lived with my cousins Shalom and Shula (I actually call them my aunt and uncle). When I got sick about a month after arriving, Shula made this for me and I couldn't believe she made it so quickly.

Ingredients
1pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
3 chicken legs, with skin on
1 parsley root
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 yellow onion, split in half
1 large potato, split in half
1 red pepper, split in half
3 cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

What to do
In a pot or a crock pot, place the chicken into the pot and completely cover with water plus 1 inch. Let that stew on low heat for about an hour.

Add in your parsley root (parsley also works for this), celery, carrots, onion, potato, red pepper, and garlic. Fill the rest of the pot with water, leaving about an inch or so at the top. Continue cooking for 1-2 hours on low heat ... depending on how much flavor you want. Discard your vegetables, use the chicken for something else, and strain your soup. Add your salt and pepper to taste.

This is an idiot-proof recipe. You seriously cannot mess it up. Timings vary and so does taste - if you want a heartier soup, keep the pot going for three hours. If you want a milder taste, cook for two hours. Either way, the lack of chicken skin cuts the fat down.

Add whole wheat matzo balls to this and you're good to go for Passover. Let's hope I kick this cold quickly - it's getting on my nerves!