We have been eating lots of chicken soup in our house this week. We’re still recovering from a nasty upper-respiratory flu, and we’re craving soup. I wanted to make a soup that did not require a trip to the store, so I checked the freezer and the pantry AND the refrigerator. After watching back-to-back episodes of “Chopped” on the Cooking Channel all week, I felt like a contestant who was required to make a dish from a basket of ingredients…except I could choose the ingredients.
I started with frozen chicken thighs (boneless/skinless) and some left-over roasted garlic salsa. They were cooking nicely in a pot on the stove while I explored the pantry.
I found a container of mixed gourmet beans from Costco…beans, peas and lentils in lovely colors…so I dumped about 2 cups of them into a pot and filled the pot with water. They needed to soak for 4 hours, but that was no problem. I turned off the chicken when it was done and returned to the Cooking Channel.
Later in the afternoon, the beans were ready to drain, rinse and add to the chicken. I poured a 48 oz. box of chicken broth (with no MSG) into the pot and added about 4 cups of water so that the volume of the beans was doubled. Turned on the heat and waited another hour and a half.
When the beans were cooked, I added some sliced smoked chicken sausage that also came from Costco. The sausage has peppers and seasoning in it that is enough to flavor the soup. I didn’t add any other seasoning. Four of these sausages were enough because I already had the chicken thighs in the soup. Another time I might skip the thighs and just use the sausages.
Was it good? Judging from the amount that is left, I would say so. Serve with sliced avocados on top, of course!
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