Carrot and Collard Greens Soup

It is snowing. Not those dinky, little snow flakes but the big monster ones. I didn't believe the weathermen. I laughed at those at work who spoke of upcoming flurries. And here I am pulling off my boots and removing clumps of snow off my dog Yoshi. He likes to bulldoze through the snow taking in mouthful after mouthful. I blame it on the ice cubes I give him in the summer.

We still have two months until winter officially arrives and here I am with a few inches of snow on my deck. Knowing New England and it's crazy weather, we will be back to wearing flip flops next week. In the meantime, it is time for some warm, tasty soup.

This is really easy. I had some left over collards that I needed to use before they went bad. I pulled out the bag of carrots, an onion, half a chicken breast on bone, hot chopped peppers, and of course salt. Easy. I also make my own stock because it allows me to have leftover chicken for chicken salad or chicken pot pie or any other recipe that requires chucks or shreds of chicken. Plus, it is how my mother taught me.

Carrot and Collard Greens Soup
Ingredients
2.5 quarts water
One large onion, chopped
1 tbsp of hot chopped pepper (see photo)
1/2 chicken breast on the bone, skinless
1 tsp salt
8-10 carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
5 collard greens leaves, removed off stem, rolled up and cut into strips
one chicken flavored bouillon cube (optional)

Directions

Place first five ingredients in pot and cover. Bring to boil and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken and set aside for pot pie. Add celery and carrots to pot, and cook until tender. With a handheld immersion blender, puree soup until chunks are no longer present. Or, you can put in food processor if you do not have an immersion blender. Place collards and bouillon cube in soup and simmer until collards are tender, approximately 10-15 minutes. Season with salt.