Tex Mex Chicken Veggie soup

8/28/2019

This chicken soup employs a combo of all the flavors I love! It starts with a traditional chicken broth and shredded chicken with added veggies like yellow squash, carrots, zucchini, diced tomatoes, cilantro, and hominy. Kick it up with cumin, epizote seasoning and fresh jalapenos and you will be going back for seconds!

*If doing a paleo reset or Whole30, leave out the hominy.

Ingredients

1 whole fresh chicken
10 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 yellow onion chopped
1 bunch parsley
1 whole green onion
2 t. salt

1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 medium yellow squash, chopped
1/2 cup hominy, or yellow or white corn*
1 can black beans*
4-5 green onions sliced with a little of the green
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
1 8 oz can diced tomatoes (or Rotel if you like more heat)
jalapeno
1/2 to 1 t cumin
1/4 t fresh ground pepper
1 t epizote seasoning (see below)
lime
fresh avocado chopped

*omit these ingredients if doing strict paleo

Place whole chicken (with gizzards removed), peeled and chopped garlic, yellow onion, about 5-6 sprigs of parsley, the whole green onion and 2 teaspoons salt in a large pot or Instant Pot and add enough water to cover (about 8 cups or so). Gently boil chicken until cooked through, about an hour.
Strain out chicken broth and set aside for use in the soup. When chicken is cooled, pick meat from bones and set aside.

Put about 6 cups of the broth in a large pot (or more if you want to use up all the broth you made). Add canned tomatoes, chopped zucchini, yellow squash, hominy if using, chopped carrots, chopped cilantro, and a few rounds of sliced jalapeno if you like your soup with a kick. Gently bring to a boil and cook veggies through. Season with cumin, epizote seasoning, fresh ground pepper and more salt to taste.

When veggies are cooked through, add back in the reserved chicken. Stir and adjust seasonings to suit your taste.

Serve with fresh avocado, chopped cilantro, sliced jalapenos and lime wedges!