The ultimate postpartum chicken soup

(You need to start with a roast chicken first, or a chicken carcass).

The best way to do this recipe is to buy a whole uncooked, organic chicken if possible. Make a roast dinner with this chicken with veggies such as onions, garlic, rosemary, potatoes, sweet potatoes and cauliflower. 

Then you get this for dinner the first night, followed up by the chicken soup the following night. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cooked chicken frame

• Approx 8 cups water 

• 2 onion’s, chopped 

• 6 heads of garlic, chopped

• Thumb of ginger, grated or minced 

• Bunch of rosemary, chopped

• Olive oil 

• 2 carrots, grated 

• 4-5 sticks of celery, chopped

• ¼ quarter green cabbage, chopped

• Bunch of kale or silverbeet or spinach, chopped

• Bunch of parsley, chopped 

• 1 can organic chopped tomatoes 

• Remaining cooked chicken from the previous night 

Method:

After picking the majority of the cooked roast chicken from the frame, place the frame into a slow cooker, and the remaining chicken in the fridge. Add the water, until it covers most of the frame, plus one of the chopped onions, 3 of the chopped heads of garlic and some of the rosemary. You could also add extra veggies here if you wanted too, such as the remaining roasted veg from the previous night, or some chopped carrots or greens. 

Place the slow cooker on for 12-24 hours. 

When you are ready to make dinner, heat the oil gently in a big pot or saucepan. Add the other onion and the rest of the garlic and rosemary and the ginger and cook gently for a few minutes. Add the celery, carrots, cabbage, greens and parsley. Add another cup or so of water here to stop it getting too dry and to help the veggies soften and cook. Add the can of tomatoes, and let cook for around 15 minutes or so, stirring every now and then. 

Add the chicken stock from the slow cooker into the pot, discarding the chicken frame and any vegetables used. 

Keep cooking for another 5 minutes or so, to make sure everything is hot and well cooked, then just before serving, add the cold chicken from the fridge and stir through, plus any extra chopped parsley. Season as needed.