hearty tomato, zucchini and spinach soup

by tijuana, 01/06/2013

when i asked the hubby to make a grocery run, i was vague with what vegetable to get. he came back with 4 gigantic yellow squash and 4 humongous zucchini. amongst, the others veggies were some tomatoes, cabbage, bagged spinach and lettuce for salads. i thought to myself, what the heck am i suppose to do with all of that squash? it kinda puts a tad little bit of pressure on me to use it before it goes bad. well, i thought, i'll make a soup! the only problem with putting zucchini in a soup, is it gets very mushy. so i chopped it up and put it in near the end to keep it's texture. this soup is hearty, full of flavor, good for you and your tummy. it was just what i needed. now, i have to figure out what to do with the remaining 3 zucchini and squash... 🙂

total Time: 50 minutes
prep time: 20 minutes
cook time: 30 minutes
yield: 8 servings

ingredients:

2 chicken breasts -
8 cups water -
4 chicken bouillon cubes -
3 tablespoons cornstarch -
3 tablespoons water -
1 large zucchini - chopped into small cubes
1 large squash - chopped into small cubes
1 onion - chopped into small cubes
3 cloves garlic - minced
1 tomato - cubed
1 bag of spinach -
1/2 cup tomato sauce -

instructions:

add the chicken breasts to a large stock pot. add the water, chicken bouillon and salt/pepper to taste to the pot, as well. bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. allow the chicken to simmer until cooked thorough, about 15- 20 minutes.

remove the chicken from the broth onto a cutting board. cut the chicken into cubes. while the chicken is out of the water, stir the cornstarch and water together in a small bowl. stir the cornstarch mixture into the broth. bring the broth to a boil to allow it to thicken. reduce the heat back to medium low. carefully add the chopped chicken back in.

chop all the veggies into small cubes (zucchini, squash, onion, garlic and tomato) and add them to a bowl.

stir in the chopped veggies, spinach and tomato sauce. taste, season with salt/pepper to taste (if needed). cover and cook for 10 -15 minutes or until the flavors marry.