There are as many chicken noodle soup recipes as there are chicken noodle soup cooks.  By latest count, there are 12 on MealMixer, including our newest, Chicken Noodle and Kale Soup.  I wouldn’t normally announce the addition of a new recipe, except for the fact that this one came about out of sheer stupefaction.

I love to read cookbooks and cooking magazines for tips and techniques and just to sample recipes (I consider it window eating).   A Cook’s Illustrated article that claimed to have “improved” the taste of chicken noodle soup by simmering a pound of ground chicken in broth, caught my interest.  But the recipe called for  throwing away the chicken.  Yikes.  Are they oblivious to the state of the union?

Still, I was intrigued.  I bought a pound of ground chicken, some black kale, and made soup.  The ground chicken added heartiness and flavor.  The black kale (a little sweeter and less intense than regular kale) and added a dimension of flavor and a boost of nutrition.   Regular kale would have been just fine, I just took the organic option.   Although the original recipe threw away the chicken and vegetables, then added new chicken and vegetables, I just kept going with them – waste not want not.  It turned out to be a fabulous soup in just 30 minutes.   It only took 1 pot because I used leftover noodles.

The final test was our 10 year old.  He didn’t ask what the “green stuff” was until he was done, and said he liked the chicken better this way.  This recipe is a total keeper, add it to your meal plan, I’m sure you’ll agree!