Broccoli and Chicken Soup
If there is one vegetable you should eat and get your kids to eat, it’s broccoli. It is so packed full of vitamins, minerals, and fibre, its health benefits are numerous. This broccoli and chicken soup is the perfect winter warming food to have for your lunch, to eat on the go and is made quickly and easily.
Some of The Benefits of Broccoli
- Eating cruciferous vegetable such as broccoli has been shown to be protective against many different types of cancer
- Broccoli contains folate, which is known to decrease the risk of breast cancer in women
- Vitamin K in Broccoli improves bone health by improving calcium absorption and reducing urinary excretion of calcium.
- Broccoli is an excellent source of vitamin C, which is great for your skin and helps fight infections and skin damage caused by the sun and pollution.
- Broccoli is also an excellent source of fibre, which helps with constipation, therefore creating regularity of bowel habits, excreting toxins from the body. Fibre, in the diet, can also play a role in lowering blood pressure, improve insulin sensitivity and enhance weight loss for obese individuals.
- Broccoli may also play a role in fighting chronic diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, obesity, and some gastrointestinal diseases.
Adding Broccoli Into Your Diet
There are many ways you can start eating more broccoli, here are some for you to try:
- Add broccoli to sauces for pasta, or bolognese’s, you can puree it if you or your kids aren’t keen and mix it with other vegetables.
- Chop it up into small pieces and mix it with a stir fry
- Add it to vegetable smoothies
- Use it to make a soup, such as the Broccoli and Chicken Soup listed below
- Make a pesto sauce and add some broccoli to it.
- Place it on top of your favourite pizza
- Have it as an accompaniment with your fish, chicken or other dish.
- Eat broccoli raw and dip it in some hummus with other veg for a quick snack on the go
- Roast broccoli with some fresh tomatoes and pine nuts and garlic, and herbs, add to pasta, add meat or eat on its own.
To find out more health benefits of broccoli visit the link below:
Broccoli and Chicken Soup Recipe
- 6 Cups of Broccoli
- 2 Sticks of Celery (approx 1 cup)
- 2 Cloves of garlic
- 2 Onions
- 2 cups of cooked chicken
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 1 pint of chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 2 tsp of mixed Italian herbs
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1 tsp turmeric
- Peel and Chop the onions and garlic.
- Place them in a pan with the olive oil over a medium heat for around 3-4 minutes until soft
- Chop up the celery and add to the onions and garlic.
- Cook these together for a few minutes stirring all the time to prevent burning, and a little cold water to keep them soft.
- Chop up the broccoli into small pieces and add to the pan.
- Add the herbs and bay leaves and turmeric and then add the stock, and simmer until cooked through for about 20 minutes over a low heat.