Chicken Vegetable Soup with Acorn Squash and White Beans

Spring is around the corner but in many places winter is still raging. This soup is loaded with healthy veggies but is still hearty enough to combat the winter chills. For the stock I used my go to recipe for Homemade Stock. You can either use what you have pre-made or make it for the soup–either way works fine and instructions will follow. I packed this recipe with tons of veggies such as acorn squash, spinach, corn, peas, carrots and cabbage. The recipe is surprisingly hearty and flavorful. It has been one of my favorite go-to winter soup recipes over the past few weeks!

Ingredients:

• 1 batch Homemade Chicken Stock
• 1 chicken, white and dark meat shredded
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt and coarse black pepper
• 1/2 pack frozen spinach (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 6 carrots, diced
• 2 cups green peas
• 2 1/2 cups sweet corn
• 6 russet potatoes, cubed
• 1 acorn squash, skin removed and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 30 oz. Cannellini beans, washed and drained
• 2 tsp peppercorns
• 1/2 head cabbage, chopped and shredded
• 2 tsp sea salt or to taste
• parsley, for garnish

Directions:

1. Take the whole chicken (including innards inside) and place in a glass pan. Rub with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. Add a little water to the pan and cover with foil.
2. In a 375F oven bake the chicken for about 1 3/4 – 2 hours until the inside has reached an internal temperature of 165F.
3. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Remove the meat from the bones and place in the refrigerator.
4. At this stage you can use the carcass to make stock. Follow steps here.
5. If stock is already made, skip step 4 and freeze the bones for another batch.
6. In a large 10 quart sauce pot add the carrots, potatoes, peas, corn, cabbage, peppercorns, acorn squash, beans and sea salt.
7. Pour in the chicken stock, cover and turn to medium high heat. Once reached a low boil, turn down to low and let simmer until vegetables are fork tender.
8. During the last 20 minutes of cooking, stir in the spinach and shredded chicken. Taste and adjust salt if necessary.