There’s a pox on our house. I swear, we’ve done something and I can’t figure out what it is. I had tonsillitis, now Jay has tonsillitis and Elliot’s got full on snot, so much so that his nose is bleeding from all the wiping.
I shared this on Instagram and the absolutely lovely Megann from Megann’s Kitchen offered to email me her Asian Chicken and Vegetable Soup recipe. I jumped at the opportunity.
I got the email, opened the recipe on my phone and headed straight to the supermarket and did something I don’t normally do. I shopped just for that meal.
We had nothing at home for it, and I knew it was exactly what I needed, it was the day before grocery day, so I just headed to the supermarket to pick up the ingredients.
Trouble is that I also picked up a bunch of things that I didn’t need too, a punnet of strawberries that were on sale and a couple of litres of milk because we might have been running out. By the time I walked out I had spent $30, which doesn’t sound like much (the soup made 6 serves, so $5 a serve isn’t too bad) but if I did that every day for our dinners, I’d be spending upwards of $400 a fortnight just on dinner!
Don’t get me wrong the soup was absolutely delicious, but it was a great reminder of why meal planning is oh so important when trying to stick to a budget.
Check out my book about how we keep our grocery budget under $200 a fortnight for our family of three HERE.
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves – crushed
- 2 tsp of skinned and finely grated ginger
- 6 cups of chicken stock
- 1 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 stick of lemon grass – pound with handle of knife to release aroma
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 4 chicken thigh fillets
- 1 x 220gm pack of thin work ready rice noodles
- 1 carrot julienne
- 1/2 cup snow peas thinly sliced
- 1 bunch of bok choy – slicing the crunchy white bit into 1 cm slices and the smooth green leaf into larger pieces
- 1 handful of bean shoots and some vietnamese mint leaves to serve
- Heat oil in a large pot over low heat and add garlic and ginger. Stir until fragrant and beginning to change colour.
- Add stock, cinnamon, anise, lemon grass, soy sauce and chicken. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, cooking for 40 minutes.
- While chicken is cooking, prepare vegetables, finely julienning carrots, sweet peas and chopping bok choy.
- Once chicken is cooked, remove from pot and shred. Remove cinnamon, lemon grass and star anise, return chicken to the pot.
- Add bok choy, carrot, snow peas and broken up noodles. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Serve big hot bowls full, topped with bean shoots and vietnamese mint.
Hi Clare, this sounds absolutely delicious. So full of goodness, I hope you are all feeling better soon.
Fi
Thank you!