Chicken and Navy Bean Experimental Soup

New Name...New blog. Hopefully: )
 Most of the time, when I bring a dish to a gathering or have people to my home for dinner, I find myself saying "This is experimental cheesecake" (don't worry, that will be another blog) or "We're having experiments for dinner".  What can I say? I like to play with food.  Cooking is a art project and a science experiment rolled into one.  A delicious creative endeavor: )  Soup happens to be one of my favorite experiments.  Such a versatile medium!  Seriously, what can't you do with soup? Also, it's really hard to mess up. Anyway, here is the story of the Chicken and Navy Bean Soup experiment. Recipe in blue at the bottom.
   Winter is obviously the perfect time for soup experimentation.  Knowing this, Wayne and I have been looking through a Better Homes and Gardens "Soups and Stews" cookbook that his mom gave to us.  I came across a Ham and Bean Vegetable Soup that looked delicious! Only one problem.  We both gained a little weight over the holidays and are really trying to eat better. We are trying to eat less meat overall and make the meat we do eat organic.  Two pounds of smoked ham hocks wasn't going to work with that.  Wayne suggested chicken and bean vegetable soup. Now that was something I could work with! Wayne played with Riley on the floor while I sat there writing the grocery list and figuring out how to alter the soup.
  The original recipe called for the beans to be soaked, the ham hocks to be added and cooked for a total of one and a half hours at a strong simmer, adding the veggies in the last 30 minutes of cooking.  I felt like chicken, being a much more tender meat, would basically get boiled and fall apart. And while there's nothing wrong with boiled chicken (especially in chicken and noodles...oooh that should be another winter experiment: ), I wanted bigger chunks of still very tender chicken in my soup.  Well that sounds like the perfect job for my slow cooker!  The original recipe called for a standard mirepoix (2 parts onion to one part celery and one part carrot) which is my favorite aromatic group for poultry.  I decided to use those as a bed for the chicken in the slow cooker. I rubbed some poultry seasoning on the chicken and covered it all in chicken broth. Two and a half hours later I had deliciously tender chicken and amazing broth and veggies to add flavor to the beans. Success!
  The original recipe also called for potatoes to be added with all the other veggies.  Potatoes weren't going to add flavor to the chicken so they could wait and be added to the beans with the other veggies. I did that and honestly, I wish I hadn't. The potatoes had very little flavor and were probably cooked too long. They didn't add anything to the dish so I left them out of the recipe below. I do think sweet potato might have worked better and would be an interesting addition. I may try that next time.
  Overall I would definitely rate this experiment a success.  I ended up with a much more healthy version of a recipe I really wanted to try. I also have more ideas for future soup endeavors! I love it when cooking one dish makes gives me great ideas for more: )

 

Chicken and Navy Bean Soup

Servings: 8 to 10

Ingredients

• 4-5 medium carrots, peeled and sliced

• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 4-5 stalks celery, diced
• 2 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tsp poultry seasoning
• 12 cups water
• 4 tsp chicken granules (instant bouillon)
• 16 oz dry navy beans
• salt and pepper to taste ( I actually didn't use any added salt because of the salt in the instant bouillon)

Directions

Place carrots, onion and celery in the bottom of a 3-4 quart crock pot. Place chicken breast on top, rub poultry seasoning on top. Boil 4 cups of water, remove from heat and stir in chicken granules. Pour on top of chicken and veggies and place lid on pot. Turn crock pot on high and cook for 2 and a half hours or until thermometer reads 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest part of the breast. When chicken has 1 hour left to cook, rinse navy beans and place in a large stock pot. Cover with 8 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for two minutes, then cover and remove from heat. Let stand for one hour. When chicken is done, remove breasts from crock pot and place on a cutting board. Transfer broth and veggies to the pot with the beans, reserving about 1 cup of broth.  Add any desired seasonings at this point. Bring beans and veggies to a simmer, reduce heat to medium and cover. Cook for 1-1.5 hours or until beans are tender and soup has reduced to desired consistency. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Meanwhile, shred chicken and place back in crock pot, on low, to keep warm. When beans and veggie are done, stir in chicken and serve.

Note: Wayne tends to like really thick soups that are pretty much stews. If you like a thinner soup, you might want to add some water to the beans along with the vegetables.