Click here to pin this Smoked Sausage and White Bean Soup with Spinach recipe!

Soup is one of my go-to foods when I feel that I need to reset and recharge my eating habits. It’s filling, it’s healthy (if you make it healthy, of course) and it’s usually really easy to pull together any day of the week.

One of my favorite soups to make is this Smoked Chicken Sausage and White Bean Soup with Spinach.

This soup is filled with staple ingredients that I almost always have in my pantry and fridge. Beans and basic veggies like carrots, celery and onions are really essential ingredients to almost all of my soups so I try to always have them on hand. I love using this chicken apple sausage and usually have a few packages in the freezer (it takes no time at all to defrost!).

It really does make for a perfect weeknight soup and leftovers are great for lunch the next day.

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Can also be made in the slow cooker – see recipe instructions!

This Summer White Chicken Chili Verde recipe was originally shared with you in June 2014. I’ve updated it with new photos, nutrition information and slow cooker instructions. It’s one I love making – leftovers make for quick healthy lunches. Enjoy!

Soup in the summer? Why yes, of course. I’m all in for soup for any time of the year, especially when it’s full of seasonal veggies like this white chicken chili verde recipe I made last week.

I have always found it best to have soup made and ready to eat in the fridge. It is truly one of my weekly go to meals especially when the late afternoons and evenings are busy with sports and activities or you’re just feeling lazy at dinnertime. It’s fairly easy to put together, though not necessarily quick – and it’s as healthy and chock full of nutrition and goodness as you want it to be. I like to think of soup as a good friend who is always there for you. 🙂

How do you make white chicken chili?

1. In a large soup pot, heat your olive oil over medium heat. Add your onion and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add your peppers and zucchini and cook for an additional 5 minutes until all the vegetables start to soften and are fragrant. Add cumin, oregano, salt and pepper to vegetable mixture and stir.
2. At this time add your beans, broth, salsa and whole chicken breasts. Cover pot and bring to a slow boil. Let simmer for 30-45 minutes until chicken is cooked through (take a fork and pull apart to check).
3. Once chicken is cooked through, pull out onto a plate or cutting board and carefully shred into small pieces using two forks. Add shredded chicken back into the soup pot and cook uncovered for another 10-15 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust.
4. Serve with lime, fresh cilantro, cheese or Greek yogurt as toppings.

There is a great local produce market that I absolutely love to visit. I always leave there with way more fruits and veggies than I need, or can possibly cook in a week. I guess you can say this soup was inspired by a desperate attempt to clear out the produce drawer before anything went to waste. In the picture above you see some beautiful cubanelle peppers (that I can never ever resist) and a variation of zucchini I can only find at this produce market in the spring and summer.

If you don’t have either of these types of peppers or zucchini just substitute another kind of green pepper (poblano or bell would be great) or zucchini. Cubanelles typically have no heat and they have a light mild flavor so they are fun to cook with when you can find them (my grocery store tends to have them year round, I’m not sure if that’s a regional thing or not).

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Click here to pin this Slow Cooker Chicken and Farro Chili recipe.

My obsession with farro continues. I’ve been adding farro to salads for a while now, but the last couple of months I’ve been adding it to soup, and more recently this Slow Cooker Chicken and Farro Chili. Farro is an incredible addition to any soup or chili because of it’s hearty texture. This chili includes chicken but if you wanted to make it vegetarian it would be just as great with extra beans and vegetable broth.

If you are getting hit with the cold weather and snow that I’m seeing everywhere on the news and social media, then you more than likely have soup on the brain right now. There’s nothing better than pulling out your slow cooker to let it do the work all day especially with pantry staples like Bush’s Chili Beans. Our Florida weather isn’t what you would call soup weather right now, but I am a soup girl all year ’round!

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You all know by now, I like my greens. Spinach, kale, chard…I’ll take it all. Especially this time of year when I find myself googling ‘how to boost immune systems in children’, when I already know the answer. In case you weren’t sure, greens definitely play a part in the good nutrition part of boosting immune systems – and apparently we need all the help we can get lately.

The struggle is real when it comes to including as many greens as possible into my family’s diet. I like to use spinach leaves in place of lettuce in salad and try to include it in pasta or soup as much as possible (see this Pesto Pasta with Turkey and Kale and Chicken Gnocchi Soup). This meatless pasta dish made with whole wheat pasta, greens and Bush’s Great Northern Beans is another way to get some good nutrition on the table – and quick! With beans, pasta and canned crushed tomatoes being pantry staples, this is such a great base pasta recipe to add any fresh vegetable too.

Swiss chard with beans sauteed in tomato sauce are the perfect pairing and a great way to introduce a new leafy green and include beans to your diet.

If your family needs some meat to balance out the meal, add some roasted or grilled Italian chicken or turkey sausage to each dish. With or without the sausage, this is the kind of meal that is exactly what I need when I’m craving something hearty and healthy.

Swiss Chard with White Beans in Tomato Sauce over Pasta

Yield: 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 bunch swiss chard, shredded
• 1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup of water (added to crushed tomato can to pick up remnant flavor)
• 1 15 oz can of Bush's Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed
• a pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
• red hot pepper flakes, to taste
• 1/2 box of whole wheat pasta

Directions:

1. Prepare pasta according to directions.
2. While pasta is cooking, in a large saute pan, heat olive oil and begin to saute onion and garlic. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook onions until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add chard to pan and saute until soft and wilted, about 8-10 minutes. Add can of tomato sauce with additional water to pan. Stir and bring to a simmer. Add can of white beans to sauce and cook for about 2-3 more minutes until sauce is slightly thick and flavors have come together.
3. Drain pasta and drizzle with a little olive oil. Serve sauce over pasta with red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese.

So hearty and healthy, I love the combinations of greens, tomato sauce and beans in this recipe. Hope you enjoy it too! Recipe from Aggie's Kitchen, inspired from Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine

This recipe was created in partnership with Bush’s Beans. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Aggie’s Kitchen.

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This Slow Cooker White Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe was originally created in partnership with Bush’s Beans.

My slow cooker has been working on overtime lately. Actually, my goal lately has been to use it as much as possible since let’s face it, it makes getting dinner ready (when you’re not home to get it ready) 3 million times easier. With basketball practice and gymnastics and after school activities that kids need to be picked up from, those precious dinner making hours are basically non-existent when you have school aged kids. Right now I am in search of all types of slow cooker recipes that my family will love – would you share some of your favorites with me?

This White Chicken Tortilla Soup is a slight twist off of one of my favorite soup recipes – chicken tortilla soup. I decided to change up a few key ingredients such as using white beans instead of black and switching to poblano peppers (love!) from bell peppers. I used Bush’s Great Northern Chili Beans for added flavor, I absolutely love adding these beans to soups and chilis. This soup was devoured for dinner (then lunch) for a few days. So filling, yet so good for you!

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Is kale still considered a health trend or can we agree that it’s here to stay? I feel like kale, quinoa, chia seeds and other super healthy foods came onto the scene hard over the last few years, with recipes for them floating around everywhere you turn. Personally, I love it and don’t consider any food that is good for you trendy in any way. I love that people are starting to embrace healthier foods and ingredients, even ones that might seem weird or a little intimidating (though, honestly, I’m still not 100% convinced I will like “chia pudding”).

I don’t really remember when I first started eating kale but I know that once I did I loved finding ways to add it into recipes. From frittatas to soups to salads, kale is so versatile and there really are so many ways to enjoy it. And let’s face it, you can’t help but feel super healthy after eating it. 🙂

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