Lemongrass Coconut Chicken Soup

I made this soup last night and wanted to share for anyone that was interested! It looks like a lot but it was super easy. Oh, and I cannot follow a recipe to save my life - I just kind of make things up as I go so this may not need to be "followed to a T" - sorry, it's just the way I work!

3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 can of Light Coconut Milk (I believe a can is 15 oz)
1 container (6 cups) of reduced sodium chicken broth
1 med yellow onion
12 cloves garlic
3 inch cut of fresh ginger root
1 chili pepper
2 stalks lemongrass
5 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes - added as desired - I like a lot of heat
1 bag of prewashed/sliced white mushrooms (9 oz bag)
2 tablespoons coconut oil (you can use olive oil too)
Handful fresh cilantro
2 limes
1 lemon

-Pour chicken broth and squeezed citrus of lime and lemon into soup pot to start warming it (I used my crock pot)
-Finely chop all the fresh herbs & spices
-Lemongrass is a little funny – I cut the ends off and rubbed it on my grater to get the juices out and then just cut little slices into the stalks and threw them in the soup while it cooked
-Sear the garlic, then add the onion then ginger in a skillet (I used my cast iron) with the coconut oil
-Dump that into the now warm broth along with the red pepper flakes and any other seasonings you want
-Sear the chicken breasts (again, I used my cast iron)
-Once they are just barely cooked through, take them off and chop them into cubes and add into the soup
-Let cook for about 45 – 60 min on high
-add in the mushrooms and the can of coconut milk and let cook another 30-60 min (I didn’t cook my chicken 100% through before I threw it into the soup so I had to let it cook a little longer. Lesson learned, will def cook it all the way through next time and probably not even mess with the crock pot and just use a soup pot instead. This will drastically reduce the cooking time)

Top with some fresh cilantro and voila!

My recipe broke down to 6 servings, 212 cals, 19 grams protein, 9 grams fat, 11 carbs and 4 sugars. (these are just what I track). These are pretty hefty servings too! And depending on the brands you use, your macros could change but overall a pretty freakin’ healthy soup and I haven’t stopped raving on it since I've tried it.. It really is very good and was very easy to make.