A couple of nights ago, as the Viper Pilot was building the usual fire in the wood stove to warm us up, I asked him,
Me: “How does soup sound for dinner?”
Him: “Soups sounds great. Definitely a soup kind of night…{thinks about it}…actually, it’s a soup kind of month.”
He’s right. We’ve been hovering around 50 degrees for the past few days and the dreary rainy days don’t help matters much. The sun shone for a few hours during the afternoon on my birthday and that’s really about it. It’s definitely a soup kind of month.
I went to the fridge and when I opened the door, it wasn’t as scary as it has been. I spent nearly two hours (which ended up costing us $100/hour) in the Commissary restocking our kitchen with the essentials. I raided the produce section (all local stuff, too! <– best part) so there was no shortage of fresh veggies for me to work with.
THIS, is what happened:
I call it…Chicken, Pasta und Veggie Soup because I’m not very creative with naming recipes.
Chicken, Pasta und Veggie Soup
- 4 1/2 cups chicken broth (lower sodium)
- 2 cups water
- 2 medium carrots, sliced thin
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 (14.5 oz) can Navy beans
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
- 12 oz cubed chicken breast (cooked) <– I like to boil it in water to keep the juices in
- 1 cup uncooked pasta
- 1 cup basil pesto
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic pepper
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
When I was a kid, my dad used to always eat a piece of buttered bread with his soup and with spaghetti. He kinda got me stuck on it. 🙂 The Weihenstephaner went down quite nicely with the soup, I must say. The key ingredient to this soup is the pesto. It makes it less like traditional chicken noodle soup and more like something spectacular! And, as with most soups, this one only gets better as it sits. The next time we had this for leftovers it was even more flavorful.
Make sure you have a Viper Pilot, a warm blanket and a fire to cozy up to when your tummy is full of soup. It makes it the best ever. 😉
ENJOY!
Katie Parker says
My dad also has a piece of buttered bread with meals likes this and I copy him as well 🙂