Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktI’m more of a “country cook” than a gourmet cook. I toyed with posting my mom’s fabulous chicken-and-noodles recipe, which is at least 70 years old. Talk about comfort food! But it is laden with sodium and takes a long time to make unless you substitute store-bought ingredients for homemade ones (in which case you might as well just buy already prepared chicken-and-noodles IMO).
The soup recipe below is nothing fancy, but it tastes great, it’s healthy, it’s quick and easy, and I always have the ingredients on hand. It’s one of my favorites on a work night when I’m too tired or busy to cook because it’s ready in less than 30 minutes, not much more time-consuming and certainly healthier than heating a canned soup. It also lends itself well to adaptations with whatever flavors sound good at that moment or with whatever you have on hand (e.g., I sometimes substitute squash for the carrot and often add to the vegetables). Oh yeah, and it sure fits Michi’s penchant (which I wholeheartedly share) for not much in the way of required measuring. Add a salad or a baked potato and you have a nice supper.
Chicken & Spinach Soup with Fresh Pesto
(from eatingwell.com)
Ingredients
2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 cup carrot or diced red bell pepper
1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 8 ounces), cut into quarters
1 large clove garlic (or to taste), minced
5 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons dried marjoram or oregano
6 ounces baby spinach, coarsely chopped
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans or great northern beans, rinsed
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves
Freshly ground pepper to taste
3/4 cup croutons for garnish (optional)
Preparation
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add carrot (or bell pepper) and chicken; cook, turning the chicken and stirring frequently, until the chicken begins to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant. Stir in broth and marjoram or oregano; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken pieces to a clean cutting board to cool. Add spinach and beans to the pot, bring to a gentle boil, and simmer for 5 minutes to blend the flavors.
Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, Parmesan and basil in a food processor (a mini processor works well). Process until a coarse paste forms, adding a little water and scraping down the sides as necessary. [Substitute store-bought pesto if you must, or any other pesto recipe you prefer.]
Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Stir the chicken and pesto into the pot. Season with pepper. Heat until hot. Garnish with croutons, if desired.
5 servings, about 1 1/2 cups each
Nutrition
Per serving: 204 Calories; 8 g Fat; 2 g Sat; 4 g Mono; 29 mg Cholesterol; 16 g Carbohydrates; 18 g Protein; 6 g Fiber; 691 mg Sodium; 529 mg Potassium [NOTE: Cut the sodium drastically by using homemade salt-free broth and/or homemade salt-free cooked beans]
1/2 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 vegetable, 2 lean meat, 1 fat
Filed under: Bites and Pieces, food, Uncategorized | Tagged: soup |
All Things in Moderation 
okie, this sounds absolutely yummy! I typically cook with chicken thighs rather than breasts, so I'll have to figure out now that will work out, but I can see this becoming a Chez Michigoose staple. Thanks!And thanks for figuring out the "scheduled post" thing–I'll give it a try tomorrow and make sure that I know how to do it then add it to the FAQ.And please, do post your Mom's recipe one of these days. I love multi-day cooking projects around this time of the year, and frequently make my own stocks and such. For me it's therapeutic to look at something bubbling on the stove and know that it's tomorrow night's ingredient.
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Okie, thanks for the recipe. I make a lot of soups this time of year and I generally save the nights we actually eat a little chicken for soup. Not only that, but I have beaucoup spinach in the garden. I still have quite a bit of swiss chard so I might try that also. The pesto sounds like the ingredient that makes it pop.Anyone like beets? I have a great family recipe from my hubby's Polish family for beet soup with or without the pork. It does have cream in it though.
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Love beets! And love cream, too (see my recipe from last weekend 🙂 )
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Looks great! Healthy too. We're gearing up for our annual tamal making party. I'll have to post our process (providing Keen is willing to let me divulge a few family secrets).BB
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Okay michi, I'll work up the recipe this week and post next weekend. It's an old family recipe and has never been written down except when someone from the family calls my husband and asks how the hell to make it. His aunt taught him and he taught me. We make a batch every year for the big family party over the holidays.
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Woo hoo, lms! Maybe next weekend could be a recipe-fest in advance of Thanksgiving!?!?!
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michi, for soups and such I always use thighs (my store regularly puts boneless skinless thighs on sale at a good price). They bring more flavor. I just substitute 1:1 and make no other accommodation.FB, tamal? I'm sorry, but I truly am very provincial.lms, chard is even better than spinach in this, I do that often. I *love* chard but have never grown it. Same required conditions/environment as growing spinach? I guess it would take more room per plant? (I think beets and brussel sprouts are the only two vegetables I ever met that I didn't like. With beets, it might be as much the stain hazard as the eating.)
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Good to know, okie. The flavor thing is why I use them–don't have much use at all for chicken breasts.I don't know what tamal is, either, although if it involves family secrets its got to be good. . .
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Wow! 31-6, Utah over UCLAGood weekend: MSU won, UM won, Ohio State lost (sorry, qb, I try to root for them for your sake, but too many years of family history intervene), and Utah won.Who to root for tomorrow (other than my poor Seahawks)?????
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I'm assuming FB meant they're making tamales, it's quite a production and often it involves a major day of work with all hands on deck. We do it here every couple of years as well.okie, swiss chard is much heartier in the garden here than spinach, and I am able to pick outside leaves off as I need them and let the center grow. It takes a long time to go to seed and is fairly adaptable to early and late summer heat but absolutely thrives in our fall growing season. And I love, love brussel sprouts, so funny. What I can't eat re vegetables are eggplant and mushrooms (I know they're not a vegetable but they cook like one).
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Thanks, lms. I am going to have to add chard to my garden. Laughing my butt off about the fact you love brussel sprouts which I cannot stand (although I love cabbage) and you do not like eggplant or mushrooms, both of which I love. Go figure. 🙂
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I'm not overly fond of okra either. I do love anything in the cabbage family though. We love to roast brussel sprouts in the oven with a little garlic, olive oil and just a bit of sea salt. Yummy, lol
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lms, if chard takes a long time to go to seed, I'm assuming it grows here since spinach does. We can grow spinach in spring and fall but not summer (too hot). You seem to have a very different growing season from here, so it's hard to tell.
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P.S. I would not be a true okie if I did not love okra. My brother has lived a bit south of New Orleans for the past 5 years or so, and I recently got a gumbo recipe from him if anybody is interested. I have not yet made it.
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Okie,We have almost a year round garden here. Summer is too hot for lettuce, spinach and a few other things but I generally have two seasons for them and a few other leafy veggies, spring and fall. Chard and kale will actually last through the summer if it's not too hot. Our toughest months are usually between Dec and Feb because of frost, but even then I can quite often keep a few things going if I know the frost is coming by covering them.I'm going to hit the hay……..manana all.
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FB:Speaking of tamales, I forgot to tell you that there was a food truck at our local fresh market last weekend that was selling Costa Rican tamales. Didn't have all the extras that you guys put in and they used pork for the filling. Excellent walking around food — love the flavor from the banana leaf wrapper.The concession to the gringos was to have a table with hot sauces on the side to add if you wanted. Mostly Mexican hot sauces, strangely enough.
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I've mostly given up on calling them correctly in the singular. Tamal is the singular; tamales is the plural. Making tamales is an annual Christmas tradition in much of Latin America. They're given and received as gifts. By the time we're done, half of our freezer is full of them. We use banana leaves, avoiding the Mexican heresy of using corn husks. We have an annual tamale making party. One year, we invited friends of ours and it didn't quite work out. You're either into it or you aren't.I'll be gearing up for Thanksgiving shortly. The tricky part is that we have some vegetarian friends and I hate serving just sides. My best effort has been a roasted whole fish. The turkey comes out of the oven a half hour before being consumed, so I kick up the oven to 450 and throw in a rockfish. Great stuff!BB
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