chicken soup

This for me is the ultimate comfort food.  It is pretty quick to whip up, fills you up, makes you feel better, tastes yummy, and is even pretty healthy.  Really, not many foods can do all that.  Plus, I just really love soup.  I don't understand people who dislike soup.  I really don't.  Soup is so versatile.  You can make it thick or brothy, add whatever seasonings you want.  You could play mad scientist and create a new soup every time, or just toss in whatever you find in your fridge and pantry.  Soup is fairly hard to mess up too.  Even if you add something that makes it taste a little funky, add a few more ingredients and you can almost always save it.  Soup is magic.

This soup is what I make anytime someone in our house gets a cold.  We rarely get sick, and when we do, it doesn't last for long.  I'm pretty sure this soup is to thank for that.  In partial at least...

I didn't add chicken to this batch because I don't eat chicken and I made this quickly.  When I make this for Jeff I either add chicken to all of the soup, or I make two pots and add chicken to one.

Add the oil and veggies first.  They add much more flavor to a dish when they have softened and cooked a bit before the liquid is added.

Add the broth and seasonings.  Bring to a boil, then add the pasta and bring down to a simmer.  The soup is finished as soon as the pasta is done.

I love dipping bread in this soup.  Perfect for cold weather, comfort food, or relieving colds.


ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 C leeks, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
64 oz low sodium chicken broth
1 C peas
1-2 chicken breasts (optional)
2 C small pasta
2 tsp dried basil
pepper to taste

directions:
1.  Add the olive oil, leeks, and carrots to the pot and cook on medium heat until the veggies have softened a little and smell aromatic.  Add the garlic and stir so it doesn't burn, 2 minutes.
2.  Add the broth, peas, basil, and pepper.  Bring to a boil for 2 minutes, then let simmer.  Let cook until the vegetable have softened a bit more.  If you are adding chicken do so now.  Just add the chicken breasts into the pot whole.  I generally add one if I'm splitting the recipe, or two if I'm adding chicken to the whole batch.  You add the chicken frozen or thawed.  Let the soup continue to cook on medium heat until the chicken has started to break apart.  Remove the chicken with tongs and shred it.  Add it back into the pot.
3.  Add the pasta.  Stir the soup once, then leave it alone until the pasta is done.  Remove from heat and serve immediately.  Serves 4-6.

This soup pairs really well with the best bread, as shown above.