Date Night Dinners - Chicken Noodle-less Soup
It is officially cold out. And I don't mean I'm cold because I am always cold sort of thing. After all, I usually have the heater running for half of summer, so I understand it is very hard not to be skeptical when I say it is cold. But it is - it is turn the heat up, snuggle under the covers, and try as hard as possible not to have to get out of the bed cold.
When my toes began to turn purple and felt swollen and tingly - even after being wrapped in flannel sheets and three comforters - Brenden finally realized how cold I was when I said "it is cold." Born and raised in upstate New York, he usually chuckles at me a bit as I trudge around, bundled in at least three layers, alongside his strides, free and easy, in just shorts and a t-shirt. Did you know he doesn't even own a jacket...or winter boots?!
I can't just ask him if it is cold outside; I have to ask him if I would think it is cold outside, otherwise his answer would always be, "no, it is nice out," in the fall/wintertime. But with the drastic change and drop in temperature this week he actually agreed with me - it was time for some warming up. So when I told him to choose date night dinner, it wasn't a surprise that he picked a classic, warm-me-up, feel good dish.
Chicken noodle soup. But of course we had to put a little spin on it and decided to make ourselves some chicken noodle-less soup, replacing the noodles with one of my all time favorite foods, matzoh balls. I only have a stash of matzoh ball mix that has lasted me about 5 years.
We looked at a few recipes and chose one that looked both delicious and fairly simple (we didn't want to have to make our own broth). We finally settled on a recipe that sounded good to both of us, went to the store to grab the ingredients listed as well as a few extra seasonings to add the extra bit of flair we thought the recipe needed.
Within the hour we knew the soup was going to be delicious. After a lifetime of watching my dad make his "famous, cold-curing" chicken soup that takes almost half a week to cook and perfect, I was always intimidated by the thought of making such a soup. But it was so easy, especially when you use pre-made broth. I guess technically we cheated a little by doing that, but the soup was still made at home, thus homemade; we got had the best of both worlds. And, it made enough soup to last us the week. I know what I am packing for lunch for a while.
Recipe adapted from pictureperfectmeals.com, Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breats
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
- 4 celery stalks, diced
- 4 carrots, peeled and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 8 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 2 cups low sodium vegetable stock
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 1 sprig rosemary
- parsley leaves to taste
- 1 packet of matzoh ball mix, with additional ingredients as instructed (typically an egg and oil).
- In a large skillet, over medium heat, fully cook the chicken breast.
- Once cooked through, remove chicken from heat and set aside.
- In a large pot, over medium heat, heat the butter and olive oil.
- Add the onion, celery, carrots and garlic.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, about 20 minutes.
- While the vegetables soften, prepare the matzoh balls as instructed on packet (wait to cook until step 10, unless otherwise desired)
- Pour the chicken and vegetable stock into the pot and sprinkle in the thyme, rosemary and parsley.
- Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- While simmering, dice and/or shred the chicken you cooked in step one, it should be cooled by now.
- Stir in the chicken and uncooked matzoh balls and continue to simmer covered for abut 15 minutes or until matzoh balls are cooked.
- Serve and enjoy.
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