Chicken Pasta Soup

The last few weeks of '09 have not been very kind to me.  I've had food poisoning, a root canal, and now I've come down with some kind of yucky flu-ish illness.  So, I'm kind of depressed because I haven't really felt like eating like usual.  Nothing really strikes me, but I need energy because these next couple days are the busiest days of the year in the food and bev industry.  Even if I wanted to call in sick, there would be no one to cover the shifts for me!  Plus, I'm broke, and its all about the mon-ay.


So, I buckled down and made some feel-good chicken and pasta soup. This is my Aunt Loralee's recipe, which I fell in love with when I was like 10 years old.  I only tend to make it when I'm feeling really crummy, or have someone sick to care for.  It's super easy, and you can use any old vegetable-bin staples you have laying around.  There's no specific measurements- just a dash of this, pinch of that, little bit of this, handful of that, so you can tailor it to your liking.  Her recipe called for green beans, which I didn't have on hand, so I added a diced potato for some additional starchy energy.

Loralee's Chicken Pasta Soup

Rotisserie Chicken

2 or 3 bay leaves

Garlic/Cumin/Sage/Crushed Red Pepper/Salt & Pepper

Veggie Bouillon (2 or 3 squares, dissolved in soup broth)

Carrots, finely chopped

Celery, finely chopped

Potato, diced

Tomatoes (one can or a couple of fresh, finely chopped)

Dry White Wine

Soy Sauce

Worcestershire Sauce

Tabasco

Orzo, Pepini Noodles, or other pasta of your choice

Boil chicken in large soup pot of water.  (It doesn't have to be a full chicken- you can eat some for lunch and use the rest for the soup).  I let the chicken boil while I diced the rest of the veggies.  Take chicken out and cool in colander, keeping broth in pot.  While chicken is cooling, add remaining ingredients, except for the pasta, to the broth.  Pull chicken off bones and tear or cut into bite size pieces and add back to soup.  Let simmer for 1-4 hours, tasting and adding additional spices as desired.  

Twenty minutes before serving, turn up heat to boiling.  Once boiling, add pasta *I used half a box of orzo.*  Enjoy!

Have a happy new year!  Be careful tonight!