Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Hurricane Sandy update, 9:32 AM: We lost power yesterday around 4:30 PM. I found one reason to like my gas stove; I could still heat up dinner. Honestly, I was impressed we had power as long as we did. The wind gusts were scary. Power is still out, but we went into work where there is power. There was a detour to get here, but nothing too serious. The number of power outages is astounding and I wouldn't be surprised if we don't have power until tomorrow sometime. Ocean City, my favorite resort town was beat up hard by the storm. The fishing pier is gone and there is a ton of flooding. I can only wonder if its going to look the same once I go back. From what I'm reading online NJ and NY got the worst of it. Hope everyone there is safe!

This soup immediate caught my eye when I was going through my Cooking Light magazine. It wasn't full of necessary ingredients, didn't have a super high sodium amount and just looked super tasty. Plus, it didn't take very long to make.

Usually I don't mind letting a soup simmer on the stove for a couple of hours on a Saturday or Sunday, but sometimes you just need a soup recipe that you can whip together during the week on a particularly cold night.

Chicken and Vegetable Soup
Source: Cooking Light, October 2012
Servings: 6
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Ingredients:

1 ½ tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and coined
1 cup green beans, cut into 1" pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
1 sprig thyme
salt and pepper
3 cups fat-free low-sodium chicken broth
14.5 oz can no-salt-added fire roasted tomatoes
½ cup orzo pasta
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded
½ cup fresh Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Season the onions, carrots and green beans with salt and pepper.
2. Add onions, carrots, green beans, garlic and thyme to saucepan. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until slightly softened.
3. Add the chicken stock and tomatoes, undrained to the saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the orzo and chicken. Cook for 10-12 minutes more or until the vegetables are soft.
4. Top each bowl of soup with a teaspoon or so of the Parmesan cheese.

For a quick cooking soup, I was impressed with the amount of flavor in this. I really enjoyed it and had the leftovers the next day for lunch.