Chicken Mushroom Soup

Yesterday was a cold (well 58 is cold for the LA area) and rainy wet until later in the afternoon. What better for a soup day?

I raided the pantry and put together this quick soup. Tasty. Filling. Doesn't get much better.

Chicken Mushroom Soup

• 1 lb cooked chicken - coarse chop
• 1/2 large onion - diced
• 2 C coarse chopped carrot
• 1 1/2 C coarse chopped celery (including tops)
• 4 oz dried mushroom - coarse chopped
• 2 cup fresh spinach leaves
• 2 C wide egg noodles
• 1 T chopped garlic
• 1 t black pepper
• 2 t thyme
• 1 t rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 T parsley
• 8 C chicken broth - low sodium
• salt to taste
  

Coat bottom of large stock pot with olive oil. Heat over medium high heat. Add onion, black pepper and cook 4-5 minutes. Add carrots and celery cook another 4-5 minutes until oil is getting some browned bits. Add garlic, stir for a minute.

Add chicken, mushrooms and broth. Simmer 30 minutes until mushrooms are soft. Add noodles and cook another 10 minutes until al dente. Add spinach leaves and stir 1-2 minutes until wilted. Serve with some fresh parmesan grated on top.

I like this soup for a few reasons, first it is full of stuff. Second is it is big on flavor.

I keep several of the 1 lb bags of ready to use grilled chicken from costco on hand for quick meals during the week.

Costco also has these HUGE bags of dried shitake mushrooms that are so cheap. They are really handy to have around. Toss them into soups as is like I did here. Chop them coarsely in a food processor and add to your marinara sauce to help thicken it. Whirl them until fine and add to your beef stew instead of flour to thicken the sauce like a gravy for another layer of flavor.