Lemony Chicken Soup

There's always some sort of soup coming out of my kitchen each week, whether it be freshly made or just thawed from having been squirreled away in my freezer from a previous batch.  I love that making soup requires such little effort and you can be so creative!  Use whatever you have on hand - most of my best batches come from having bits and pieces of leftover veggies and such in my frig that aren't enough to make something with on their own.  No two batches of my soup are ever the same.

I think most of the world's problems could be solved over a bowl of soup - there is something so satisfying and comforting about a collection of meat and veggies in rich warm broth. Chicken soup is definitely a cure-all, solve-all type of soup and it works for alot of my own problems.  Lord knows I lived on Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup when I was a kid but I've far outgrown any premade canned versions of soup now.  And besides, have you looked at the ingredients on the side of the can?


I don't know about you, but I don't often throw things like monosodium glutamate (MSG), ferrous sulfate, sodium phosphates (which is another name for salt, which explains why the sodium content for 1/2 cup of soup accounts for 35% of your RDA of sodium) or even soy protein isolate into my pot of soup. Who wants to eat that garbage?
Soup should be real and made with real ingredients. I love the perkiness that the lemon and fresh dill impart in this version of homemade chicken soup.  I use my own homemade broth and I've been slowly migrating to more whole wheat pasta during my real food lifestyle change, which I'll admit hasn't been easy.  There is just something about the taste and texture that hasn't quite won me over yet.  In the meantime, I've been doing a half/half combination of whole wheat and regular pastas.  It's better than nothing, I suppose, and who knows - maybe I'll eventually completely change pasta teams!

Lemony Chicken Soup
servings = 4

Inspired by bon appetit

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
12 ounces cooked organic free-range chicken
6 cups chicken broth (homemade or organic)
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup whole wheat orzo
1/4 cup fresh dill
lemon wedges, for serving

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring often until vegetables are crisp-tender.  Add broth, season with salt and pepper,  Bring to a boil.  Add orzo and cook until al dente, about 8-10 minutes.  Reduce heat to simmer, stir in chicken and dill and heat through.
Portion soup into bowls and serve with lemon wedges for squeezing over soup.