Lemon Chicken Soup with Spaghetti

I like spaghetti.  I will not stop eating spaghetti.  These are facts.  I suggest that you look at the facts of food in your life.  Maintaining a healthy life, and lifestyle should be about balance, and knowing where certain foods stand in your eating habits.  Like anything else, pasta is not bad for you, depending on the type that you buy, and the quantity that you eat it in.  I can honestly say that as a child, it seemed abnormal not to eat at least half of a box of pasta to my face.  And I wonder how I ended up overweight!!!


This recipe intrigued me because I love chicken noodle soup, and the citrus made it sound so light and refreshing.  Likewise, the small amount of pasta in the dish (remember, this is compared to the half of a box I would eat in one sitting), seemed like a great way to get the taste and texture of my pasta craving, but not in over abundance.  I know you'll all be shocked to find out that I found this recipe on Food Network while watching Giada at Home, and it only took about two days to experiment with it in the kitchen.


Ingredients:

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 (2-inch) piece Parmesan cheese rind, optional
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 cup (about 2 1/2 ounces) spaghetti, broken into 2-inch pieces
• 2 cups diced cooked rotisserie chicken, preferably breast meat
• 1 cup grated Romano cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Kosher salt

In a large stockpot, bring the chicken broth, lemon juice, bay leaf, and Parmesan rind, if using, to a boil over medium-high heat.

Add the carrots and simmer until tender, about 5 to 8 minutes.

Add the broken pasta and cook until the pasta is tender, for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken and heat through, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and the Parmesan rind and discard. Stir in 1/2 of the cheese and the parsley. Season with salt, to taste. Ladle the soup into serving bowls and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

When choosing your pasta, read carefully.  You'll most likely find your best choices in the health food isle of your grocery store.  As much as Barilla pasta seems like a good choice because it's boasting "whole wheat grains" and "enriched" with something or other they're trying to sell the healthy shopper with, it's usually not much better than picking up a regular box of 99 cent store brand crap the next shelf over.  The pasta you choose should contain ingredients like: kamut, buckwheat, whole grains etc.  I spent about 10 minutes holding two different brands of pasta, reading ingredients and checking out nutritional facts.  Find the brand that fits the best into your diet.  Also, be aware that pasta will go bad if you only use part of the box and leave the remainder sitting in your cabinet,  especially the kind with all natural ingredients. If you don't have a pasta container that is air tight, I suggest cooking the remainder of the box, and freezing it until you need it for another recipe.  

In regards to the chicken in this recipe, I had roasted a chicken earlier in the day, and therefore had no problem with finding, or including fresh cooked chicken in the recipe.  If it's easier for you, I don't see why you couldn't add two chicken breasts in place of rotisserie chicken.  Although most grocery stores do have a section where they offer a "fresh cooked rotisserie chicken", be aware, that many of them use sugars in their rubs and marinades.  Only you can decide exactly how much control you want to have over the ingredients in your dishes.