Every Thursday afternoon, my sister Katie and I take a nice long walk with Leland on Columbia’s Riverwalk.

This is Katie:

This past Thursday, it was Fall. It felt like Fall, began to look like Fall, and we were ready to eat like it was Fall. We concocted this delectable soup that is the definition of Fall. We had a lovely dinner on the patio with warm bowls of Minestrone Soup, topped with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and accompanied with slices of toasted multi-grain french bread.

🙂

Minestrone Soup

Ingredients

• 1 pound organic chicken breast
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium sweet onion (diced)
• 2 celery stalks (cut into small slices)
• 4 medium carrots (cut into thin slices)
• 2 32 oz cartons of reduced sodium chicken stock.
• 1 can no salt added corn (drained)
• 1 can reduced sodium dark kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 can no salt added stewed or diced tomatoes
• pinch of salt
• freshly ground pepper
• Italian seasoning (I like to use the McCormick’s Perfect Pinch Italian Seasoning)
• 1/2 -1 cup water
• 1 box of whole wheat rotini (or any of your other favorite small noodle)

How-To

1. Boil the chicken breast for about 20 minutes or until cooked all the way through. Let it cool and shred with two forks. Set aside.
2. In a large stock pot, drizzle a bit of olive oil in the bottom of the pan and set the temperature to medium high heat.
3. Brown the onion, celery and carrots in the olive oil.
4. Once brown, add the chicken stock (and stir the bottom really good to get the yummy flavor off of it and into the soup), canned vegetables, pulled chicken, and seasonings.
5. Bring to a boil and then let it simmer on low heat for about an hour.
6. In the last couple of minutes before serving, add the water, bring back to a boil, and cook the noodles via box directions.

Servings: 8-10