Chicken Noodle.... my way.

I know it's spring, but April will bring lots of rainy days... days perfect for soup. Chicken Noodle is one of our favorites.


Roasted garlic...


Celery...


Onion...


Carrots...


I had half a red onion left over from the tabbouleh, so in it went...


Swiss chard...


One rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Our local grocery store has one that they call 'Caribbean Lime'. I got that one.


Doesn't that look good?


At the end, I threw in some orzo.


Yum.

Chicken Noodle Soup
1 head of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus some for drizzling garlic
4 to 5 celery stalks(leaves and all), chopped
4 to 5 carrots, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 bunch swiss chard, destemmed and chopped fairly small
1 can quartered artichokes, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon herbes de provence
1 tablespoon mesquite seasoning (you could use any chicken grill seasoning or McCormicks Montreal Steak Seasoning would work well too)
3 quarts chicken stock (3 boxes)
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 cup orzo or other small pasta

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice one whole garlic head in half. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Wrap halves loosely with aluminum foil and place packet in oven for 30 minutes. Remove garlic from aluminum foil and gently squeeze cloves out of skin and chop.

Add olive oil to a large soup pot at medium heat. Add garlic and veggies to the oil as they are chopped. Once all the veggies have been added to the pot and mixed well, season with salt, pepper and chicken seasoning. Stir veggies and seasonings well to incorporate.

Add chicken stock. While the stock and veggies are heating up, shred the chicken into the pot. Once chicken has been added, let soup simmer for 15 or 20 minutes. Then add orzo. Let soup simmer for another 8 minutes to cook pasta, and then remove from heat and serve.