Veggie Soup Remake

I have been cleaning up around the house and purging things I don't need. For me, this means going through old magazines. Not sure why, but I have a hard time letting go of my magazines. I was looking through my October 2012 Cooking Light issue and came across a recipe for Chicken and Vegetable Soup. The article claimed it was a twist on chicken noodle soup, which I'm not the biggest fan. I'm also not a big fan of vegetable soup, but I was curious. (I prefer calorie loaded potato and cheese soups!) Have to say, I really liked this recipe. It was simple and healthy!

1 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 thyme sprig

3 cups fat free, lower sodium chicken broth

1 ( 14.5 oz) can no salt added, fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained

1/2 cup uncooked orzo or pastina

5 oz green beans, cut 1 inch pieces (about 1 cup)

1 cup shredded, skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast

2 oz. fresh Parmesan cheese grated (about 1/2 cup)

I used my Dutch Oven and started by adding oil to the pan over medium high heat.

Then add onion, carrots, garlic, pepper, salt, and thyme sprig. Cook for about 4 minutes.

Add chicken broth and tomatoes. I'm not the biggest tomato fan and I used petite diced tomatoes instead of fire roasted. Next time, I will use the fire roasted so there is a little more heat! Bring to a boil.

Add pasta and beans. Cook for 5 minutes. I used 2 cups of string beans since I have them in my freezer.

Finally, add chicken and cheese. The chicken was cooked chicken breast I had in my freezer, rather than rotisserie.

The whole recipe only took about 20 minutes to cook. It made 6 1 cup servings. I thought it tasted very good, especially paired with garlic basil butter bread. Yum, Yum!