Working With What You Have

I am the type of cook who is always looking to reinvent recipes to come up with new ideas based off of the core ingredients. This is really helpful when you forget to stop at your local grocery store to pick up two main ingredients for dinner. While my weekly menu may have said 'Chicken Tortilla Soup' my pantry certainly didn't contain all of the necessary ingredients to make this meal. Oops!

So instead of scratching soup off of tonights meal, I decided to come up with a new soup recipe based off of one that my mom used to make. It was a hit!

Not only did I come up with a new recipe, I also got to try out my new Martha Stewart Red 5.5 Quart Dutch Oven! Macy's had their dutch ovens on sale and if you wore red you got an additional 20% off your purchase. I ended up saving $70.80!

I noticed that I had to cook my onions longer than I did in my metal pot but the soup turned out great! I am looking forward to making a german recipe for Mike this week in my dutch oven. You brown the meat and then finish cooking everything in the oven. That is a big plus to owning a dutch oven. They are own safe up to 450 degrees!

So here is my new soup recipe. I am still trying to come up with a catch name so for now we will call this "Tomato (Chicken) Noodle Soup."

Ingredients:
Swanson 48oz Chicken Broth
1 small white onion - finely diced
2 garlic cloves - finely chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes
3-4 tablespoons tomato paste
Heaping cup of elbow noodles (uncooked)
Salt
Pepper
Rotisseri Chicken - shredded
2 tablespoons veg oil
1 can of beans (I used white) - rinsed and drained

Directions:
Thinly dice onion. Place dutch oven over medium heat. Pour in 2 tablespoons. Add in onions and cook until soft, stirring often.

Add in 2 cloves garlic, cook through.

Add in 3-4 tablespoons tomato paste. Stir until melted and blended in with onion.

Pour in chicken broth, stirring as you go. Mix well.

Add in drained beans.

Add in shredded chicken.

Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over medium-low heat 30 minutes.

Remove lid and taste. Add salt and pepper as needed.

Bring back to a boil.

Add in noddles and cook 15 minutes or until done.

Serve with muffins.

**Chicken is one of the ingredients I forgot to pick up today, so ours was meatless and very good. But next time I will add in the shredded chicken.**