Trying to watch my weight these days is hard, like really hard.  Of course, I know this being a woman who has always had to watch her weight.  My new fitnesspal is truly making me choose between things that I really want and things I should sacrifice.  For example (not the best example), I nearly picked up a bag of chips for my lunch on Friday when a thought came to me… “I really want a glass of wine tonight.”  I know I should be thinking about an apple over chocolate, but this is where my head was at on Friday.  Of course, I put the chips down and enjoyed my glass of wine (maybe two) in the evening – somewhat guilt free.

We were in for a cold weekend so soup was on my mind.  I found a recipe on eatingwell.com for Chicken & Spinach Soup with Fresh Pesto, which I really liked the look of.   Chicken breast, fresh spinach and very healthy.  I thought I would give it a go, with the ingredients I had at hand.  The recipe did call for cannellini beans but unfortunately, I didn’t have any and it was too cold to go out and buy some.   It also called for homemade pesto, however I had some amazing pesto that I had bought from SOWA so had to use it.

Print Recipe

Chicken & Spinach with Pesto Soup

Seriously one of my favorite soups
Total Time45 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup of white wine
  • 1 cup sliced carrots
  • 1 cup diced red bell pepper
  • 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 5 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried marjoram
  • 6 ounces baby spinach coarsely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons of ready-made basil pesto
  • Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
  • Add white wine, carrot, bell pepper and chicken; cook until the chicken begins to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute more.
  • Stir in broth and marjoram; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
  • With a slotted spoon, transfer the just the chicken pieces to a mixing bowl. What I should have done, had I of read the original recipe properly, was cook the chicken breast whole and then diced it. Silly me.
  • Add spinach to the pan and bring to a gentle boil. Cook for 5 minutes to blend the flavors.
  • In a bowl mix together the chicken and pesto.
  • Stir the chicken and pesto into the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Heat until hot.
  • This fragrant soup is fantastic – one of my favorite soups to date. Warming, nicely spiced and with the smooth bite of parmesan from the pesto it is a soup I absolutely have to make again and next time cannellini beans. I literally had soup for the next five days.
  • My afternoon was perfect. Hot soup and Food & Drink by my side.

Notes

Adapted from Eating Well