Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

Hi friends! Admittedly I'm feeling sad that Monday is upon us once again. As per usual, the weekend flew by oh so quickly and last night I found myself crashing on the couch at 9:30 and trying to hold my eyes open, wondering how it got to be Sunday night again already. It's still super cold here in the tri-state area and friends...I'm OVER IT! Seriously, this is enough. I could deal with 40 degrees, I even rallied for one last snowstorm on Friday...but today it was 24 degrees and that I'm just not ok with. I guess it's good for blog purposes though because today I'm sharing this really comforting lemon chicken orzo soup! I had shared this on Instagram and on my What I Ate from last week and a bunch of people asked for the recipe. I didn't take great photos of this, but I really wanted to get this up and out since you asked! Penelope loved this soup and she even helped prep it. She ate it all last week for dinner, and couldn't wait to eat 'her soup'.

Next time, I'll update with pretty photos and also add in some greenery! I used up what I had in the fridge, but I think this would really be amplified with some fresh baby spinach, celery and even a chopped up bell pepper. Hope you enjoy!

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
for the chicken:
1 lb skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 1/2 C low sodium chicken broth
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp paprika
Cooking spray

for the lemon orzo soup:
2 C carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
1/2 Tbsp butter
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 1/2 C low sodium chicken broth
juice of one lemon
zest of one lemon
1.5 C dried orzo
2 C frozen corn
1 pkg chopped spinach, defrosted (or 1 bag fresh baby spinach)
Parmesean cheese, if desired
Lemon slices for garnish, if desired

Spray the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray. Place the chicken in the slow cooker, sprinkle with salt, pepper, onion powder and paprika. Pour about 1.5 cups of low sodium chicken broth around the chicken until it's almost covered. Cover and cook on low for four hours. When finished, shred chicken in the cooker and set aside.

Start the soup.
In a Dutch oven or stock pot, melt the butter and olive oil together over low heat. Add the chopped onions and carrots and sautée until soft. Add the remaining chicken stock, lemon juice and zest and bring to a boil. Add 1.5 cups of dried orzo and stir together. Turn heat to low/simmer and cover. Cook for 15 minutes. Add corn, spinach or any other soft vegetables you desire (if you plan to include celery or bell peppers, I recommend sautéeing those in the beginning with the carrots and onions). Let simmer a few minutes more.

When ready to serve, pour out soup into a bowl and top with shredded chicken. I don't mix these together in the pot if I'm making a big batch to last for a few days because I find that the chicken breaks down quickly. Top with a slice of lemon or parmesean cheese if desired.

Enjoy!

Happy Friday!

It's the first day of spring, yet here we are prepping for a snowstorm later today. To say that I am over it is an understatement of the highest degree. Tonight, I plan to settle in with some wine and take out and catch up on Justified. We have a few things going on this weekend, but mostly I plan to just take it easy and (hopefully!) catch up on sleep! I hope you have a great weekend ahead, filled with relaxing time, lattes and loved ones!

Here are some of my favorite things I read this week in case you are in need of some Friday distractions:

crushing hard on these pistachio pudding cupcakes. aren't they a gorgeous spring treat?

how well do you know these game of thrones characters?

5 things I wish for my children in elementary school. yes to all.

12 best kept secrets of successful business people

these 4 ingredient dessert recipes are genius

one of my favorite foods: perfect sweet potato fries. can't wait to try this version!

have you seen these hug your city selfies?

i adore these french toast skewers for a spring brunch

a live action fraggle rock movie with joseph gordon levitt? yes please!

the wine that you may or may not be drinking may or may not have all the poison

would you rather your kids try marijuana or alcohol? a pediatrician weighs in and i'd have to agree (though obviously the right answer is neither! ha!)

10 things to know about coconut oil

and finally, how serial is changing the classroom

have a great weekend! and also:

yep, even Penelope doesn't get this whole 'spring has arrived' thing.

The Book of Mormon

Last night I saw The Book of Mormon!

I really enjoyed this show. I laughed through the entire thing, from start to finish. The cast was so so good and I loved that the show didn't hold back from making fun of pretty much everyone. Note: if you are offended by poking fun at religion, copious curse words and sexual innuendos, or upset by the plight of those less fortunate, then this is probably not the show for you.

I've been wanting to see it since it came out but tickets were hard to come by and also cost a small fortune. This show is infamous for its high priced ticket, but we found a decent enough deal and bought the tickets in a frenzy a couple of months ago in order to get the deal. Shaun and I joined my parents, sisters and future BIL for the occasion.

I did think that this show was a bit overrated. While I thought it was hilarious, I think we all left scratching our heads wondering how it won the Tony for Best Musical. I feel like perhaps because it was such a shocker when it opened? And we are a little late to the party so it's been so very hyped up by now. Don't get me wrong, the music was great, the show was funny and the cast was wonderful, but the story was not fantastic. I'm glad we got a deal on the tickets for sure, and if we are comparing similar envelope-pushing shows, I don't think this has anything on Avenue Q!

In the end, it was just really fun to go to the theater with the family and have a grown-ups night out in Manhattan. There is nothing like it! Shaun and I are going to see Hedwig and the Angry Inch next month, and I feel as though that will be a very different show indeed! I'm also in the midst of finding a fun restaurant for us to go to after that one!

Have you seen any shows, plays or musicals lately? What are your favorites?