Chicken & Orzo Soup with Arugula and Basil

Though it isn't quite soup weather in OKC yet, the rainy weather made it the perfect day for Chicken & Orzo Soup with Arugula and Basil. This is a recipe I found in Every Day with Rachael Ray last October and it is one of my favorites and I knew Mark would like it, too. And I was right..he gave it big thumbs up.



Orzo is one of my favorite pastas and it is perfect in this soup. The arugula can be hard to find so spinach is a good substitute. Tonight, I used a combination of baby spinach and mustard greens and it was very tasty. I love carrots so I added a little extra carrot and used baby portobello mushroom caps. I also threw in an extra bay leaf. And since we love basil, there may have been a little extra of that, too. Rachael Ray's recipes lend themselves to interpretation and I like that. Sometimes her recipes aren't the healthiest, though, but this one definitely is--lots of great veggies, chicken and herbs. It is fairly quick but there is some chopping. Not my favorite, so lucky for me Mark is a good chopper.

This is a very hearty dish so for those of you who are hungry 30 minutes after you eat a bowl of soup, this one is for you.

Chicken Puttanesca with Fettuccine

Wow! Cooking Light got this one real right.  This was so quick and easy, the only real prep was chopping the olives, cutting the basil and trimming the chicken breasts.  Laura loved using the refrigerated Fettuccine which made the recipe extra quick.  The crushed red pepper gave it a nice kick and apparently aided in the naming of the dish...Google the translation on your own :)

Tonight's creation

After putting the chicken mixture on top of the pasta, garnish liberally with fresh parmesan and basil.  Speaking of basil, we have been fortunate this year to have a huge container of fresh basil at our disposal.  We use it in everything from eggs to pasta to quick lunch sandwiches.  Breakfast, lunch or dinner it is our go-to herb.  Very sweet and very tasty.

The pot o' gold

Very awesome!

Leftovers abound from yesterdays bounty of shrimp and pasta, as well as the wonderful Chicken Puttanesca tonight.  We shall not worry about going hungry this week.

Warm Pasta Salad with Shrimp

After marking countless recipes in magazines we decided to begin with one from the September 2010 Cooking Light that was a little different from our usual fare.  The Warm Pasta Salad with Shrimp turned out great.  Cooking Light's claims that it is quick, easy and very economical proved to be true and the dish was very tasty.  We did put in a little extra spinach and feel that we could have put in more still.  However, I believe this pasta salad will improve as it marinates and the leftovers will be a great cold salad addition for lunch this week.