Clean Out the Fridge (Chicken Noodle) Soup

I was supposed to make Chicken 'n' Dumplings this week.  But as usual, things didn't go as planned this week as far as the menu plan was concerned.  I won't get into all of the details, but when I started to get my chicken out of the fridge and gather the rest of my ingredients for the Chicken 'n' Dumplings, I saw some leftover plain spaghetti noodles and leftover corn and green beans.  Thinking about the rest of the week, I knew I wasn't going to get around to using either of those leftovers before they would need to be tossed into the garbage. Sticking them in the freezer wasn't an option either, since it's pretty full at the moment.

I figured Chicken Noodle Soup would be the easiest thing to throw together using those leftover ingredients as well as the chicken that I needed to use and since I'm feeling a little under the weather at the moment, it was perfect timing!

Let me tell you, when it comes to Chicken Noodle Soup, I usually like it a certain way - veggies measured out, chicken precisely diced, wide egg noodles - I'm don't normally just throw stuff together from the fridge.  I do that with other soups, but for some reason not with Chicken Noodle.  Goodness, this was an easy dinner to throw together and tasty, too!  I love when that happens, especially when I'm sick and not really feeling like being in the kitchen very long anway!

Here's what I used for this easy, clean out the fridge soup!

Clean Out the Fridge (Chicken Noodle) Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs. butter
• 2 cartons, fat free Chicken Broth 
• 1/2 lb. spaghetti noodles, cooked 
• 2-3 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded 
• 2-3 cups cooked veggies 
• 1 small celery stalk, diced 
• 1 small carrot, diced 
• 1/4 cup onion, diced 
• 1 tsp. garlic, minced 
• oregano, salt & pepper to taste

Directions: 

• Cook onion, celery and carrots in hot butter until onions are translucent. Add a small amount of broth if needed.  
• Add garlic and cook for a minute longer.  
• Pour in chicken broth, bring to a boil then add in the cooked spaghetti, chicken and oregano, salt & pepper to taste. 
• Allow soup to return to boiling.  Cover and reduce heat, simmer until heated through.  

I was really pleasantly surprised with how well this turned out.  With leftover ingredients that I almost always have in my fridge!  I'll definitely be doing this again soon in my attempt to eliminate wasting food.