Oriental Chicken Noodle Soup

Are you ready for day 4 of Soup Month?  With cold and flu season quickly approaching, this is a great recipe to help you feel better and we're adding a little twist to the traditional chicken noodle soup.

This chicken soup has a delicious blend of oriental flavors, with a spicy zing of Sriracha Sauce at the end.  Using precooked chicken also makes it a great time saver, which would make this perfect for any weeknight dinner.  The whole wheat noodles keep the soup healthy and add a little earthly flavor.

Time Saving Tip:  To save a bunch of time putting together weeknight dinners, try adding this project to your Sunday routine.  Buy a whole chicken, about 5 - 5 1/2 pounds in weight, remove the skin and boil the chicken in a pot of water with a few onion quarters and 1 chopped celery stalk.  Let cool and pull the meat off the carcass and divide into 2 bowls (or even 3 depending on the size of meals you will be preparing). Also strain the broth to use for soup.  Now you have your chicken and broth ready for soup night and a batch of chicken ready for Baked Chicken Chimichangas or fajitas.

3 cups  Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
4 cups  Water
1 tsp  Canola Oil
1 tsp  Sesame Oil
2 TB  Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1 cup  White Mushrooms, quartered
1 8-oz can  Sliced Water Chestnuts, drained
3  Carrots, sliced into thin rounds
6 oz  Healthy Harvest Whole Grain Noodles
2 cups Precooked Chicken, shredded
1 cup  Snow Peas, trimmed
1 -2 tsp  Sriracha Hot Sauce (optional)
2  Green Onions, finely chopped

In a soup pot, heat canola and sesame oil until warm, then add soy sauce, mushrooms and carrot, saute over medium-high heat about 3 minutes. 

Add broth and water and bring soup to a boil.  Add noodles and cook 5 minutes over medium-high heat.  Add snow peas, chicken and water chestnuts and continue to heat until noodles are al dente, stirring occasionally.  Add Sriracha sauce, if a spicy flavor is desired, and blend into soup.

Ladle into soup bowls and top with green onions before serving.  Serves 6-8.