MONDAY
Lemony Chicken & Orzo Soup | Pita Wedges | Ethereally Smooth Hummus
This evening’s dinner was easy…really easy {even with me peeling chickpeas for the hummus..yes, yes..I will get back to that}! Thank the heavens above, after all, it is Monday!!
When I planned this dinner last week, I knew that I would need to be out all day today running errands for our trip this week. Accordingly, I made the most of left-overs from last night’s dinner into a re-invented {read NOT THE SAME THING AGAIN!} meal for tonight. When I came across this soup in the April, 2013 edition of Bon Appetit, I knew it was a perfect Monday dinner to follow a Sunday roast chicken dinner. Well, the soup was a winner! The added trick was that I prepared the chicken stock yesterday {with an extra bird, simmering in a stock pot} while I was preparing our Sunday Herb-Butter Roasted Chicken dinner. Tonight, all I needed to do was {i} wash and chop some celery & a leek, {ii} boil stock and {iii} add left-over chicken. Today turned into a mostly gray day and it got progressively cooler throughout the day {NOTE: I am NOT using the word COLD here in honor of my East Coast friends}, so this soup was a welcome treat in front of a fire this evening…
Lemony Chicken & Orzo Soup {adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2013}
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large leek, white and pale-green parts only, halved lengthwise, sliced crosswise 1/2-inch thick
- 2 celery stalks, sliced crosswise 1/2-inch thick
- 16 ounces left-over roasted chicken meat {breasts & thighs} cut into bite-sized pieces & allowed to come to room temperature
- 12 cups homemade chicken broth
- Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
- 1 cup Orzo pasta
- Chopped fresh dill for garnish
- Parmesan shavings for garnish
- Lemon halves (for serving)
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Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add leek and celery and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are soft, 5-8 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Add broth & bring to a boil.
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Add orzo and cook until al dente, 8-10 minutes.
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Remove pot from heat. Stir in chicken meat and dill. Serve with parmesan shavings & lemon halves for squeezing over.
Next…the hummus! Such an easy & wonderful recipe from Deb at the Smitten Kitchen!! I really didn’t do anything different to Deb’s recipe {just used canned chickpeas, yes…GASP!…instead of cooking my own ~ next time, REALLY!} so in due honor of copyright laws click here for the recipe. BTW…peeling the chickpeas wasn’t the nightmare I prepared myself for…I know YOU can do it! Skins removed from those little devils REALLY makes a difference in the texture of the final hummus.
Finally, the Toasted Pita Wedges {slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen}…
- 4 small pitas, cut into 4 wedges each {16 wedges in total}
- Olive oil, to brush pita wedges
- Sea Salt & freshly ground black pepper for sprinkling
- Spread pita wedges on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper and brush lightly with olive oil.
- Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and toast in oven until brown at edges, about 8 minutes. Serve with soup & a dollop of hummus…
Our dinner plate this evening…
Before I go {for an unbelievably long 5 days!} I want to answer a question that has repeatedly {over 250 times} hit my mailbox recently with all this talk of horse shows…”What kind of horse riding do your girls perform?” Simple answer is 3-Day Eventing but most people don’t know what that is. I am commonly asked “jumping or dressage ?” and my answer is…yes. You see, three-day eventing is both & then some. Three-day riders compete in three individual phases consisting of Dressage, Stadium Jumping and…the Holy Grail…Cross Country. Pictures {and better yet, videos} speak a thousand words so let me leave you with these glimpses of last season…
Phase I: Dressage ~ Click here to view Madison’s dressage.
Phase II: Stadium Jumping ~ Click here to view Madison’s stadium.
And now, the FAVORITE…
Phase III: Cross-Country ~ Click here to view Madison’s cross-country.
I really hope you take a moment to watch the videos above…they are so entertaining!
The girls and I will leave home at 2am Wednesday morning to begin our 11-hour journey South to Temecula, California. We will travel the CA I-5, climb & descend the Grapevine {hopefully no snow}, maneuver the CA-210 & the CA-15 {through Pasadena & next to LA} with over 2,000 pounds of beloved horses behind us! Three girls, two horses, a huge diesel truck & a trailer…could be a sit-com one day. But for now, it is real life!
My last thought {I promise} and wish is for safe travels for all of the riders & horses traveling to SoCal for the Galway Event this weekend! See you all in a couple of days…
As for the wonderful followers of this little blog…I will post, remotely, next week’s menu on Friday as usual. In the meantime, visit my Instagram site {click on the Instagram icon on the right-hand side of this page, under “Keep In Touch”} for the latest news & pics from the Galway Downs Horse show…should be a lot of fun & action this weekend!
Best to All!
