Secret Recipe Club - Lemon Mint Chicken Noodle Soup

It's the third Monday of the month. That means it's time for Secret Recipe Club. As most of you already know, SRC is a group of bloggers who make another member's recipe (in secret) and reveal it on a given day. It allows you to discover some new bloggers, get some great recipes and rediscover some of your older recipes as well.

This month, I had the blog Rainstorms and Love Notes by an amazing blogger, Ashley.  She lives in North Carolina and she's married to a great man named TJ (at least, he sounds great based on their amazing love story chronicled on her blog).  Read it sometime, because it is way more adorable than how I met my husband.

I feel like I already know Ashley so well at this point. She has some great posts introducing readers to her life. She has a great post of 2013, written on her five year anniversary of living in North Carolina. I read it and smiled, thinking of my last 4 years and change living in Virginia and just how much my life has changed in that time. I moved in with my boyfriend at the time (reason for moving from California all the way to Virginia) we got a cat, we got married, I changed careers, I developed a love for college football, we made friends, I experienced seasons for the first time... It's funny how much can change in such a short amount of time.

Now it's November. The weather is getting cold and I must admit we haven't been eating the healthiest food over the last month. When it starts getting cold, pastas and heavy soups and roasts with gravy sound fantastic and comforting. At the same time, they also make you feel bloated and gross (when it gets dark at 5pm, I certainly doing want to go to the gym after work).

Ashley had a bunch of wonderful recipes and fantastic pictures to go with everything, but I knew I wanted something lighter. When I saw her Lemon Mint Chicken Noodle Soup, I knew it was something I absolutely wanted to make for dinner. It was light yet very flavorful. I didn't change too much, just added some extra vegetables. When I normally make chicken soup, it's an all day thing (I start with a whole chicken to cook and make the broth from that. This one has chicken breasts and was a delicious weeknight chicken noodle soup

Thanks so much for this fantastic recipe Ashley. So glad I got to explore your blog!

Lemon Mint Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 6 oz pasta (1 used tri colored bowtie)
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 ribs celery, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 6-8 cups chicken broth, depending on how soupy you desire
• juice of 2 lemons
• 2 Tbsp fresh chopped mint
• salt, pepper, cayenne to taste
• bay leaf

Directions

1. Place chicken both in a pot with the two chicken breasts. Turn heat to low and slowly poach the chicken, not even allowing the broth to simmer.
2. When cooked, remove chicken from the broth and shred with your fingers. Pour broth through a cheesecloth (or coffee filter to strain out to protein impurities and clarify.)
3. In a separate pot, boil the pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving a little water so it doesn't stick, and set aside.
4. In a large pot, lightly sautee the onion, celery and carrot in a little butter, just to preserve the color. Add broth, chicken and seasoning to the soup and simmer until veggies are lightly tender. Add pasta, lemon and mint. Adjust seasoning to taste and serve immediately.

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