Chicken Udon Noodle Soup

I love getting Danny to try different types of foods.   The first time he had udon noodles was when we were dining at a Japanese restaurant.    My husband ordered udon noodle soup and gave Danny a couple of the noodles.  He loved them.   So I like to use them in a soup sometimes.

 

Udon noodles are very wide Japanese noodles.   You can find them in the Asian food aisle of most grocery stores.   Prepare them according the directions on the package.   If you can't find them or just don't want to try a different type of noodles, you can use spaghetti or linguine instead.

 

4 cups chicken broth
2 cups soup
1 carrot, sliced into matchstick sized pieces
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup snow peas
1/4 cup broccoli florets
1 small onion, chopped
1 skinless chicken breast, sliced into stir fry sizes pieces
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon ground ginger 
1 package of udon noodles, prepared according to directions on package

Put all ingredients other than noodles in large sauce pan and bring to a boil.   Boil for 10 minutes.    Put noodles in soup bowls and ladle spoonfuls of soup over noodles.


If you are in a hurry and don't feel like chopping veggies, you can usually find a bag of stir fry veggies in the freezer section of the grocery store to make this ready even quicker.

The noodles are long so I cut them into smaller pieces for Danny.   I will admit that Danny picked out the snow peas and put them to the side.   But he did eat everything else in his bowl!

Normally this makes enough for all 3 of us to enjoy a nice dinner and still have enough leftover so we can all have some for lunch the next day.  However, since my husband likes to put A LOT of noodles in his bowl, I usually have to make a second package of noodles for the leftovers.  Keep the noodles separate from the soup until you reheat it.   Otherwise, the noodles will absorb all the broth.  I usually put the noodles in a small container and add them to the soup before popping it into the microwave.

Quick Vegetable Soup

One of my go-to lunches is this vegetable soup. It takes less than 10 minutes to make and the ingredients are so simple. This is one of my eyeball the amounts recipes. All amounts are estimated. I usually season it to taste. You don’t have to add the baby spinach. I just like how it looks and Danny loves spinach. I like to top it with a little bit of cheese for some extra flavor. Today I used mozzarella because that’s what I had in the refrigerator. I served it with some veggie straws on the side.

¾ cup of chicken broth

2 tablespoons of small seashell or any small pasta

2 tablespoons of mixed frozen vegetables

Small handful of baby spinach leaves (optional)

1 tablespoon of tomato sauce

1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning

Shredded cheese(optional)

Bring broth to a boil. Add pasta, tomato sauce, and Italian seasoning. Keep at a boil for about 5-6 minutes or until pasta is tender. Add frozen vegetables and spinach. Cook for another 1-2 minutes until vegetables are warm and spinach is wilted. Top with shredded cheese if desired before serving.

I usually use chicken broth but I have made it with vegetable broth too. You can make it with any frozen vegetables. I like mixed vegetables using the best but have used peas and carrots and sometimes just green beans.

Danny devoured 2 toddler sized bowlfuls. There was enough left over for him to have it again for lunch tomorrow.