Not Your Average Chicken Soup

Tonight's dinner was soup, soup, soup. It was the ultimate chicken soup day at my house as I went a little crazy and made three different chicken soups. They are all based on recipes from Soup, Superb Ways with a Classic Dish published by Hermes House. All turned out well, but I wouldn't recommend anyone making all three on the same day. =)

The first two were Chinese style soups, clear and delicate, best as an appetizer, super quick to make:  The Chicken and Asparagus Soup was so simple, just the two main ingredients plus some seasoning, anyone could make it in a few minutes as the last addition to their meal. It was delightful. Chicken, ham and shrimp are the three pillars in the Three Delicacy Soup. If you use cooked shrimp instead of raw, just add them at the end. If you don't like the pungent flavor of raw scallions, add them to the stock with the meat as I did so that my kids wouldn't pick them out.The last was a hearty Chicken Minestrone. It was a little more time consuming, but a meal in itself. I didn't have all the ingredients, so I improvised with what vegetables I had. I used chicken breast instead of thighs. I also eliminated peas and Parmesan completely (if you remember, D is allergic to peas and diary). For the pasta, I used bow tie. Even with all of these substitutions, the soup still tasted great! The only problem is that it was a little dry.