Chicken and Artichoke Minestrone


Here's the end result of about an hour's worth of labor.

I made economical use of leftovers along with some staples from the cupboard.

Very easy and serves a crowd.



Here's a photo of my dinner plate.


I started by turning the kettle on to boil several quarts of water....to make my bouillion and pulled out the cutting board for dicing and chopping.

3 Tbs olive oil
2 lg onions, diced
5 cloves garlic, pressed



Saute the onions and garlic in a 10 qt stock pot.

Then toss in 8 oz sliced mushrooms (yes, these were leftover, too)

Stir.

Cook slightly.

It warmed my heart to use up these BBQ'd chicken thighs which had been in the back of the 'fridge for several weeks. It's a testimony to the quality of my refrigerator that this meat was unspoiled.


I removed all the skin, most of the sauce, and chopped 'em up.

End result:

4 Cups diced chicken



Additional ingredients added to the pot after the mushrooms and chicken:

1 14.5 oz can white beans, undrained
1 15 oz can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
12 oz frozen yellow corn
3 qts chicken bouillon

Bring the soup to the boiling point.

Carefully pour soup over 1 C dry orzo, 10 oz pkg of frozen spinach, and one 28 oz can diced tomatoes, which have been placed in another large pot.

Cover tightly with lid.

Start cleaning up.







Remove lid after 30 minutes. Pasta should be cooked.

Stir. Then taste.

Season with salt and pepper, which i did not find necessary.

Makes 8 quarts.