BBQ Chicken Soup

Happy New Year! I can't believe we're already a week into 2011.

Speaking of time flying, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. I was looking forward to my daughter's two weeks off of school (and my husband's week of vacation) figuring I'd get all sorts of writing done so I'd have weeks worth of posts ready to go.

Um, that's not how it went. As you can see by the two-plus week lag since my last post.

In my house, January means removing the "feed bag" and trying to be more healthy. For me that means not eating liberally while I bake. For my husband, that means counting points on Weight Watchers. So, now when I make dinner I play a game of "weight watcherizing" my recipes. Which means, taking the recipes I like to eat and trying to make them more healthy. It's fun really, adding things to the recipe builder and seeing how I can reduce points. (It'll get old after a month or so, but to help motivate my husband, I try!)

Since it's been so cold here lately (and yes, I know that 50 degrees isn't cold to most of the country, but for me it feels pretty darn cold!) I decided to start out 2011 with a comforting soup recipe.  This recipe came across my Google Reader from Picky-Palate. To tell you the truth, it was pretty healthy to start with. I didn't have to take much away, I just altered the amount of oil used.  It's a very tasty soup. It warmed me from the inside, which sounds funny considering it's a soup, but it had much more depth than many of the soups I've made.

And don't worry, there will be plenty of baked goods and treats coming soon. I just have to find new people to give them too. :)

Happy New Year!

BBQ Chicken Soup

Printer-friendly recipe

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced (you can use all of one color, or do like I did and use half of two colors - I used green and orange)

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken

1 cup frozen corn kernals

1 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup BBQ sauce

Heat your oil in a medium sized saucepan. Cook the onion and bell pepper over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and corn and cook another 1 minute. Add the chicken, broth, and BBQ sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook 5-10 minutes or until you're starving and can't wait anymore.

Garnish with cilantro or parsley, if desired.  Serves 2 (but would be super easy to double for a larger family).

Adapted from www.Picky-Palate.com