Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup With Asparagus and Caramelized Mushrooms

This is my 2nd time making this dish and I LOVE it! It's kinda chickenoodlesoupy but with a lot more flavor! It's made with a ton of delicious, fresh, healthy ingredients from the farmers market, my yard, and of course Publix.

Ingredients:
6T Butter/Olive Oil
4 Chicken Breasts
2 48oz boxes of Chicken Broth
2 Lemons
1 Lime
2T white wine Vinegar
1/2T Sriracha
1/2 a red/purple Onion
4 cloves Garlic
1 large Carrot (or several smaller ones)
1/2 a Bell Pepper (I used green this time and orange last time, doesn't matter)
1 Bay Leaf
2T dried Thyme (or several fresh, sprigs if you have it)
1 sprig fresh Rosemary
Seasoning Salt (I use McCormic)
Paprika

1 Tomato
8oz Baby Bella Mushrooms
1 Shalot (or the other half of the red onion)
1 box Orzo pasta
Fresh Basil
Fresh Parsley
A bunch of Asparagus (and/or fresh chopped Spinach, Broccoli, Green Beans, Asparagus Beans...)

Ok, so first things first; chop up the onion and garlic, and zest the lemons. Trim the meat and season it with seasoning salt and paprika. Put half of the oil in large stock pot with all the garlic, half the onion, and a liiiitle bit of the lemon zest. Let that sizzle until the onions barely start to caramelize. Then, put the chicken in and sear it on each side. Once the chicken is seared you will add much of the remaining ingredients.... Add the rest of the chopped onion, juice of both lemons and the lime, white wine vinegar, diced carrot and Bell Pepper, Bay leaf, Thyme, and Rosemary. (All of the italicized ingredients at the bottom of the ingredient list are not added until the end!)

Bring all that to a boil then turn it down to simmer for a couple hours, until the chicken just starts to fall apart. You can speed this up by chopping up the chicken before seasoning and searing it.

So, when the meat is starting to fall apart it's time to initiate the next phase. I learned a little something about cooking mushrooms from this post; which is why the mushrooms receive the treatment they do. You will need to chop up the shallot and mushrooms. Put the remaining butter or oil in a large skillet and heat on medium heat. When the oil is hot, put in the chopped shallot and mushrooms and allow them to caramelize, stirring occasionally.
While the mushrooms caramelize, you will need to add the Orzo and diced Tomato to the soup. Then, when there's only a few minutes left add the Asparagus (chopped into bite sized pieces), chopped fresh Basil and Parsley (if you don't have fresh, just leave the Basil and Parsley out). When I add the Asparagus I remove the tough bottom section, but the bottom of the edible part I put in first, then the middle, then the top; each a minute or 2 after the previous, this keeps the tops from getting overcooked, the tops barely need to cook at all.
Immediately before serving, stir half of the caramelized shallot and mushrooms into the soup; save the other half to sprinkle on top as a garnish.

And there you have it! Lemon Chicken Orzo soup with Asparagus and Caramelized Mushrooms. The first time I made it I added chopped fresh Spinach near the end with the fresh Basil and Parsley. It was delish! We are starting to have a TON of Yard Long Beans (aka Asparagus Beans) in the garden, so I might try them next time, instead of Asparagus. I think Broccoli would be good in this soup as well (or instead).
Enjoy!

Change of plans...

A few months ago I said I would be getting co-op produce boxes for the foreseeable future... Well sometimes the future presents unforeseen circumstances that bring about change. This is one of those times, sort of. My reasons are MANY... here are a few of them.

First, the co-op changed the pick-up time from 4:30 to 2:15. The middle of the day on Saturday was inconvenient for me as I am typically in the middle of something, gardening, chores, homework.... I sucked it up and made the time for a few more weeks. But, at the same time I kept having items in my box that were unusable either due to spoilage, I had a ton of the item already (I'm looking at you potatoes), or because I didn't like the item. Yes, the co-op has a trade-in box. So you can trade stuff, but at a certain point that is a pain. I felt bad trading more than 1 or 2 items in the box, and sometimes the trade-in box didn't have anything I wanted. As far as the spoiled food, I get it, it happens. They do guarantee their product, but every week there was something and again it was kind of a pain, especially if I was planning something for that item.

While all of this was going on I made a life changing discovery.... There is a year-round farmers market 5 minutes from my house!!!! So, I didn't order a co-op box that week and we tried the farmers market instead. HOLY. CRAP.  That week I got SO MUCH fresh produce.... at least as much as was in one of the co-op boxes but.... I only spent $12 (as opposed to $20-25) and I got to hand select my items, meaning nothing went to waste. There was even vendors at the market selling farm fresh eggs and raw honey (the other two things the co-op provides). I was hooked!

We are still working on the yard but when planting season (September here in Florida) comes around our garden bed will be filled with beautiful soil and plants. The plan is to be able to grow as much of our produce as we can. Based on the research I have done, we should be able to grow most of what we eat. So, when that time comes I may not need to go to the farmers market anymore. I am growing almost all my own herbs now and I harvested my first home grown onions this week. I can't wait until I can just walk out into my yard and pick the veggies for that days meal! But for now, I will get what I need from my local farmers market :)