I can't believe break is over!

It seems like break was just yesterday...oh, wait, it was.

I tried very hard to make our last dinner of break as headache free as possible.  A 5 lb pork roast went in to give me 3 hours of freedom to leisurely set up and cook dinner.  I even set up things I needed for the week of prepping hubby's lunch so that wasn't a scramble in the morning.  It worked for the most part. The only problem I had happened this morning.  A dish fell out of the cabinet at me while putting dishes away from the dishwasher and broke (Mind you, we never break anything here.  It is really rare.) on the counter on it's way to the floor.  The upside is it was a new thrift store purchase at Thanksgiving, so the cost was negligible and the investment in our lives was short.  The downside was I needed to quickly sweep up the floor so my little furfaces (cats) would not have bloody paws when I came home from work.  All this before 7:15 AM. 

Chicken broth happened last night and became chicken soup tonight for our dinner.  I paired the soup with Tuna Sandwiches and since the broth was made last night, I just had to prep the veggies and chicken and toss it with the simmering broth.  It was ready in 20 minutes.  Again this was essentially free, save for the 1/2 of a chicken breast half I sliced up to put in the soup.  I took 12 carrot sticks that I had prepped last night and diced them, diced a small onion and a celery stalk, and then stir fried for a couple of minutes with the chicken until it was no longer pink.  I added this to the simmering broth with some garlic salt and orzo (melon seed shape) pasta and simmered until the noodles were done.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Chicken Orzo Soup
1 lb chicken bones (I froze my bones from 2 dinners of drum sticks)
8 cups water
vegetable scraps ( Carrot peelings, onion peelings, celery cuttings)
1 small carrot, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 chicken breast, about 4-6 oz., cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1 t. garlic salt
1/2 c. orzo pasta
Place the chicken bones, water and vegetable scraps in a 3 qt saucepan.  Simmer on low for about 2 hours.  Drain the broth through cheesecloth in a strainer.  In a 10" frying pan, add the veggies and chicken breast and saute until the chicken is no longer pink.  Add this to the reserved broth with the garlic salt and the orzo pasta.  Simmer 15-20 minutes or until the pasta is done.

Today was a long day.  First day back after Winter Break and I have finally become part of the digital age...I got my first smart phone today. It's been an adventure to say the least!  

Wednesday is Chicken Korma and Friday is Curried Lime Chicken Breast.  I'll post those recipes tomorrow.