Veggie Tray Chicken Orzo Soup

My sister Linda and her husband threw a graduation party for their son Jesse recently.  Of course she called me to come and help prep. I cut up about 4000 fresh vegetables (seriously) for a vegetable tray. I cut up cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and celery, along with the snow peas, mini carrots, grape tomatoes. She had so much left over she sent me home with a gallon bag full of veggies. Can a person eat too many veggies?

Veggie Tray for the Graduation Party

After several days I had separated the veggies out. I divided them into containers and made a batch of ……….veggie tray mash. The next day I used the remaining carrots and asparagus along with onions and leftover chicken breast to make a small pot of soup! Both dishes turned out well. I impressed myself with the depth of flavors I created while saving good vegetables from the garbage bin!

Mini carrots, sliced into pieces

I used the larger mini carrots and sliced them up. I added them to a pot along with the diced up asparagus.

Cut asparagus into smaller pieces

I diced up a cup of leftover chicken breast from a previous night of grilling and added it to the pot.

Diced leftover chicken

I added 1/2 cup of diced onion and 6 cups of chicken broth to the pot. I put in a few shakes of sage and some garlic powder. I let the soup come to a bubble and cook until the carrots were fork tender.

Let soup cook until carrots are fork tender. Add orzo and cook until softened

Orzo is a fun addition to soup so I added about a cup of dried orzo to the pot and stirred well. I let it cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

I taste tested and the soup was fine for salt but I added a few shakes of black pepper and served myself up a bowl.

Veggie Tray Chicken Orzo Soup

Mmmm! The soup was excellent! Using the remains of a veggie tray, some leftover chicken and a few cups of chicken broth makes a very tasty soup! I liked the orzo, it made the soup seem lighter. Later the orzo absorbed most of the broth so future servings were more like a casserole than a soup. Not a bad thing, really. I could have added more broth to make it a soup again but I was fine with it.

Veggie Tray Chicken Orzo Soup

Sister Linda’s veggie tray provided many nights of veggies as well as several meals. Between the veggie tray mash and the veggie tray soup, I was a happy camper!