Light Chicken and Dumplings!

LIGHT CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS!.........Weight watchers lovers would love this!

SOUP SEASON has arrived!  Soup is my favorite food in the whole world!  I will never turn down a Hot bowl of soup!  My husband cannot believe how hot I can eat it too!  I love it real HOT...as in steamy Hot!  Because I like soup so much, I get really creative trying to find ways for me to have something a little lighter on the caloric side but, still delicious!  This is one of two I will post this week!

You ask, "How is a dumpling soup Light?", well, I will tell you!  I do not make dumplings the traditional way with Lard like our grandmothers did.  Don't get me wrong, I loved my grandmothers dumplings a lot, But, let's face it, the calories and fat content are too much for an everyday soup anyway!  My lunch is usually a bowl of soup even in the summer!  What I chose to do here was to substitute the dumplings with Hearty Home style Egg Noodles, and I only used 4 oz. in the whole recipe!  Believe me though, this makes a big pot of soup!   I also LOVED the texture and light mouth full of these "dumplings", which are really just AMAZING thicker egg noodles!  You will think you are eating a dumpling though!  Give this a try and watch your taste buds go wild and your waistline get smaller!
 This would easily be a dinner for 6!  So if you are a family of 4, some two lucky parents get to take this to lunch the next day!

Ingredients:

1c. chopped onion ( all chopped vegetables should be 1 to 2 inches so they all cook at the same time).
1c. frozen peas ( sub asparagus cut into small pieces if you want to.)
1c. chopped Yukon gold potatoes
1c. chopped celery
1c. chopped carrots
2 c. baked chicken breasts chopped or shredded
4 oz. Hearty Home style Egg Noodles, ( comes in an 8 oz. package, so save the rest for the next time you make this, which won't be long!).
1c. frozen corn
1c. fresh green beans cut into 2 in. pieces
1 box of 32 oz. of chicken stock

2T. Olive Oil
1T. thyme
2 bay leaves
3T. minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste, ( I salt every time I add an ingredient!,,just a pinch of each!...that is a tip!)
1/2 c. flour
1c. skim milk
3 T. butter

**If you are not interested in making the bechemel sauce,,a short cut, would be to add 2 cans of cream of chicken healthy request soup!  I didn't tell you that though!  lol :)

Take two chicken breast  and bake in oven with olive oil and salt and pepper until cooked at 350 for about 20 minutes depending on your oven.

In large pot, heat 2 T. olive oil on medium high heat, add chopped onion and cook until transparent...salted and peppered to taste.  Now layer in all other veggies and cook for 10 more minutes, make sure you salt and pepper to season all the new ingredients,,,a good Tablespoon of salt approx. and 1t. pepper.

When veggies are done, add and deglaze with chicken stock.  Add in chopped or shredded chicken.  Add all seasonings.

In small pot, heat butter, add flour and stir with a whisk, you are now making a bechemel sauce.  Add milk slowly,,(,you can heat the milk to warm it up, it will mix in nicer,,but, it really will work either way....)as soon as flour thickens which is almost right away.  Continue to whisk until the mixture is thickened to a texture that resembles a creamy yogurt.  Add this mixture to the soup and cook well on a higher heat to bring all ingredients together.  Add noodles, and allow everything to simmer on medium low then for 30 minutes to 40 minutes!  ENJOY!