Paleo Chicken "Noodle" Soup

Who approved this weather?! 

We went from summer to late-late fall in one day and I am totally unprepared. Last year at this time I weighed significantly more and wore a much larger size. So, most of my winter clothes are saggy, baggy or frumpy. Not. Cool. Luckily I had one pair of jeans and a North Face sweatshirt to get me through the weekend. 

I am holding out hope that this is a temporary cold snap and stubbornly refuse to turn on the heat. Instead, I've been hanging around the house in oversized sweat pants and the hoodie-robe CaveBoy bought me for Christmas last year. Trust me, it's super cute. CaveBoy isn't so lucky. Rain or shine, wind or rain, hot or cold, he's out in the world doing his job. So, I decided to make something for dinner this week that would warm him up.

I've been experimenting with spaghetti squash and wondered if it would make a good noodle for soup.  It does! It obviously doesn't have the same texture as egg noodles. It's more like Lipton Noodle Soup. The mild squash flavor doesn't make a big statement, allowing the chicken and herbs to shine. This soup is perfect for a cold fall day. 

Ingredients:

1 large spaghetti squash
16 skinless, boneless chicken thighs - cut into bite-sized chunks
2 large yellow onions - diced
1 large bunch of celery - diced
7 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons herbs de provence
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bay leaf
salt
pepper

Preparation:

In a large pot, saute diced onions and diced celery in olive oil until they start to release some of their liquid.  Add chicken chunks and mix.  Allow the chicken to start to cook on the outsides.  Add chicken stock, herbs, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer while the spaghetti squash cooks in the oven.

Once the spaghetti squash is cooked, allow it to cool to room temperature so that it is safe to scrape.  Add the spaghetti squash "noodles" to the soup, mix completely, re-cover, and allow to simmer until the chicken and veggies are tender, about an hour. Makes 8 servings.

It looks a little like mush, but it tastes delicious!

Cooking this soup made the whole house smell amazing and CaveBoy was thankful to have something so warming for dinner when he got home.

Nutritional Information:

	Cal	Fat	Carb	Protein
Total	365	18	18	38
Percent		0.45	0.20	0.41