Chicken With Noodles and Vegetables in Ginger Broth

Posted On October 29, 2020

October 29, 2020

4 Stars

Welcome to the second edition Foodies Finding Flavor recipe series! This is review #2: Chicken With Noodles and Vegetables in Ginger Broth.

Fun Fact: Soup is usually better the day after it is made. Enjoy!!!

Without further ado, the review.

Big Baby Says

Accessibility: 8 

Difficulty (higher means easier): 6

Healthiness: 9

Tastiness: 9 

Texture: 8

Average: 8.2    

When I look at a soup there are two main things I look for. They are: One, what is in the soup? Is it noodle soup or is it butternut squash soup? Then, depending on what’s in it maybe I’ll have some. Two, what is the texture of the soup? If it has more solid food in it, then I am more interested. I am happy to say this is not a creamy. The soup serves four (or three if I am one of the people eating it). We made a double batch.

It was not that difficult to make. However, I couldn’t do it myself because I couldn’t chop vegetables or put stuff on a hot stove. 

It was rather healthy but it did have noodles in it so it is not totally healthy.

It was accessible to get the ingredients except for the star anise.  

The taste was excellent the noodles adsorbed the broth so nicely!

As I said it is not a creamy soup so it is fine by me.

This recipe is good for maybe serving it once every 3 weeks.

It would be delicious with some nice crusty bread.

Now it is time to read my fellow critic mama foodie’s critique!!!!!!!!

Mama Foodie Says

This recipe is from The Weight Watchers book Healthy Cooking Basics.  I chose it because the broth sounded really interesting, and we were not disappointed. I doubled the recipe because soups are a really popular item around here, and this one proved to be no exception.

Accessibility of Ingredients: 7 

Difficulty (higher means easier): 9

Healthfulness: 9

Tastiness: 10

Texture: 7

Average: 8.4

The ingredients in this recipe, for the most part, are fairly common. It called for broth, ginger, star anise, rice noodles, sugar snap peas, yellow squash and chicken breast. All ingredients are easily acquired in our local grocery stores, but in some areas it might be harder to find the star anise and rice noodles. I got a bulk order of star anise that I found online. We use it pretty often around here, so figured it was a good ingredient to have on hand.

The dish was easy to prepare. It is mainly just chopping and simmering. I do recommend following the directions on the package for the rice noodles. If cooked in the soup, they will become very soggy and will just break apart.

This soup had no added oil and featured a lot of fresh vegetables. We added chopped mini carrots in addition to the squash and snow peas. A certain young man I know does not care for squash, and I wanted him to have a wider variety of vegetables.

The broth of this soup was to die for. I simply cannot believe that ginger and star anise, which smells like black jelly beans, can combine to make such a smooth, savory broth.  It was so good that I am a little disappointed that we finished it off today and there is none left.

The texture was pretty good. The different densities of the vegetables caused them to cook at different rates. When I make it again, I will add the carrots and squash, cook for 10 minutes, then add the snap peas and cook for another 5 minutes. Other than that, the texture and the flavor were both excellent.

Calories: 362

Fat: 6g (sat 2g,)

Protein: 37g

Carb: 39g

Fiber: 2g

Served in smaller portions, this soup would make an excellent appetizer. In larger bowls, serve it with some nice crusty bread for a healthy meal.