The Night Zesty Italian Dressing Saved Dinner (and Turned into Soup!)

Have you ever gotten completely crossed wires with your partner in the kitchen? It happened to me the other day with a grocery order gone awry. I picked up Zesty Italian Dressing and chicken breasts for a special meal my husband had in mind, but let's just say my interpretation was a little...different.

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Just the other day, my husband asked that I make a special order for Zesty Italian Dressing and chicken breasts. You see, he had plans, but I was not privy to his plans, so I made my own.

We picked up our grocery order like any other Sunday, and I unpacked the groceries and put them away. Where things went astray was when I decided to throw the chicken breasts into the crockpot with Zesty Italian Dressing.

He was thinking more along the lines of marinading the chicken breasts, and grilling them on the grill. I had no idea of his plans, and I was thinking he just really wanted something different from our regular routine of chicken thighs.

Well, you see where things can really go sideways in a relationship when people do not communicate with each other? teehee... no, we are just fine, it just made me think how sometimes not communicating your thoughts can really lead to miscommunication.

So, always keep in mind communication is key for any relationship, and that isn't just intimate relationships, it is for ALL relationships. 

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

I went about my business in cooking the chicken breasts since it was already in the crockpot, I guess the grill will have to wait it's turn.

Once they were cooked through, I had a lot of Zesty Italian Dressing leftover in the crockpot which made me think I would take this opportunity to make a soup the following day. 

Why not, right? No sense in wasting all of that dressing.

Here is how you can make it too:

Zesty Italian Soup

Ingredients:

1. Zesty Italian Dressing, left over from cooking chicken breasts in crockpot, I did not measure this, I only covered the breasts so they would be tender, I did not use the entire bottle, use your judgement
2. 3 chicken breasts, cooked, and shredded
3. 3 celery heart stalks
4. 1 can black beans
5. 1 can kidney beans
6. 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
7. 1 small onion, chopped
8. 20 baby carrots, sliced
9. 1 t minced garlic
10. Pepper to taste
11. 1 box chickpea pasta (or pasta of your choice), cooked 

Instructions:

• Since we are working off of leftovers, the chicken will already be cooked, if you are not making this recipe that way, be sure to know it will take longer to cook
• Add carrots, celery, black beans, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, onion to crockpot, cook on low until everything is heated through 
• Cook pasta separately, drain chickpea pasta, run under cold water to stop it from further cooking, then add to crockpot soup  
• Add chicken back in, warm all ingredients, and serve

This was so easy, and I was pretty pleased to come up with a unique for us soup. If I were to make this homemade soup recipe again, I would add mushrooms, green pepper, and maybe spinach. 

When I began eating, I was reminded of my mom's pasta salad, and I thought the zesty Italian soup was a lot like it, only hot. She always puts mushrooms and green pepper in her pasta, and so I think it will be a delicious addition to the recipe. 

I cannot wait to make this recipe again! 

This weeknight soup is a great way to use up leftover chicken and Zesty Italian Dressing all in one go. What do you think? I was happy to not waste the dressing, and yet, I like to think come up with a unique soup recipe that I had not thought of before.

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Ciao,

Cara