Comforting Chicken Pastina Soup
Plus, 5 Dinners in Real Life
Hello!
After the week of horrific fires in LA, this past week has felt relatively normal. It’s hard, though, to shake off that unsettling feeling that stays with you after your city goes through a traumatic event. When your home feel less safe and the life you’ve set up feels more precarious than you want to admit to on a regular basis, what do you do? Is it better to just focus on all the good things you do have, or is the universe sending a message that it’s the perfect time to reimagine your life?
When you’ve reached mid-life and are fully entrenched in the all-consuming work of raising a family and keeping all the balls in the air all the time, what does re-imagining your life even mean?
I don’t know that this moment of reflection will lead to any big changes in my life. Still, it’s a worthwhile exercise to really think through what you appreciate in your life and what you’re just settling for because change is hard.
Last weekend we drove out to the beach for the day and the juxtaposition of what living in California is like was in full display. Fires were still burning and also, here was Pacific Ocean sparkling on a perfect day in January while my kids were happily leaping barefoot over the sand and exploring tide pools.
We’re only 20 days into January and so far the new year has been a lot to take in. Which is why for this week’s recipe I’m leading you towards something comforting for dinner, like chicken pastina soup.
Chicken Pastina Soup
When I think about comfort in a bowl I usually think about soup or pasta, so it makes perfect sense that today I’m sharing a recipe that combines both.
I’m not Italian, so I’m not claiming that this recipe for chicken pastina soup is completely authentic….maybe your nonna made it differently? But this recipe does succeed in making a bowl of soup that brings comfort and cures whatever ails you, whether it’s a sniffly nose or emotional exhaustion.
When I make chicken pastina soup, I cook the pasta directly in the soup broth for a creamy porridge-like texture. Below are the main steps of the recipe - you can find a detailed recipe → HERE.
Brown carrot, celery, onion and chicken thighs.
Add broth. Bring to a very gentle simmer for 15 minutes with a lid. Take out the cooked chicken, set it aside and then shred the meat when cooled.
While the chicken rests, cook tiny pasta (I used star-shaped) in the broth until tender (about 8 minutes). The pasta will soak up some of the broth as it cooks, making the soup thicker.
Add the chicken back to the pot. You can whisk in egg and parmesan cheese for an ultra-rich broth.
Cookbooks and Reading
I’ve started 2025 by revisiting a cookbook from last year, The Weekday Vegetarians Get Simple by Jenny Rosenstrach. In 2024 my family settled into a eating pattern that leans more vegetarian than meat-centered, but for a variety of reasons we’re not fully vegetarian. If you’re the same, this cookbook and the one before it (Weekday Vegetarians) will provide a wide variety dinner ideas that make eating mostly meat-free easier.
Dinner in Real Life
I’m always curious about what other families are eating, aren’t you? I hope that my week of real life dinners will provide helpful recipes & cooking ideas for your family.
Here’s what my crew ate last week:
Monday: I still had paella rice and saffron in my pantry from the seafood paella I made for Christmas so I made an easy weeknight version of paella, baked in the oven with sausage and shrimp. It was such a satisfying weeknight meal! I plan to try another version using chicken and sausage soon. If it turns out I will definitely share the recipe here.
Tuesday: I made soup out of what I had on hand, loosely based on my recipe for Instant Pot white bean and cabbage soup. This is a simple, low-cost recipe that uses canned beans and cooks very quickly. I served baked potatoes on the side, loaded up with butter, sour cream and green onion.
Wednesday: Our avocado tree is producing so many avocados right now that we’ve been handing them out to friends and family all week (so far we’ve had just one refusal, the only person I’ve ever met who said that avocados “weren’t his thing”) The centerpiece of our Wednesday dinner was a big bowl of guacamole with simple black bean and cheese quesadillas on the side.
Thursday: We were home at 4:30 and out the door again at 5:40 for karate so I made a very quick dinner of sliced pre-cooked sausage and mushrooms with Rao’s marinara sauce and angel hair pasta. I sautéed a bag of baby spinach on the side. Done and done!
Friday: We had a simple meal of tofu, steamed broccoli, Trader Joe’s egg rolls and microwaved white rice. This meal has been a staple in our rotation for a long time so I always keep the ingredients on hand. It’s fast, easy, fairly healthy and…my kids are officially tired of eating it. If I’m honest, I might be too. I guess it’s time to find a new go-to dinner recipe for nights when I don’t feel like putting much effort into cooking.
The kids and I escaped to Arizona this weekend for a quick road trip to see my parents and we’ll be heading back to LA later today. We spent most of yesterday afternoon at the neighborhood pool and because apparently no one in AZ swims outdoors when it’s a chilly 64° it felt like being at a private resort. It was a much needed rest. I hope you also had a good long weekend before we head back into a busy week.
xo
Jenny