The 15 Minute Wonder Soup

My husband IMd me at 3:30 during the workday to say that he wanted to play tennis tonight. This notice came at a critical juncture for me in the day when I'm approaching fight or flight. I had a dinner plan for the week, but no way was I going to attempt chicken with a tomato marscapone sauce on SPOD (Single Parent on Duty) Night. I had to change my plan and quickly. I did a mental tally of the contents of my freezer: Frozen pizza, homemade tomato sauce and frozen cheese tortellini. Then I remembered that my five year old was coming down with a cold and it hit me - soup! I needed to make soup for my child, even though I don't have time to chop and dice and sautee. Impossible. Then I remembered 'Avgolemono' which is Greek for "Super Fast Soup."

I came into the door from work with two kids in tow at 6 pm. I set up the five year old at the table with his homework, got the toddler interested in some crayons and some paper (if she ate the crayons, I will never know) and got to work. I defrosted (nuked for 1 minute) some bread I had in the freezer (Costco bread freezes incredibly well), wrapped it in foil and stuck it in the toaster oven at 500 degrees. As it came time to incorporate the eggs into the broth, my toddler started to ram her baby stroller into my legs and my 5 year old is asking me difficult questions from his homework like "What comes after 23?" I pleasantly ask my daughter to stop hurting me and answer "24... I think?" and I whisk the soup into creamy submission and add some salt and pepper and taste it... sweet god,where has this soup been all my life? Delicious! I throw in some leftover chicken from the weekend, get the bread out of the toaster oven, slice it and throw it all on the table as my 5 year old finishes his homework. My son ate it, my toddler gulped it down and I had to resist eating my husband's portion.

I love nights like this where a plan comes together. I felt like MacGyver with my Time for Dinner cookbook! I made a healthy and nutritious meal out of what felt like nothing and I didn't even have to break open the frozen pizza box.

Back to our regularly scheduled menu tomorrow night, barring any last minute schedule changes.