I don't think he's talking about lemons.

One of my most favoritest soups is Greek Avgolemono, although I've never actually mastered the pronunciation of it. Rather, "lemon rice soup" does the trick. A Coney Island staple, if you haven't at least tried the classic diner version, get on it you silly fool! (This is basically the same thing, in soup version, obviously, as the sauce you sometimes get on your tasty Greek treats. AA's Parthenon used to use lemon sauce but sadly switched over to a red sauce years ago. I'm still devastated. [I'm pretty sure they still use lemon at Pegasus downtown, though.])

For many years, this was mine and Brad's traditional post-Thanksgiving dinner -- I have an old Cooking Light recipe that uses leftover turkey. Super tasty, but the past year or two, we just haven't had enough leftovers to inspire me. For whatever reason, I got a craving Monday night and decided to whip up a batch.

No turkey, obviously, but I had some frozen chicken tenders. I found this simple recipe from Whole Foods and started right on it.

Ok, now, first of all, who knew it was so easy to produce pulled chicken??? The recipe called for me to cook the chicken (I used 1 lb tenders) in the broth. Ok, done. I pulled it all out of the pot... and it shredded right down! Perhaps this is obvious, but it never even occurred to me. I love pulled meat (he he he), and I will definitely remember this trick in the future. Mmm pulled chicken sandwiches!

Anyway, the soup takes some time -- an hour, not too too long, but I didn't start until going on 6:30. Many "how much longer?"s ensued. I was tempted to skip the straining step, seemed like an extra dirtied pot, but in the end I gave in and I'm glad I did. It looked much prettier minus random carrot chunks. I also was out of fresh lemons so I had to use fakie lemon juice, but I definitely couldn't taste the difference.

I think even old Ted found my soup quite tasty.

Here she is in all her soupy, lemony glory.

I really really really liked this recipe. I was worried it would be a little bland because I used all low-sodium broth, but it was plenty flavorful. Lots of rice, lots of chicken -- these make it more filling than your average soup (I did use a little more chicken than called for). And perfectly lemony. I don't know why it's been so long since I've made this, but I definitely will be making it again soon. I'm sad I finished off the last of the leftovers for lunch today. Sigh.

PS. I am currently obsessed with Gatorade fruit punch. Chalk it up to the "tartar sauce" category because I HATE Gatorade. Ugh. Seriously, just the thought.... The summer I turned 17, the day my parents moved into their house, there was nothing to drink (well water, ick) but Gatorade. I in turn spent the entire night vomiting -- however unrelated the two likely are, the association has never lifted. Anyway, during my "can't eat nuttin" phase a few weeks ago, I gave it ONE more try. I've tried the orange recently enough (Brad always gets it), and it was still yuck, so I wasn't hopeful. But I officially love the fruit punch and have been drinking it nonstop since. Mmm.