Armenian Lemon Chicken Soup

This chicken soup is very easy to make, and I've provided two version of the recipe for those who want to use left-over cooked chicken (ready in an hour) vs. those who want to start from scratch (using uncooked chicken, takes up to 4 hours). I created this soup on my own in college (years ago) and it has become famous among my friends all over town!! I hope you enjoy it!

• Ready In: 1 hr 15 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2  organic chicken breasts (cooked or uncooked)
• 1  medium onion
• 1  medium tomatoes
• 3 -4  stalks celery
• 1  carrot (or 6-8 mini carrots)
• 1  lemon
•  salt
• 15  black peppercorns (or black pepper powder)
• 4 -5  leaves dried mint
• 10 -15  fresh spinach leaves
•  pasta (i use 1/3 cup whole wheat pasta and 1/3 cup basmati rice) or   noodles (i use 1/3 cup whole wheat pasta and 1/3 cup basmati rice) or  rice (i use 1/3 cup whole wheat pasta and 1/3 cup basmati rice)

Directions

1. De-bone and de-skin the chicken and chop (if uncooked) or shred (if cooked).
2. Chop the onion, the tomato, the celery and carrots and place in a pot with the chicken, salt, peppercorns and water (4 cups if chicken is cooked. 1 quart if chicken is uncooked).
3. Simmer on low heat for about 45 minutes to an hour (if using cooked chicken) or up to 3 to 4 hours (if using uncooked chicken).
4. If saving the stock to eat the soup later in the week, let cool and place in fridge before proceeding to next step. If you plan to serve the soup right away, go to the next step.
5. Bring the stock to a boil and heat on low heat about 10-15 minutes.
6. Now add some of your favorite carbs (I use 1/3 cup whole wheat pasta and 1/3 cup whole grain rice).
7. Chop up the fresh spinach (you can always use fresh cilantro or parsley too) and the juice from 1 lemon. Crumble the dried mint leaves and add them to the soup too. Cook for 10 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.
8. ENJOY!