Chicken Parmesan Soup

I have this friend... we've been friends for a long time, and our relationship is such that most of what we do together is cook dinner. We'll call this friend... "J." Usually J and I get together on Sunday evening, we meet at one of our houses and make something delicious. Usually stunning. We don't go for normal food, we make things amazing! Usually, I'm the basic girl, and J adds the idea for the twist that makes everything just one notch above normal. We've make mac-n-cheese, red and white chicken Parmesan, calzones, the list goes on... all of it was delicious and with a twist.
Earlier this week I saw a post on this blog that seemed just about up our alley. So I sent him a quick facebook post that said something to the effect of "you, me, chicken Parmesan SOUP and focaccia bread" Then I went on with my life... 
Today I was woken up during my Sunday afternoon nap by a buzzing cell phone, just one buzz meant it was a text message and could be checked later. Upon waking up a little more, I rolled over and checked my messages. I aparently had 2 messages that I had missed-- one said "I just saw your message. Is it too late to say ABSOLUTELY!!!!"  then a few minutes later it said "Whatcha doing tonight?" Having made no prior plans, we decided on 6:00 at his place.
I know you probably don't care about the background, but I assure you it was worth the wait for this recipe! The foccacia bread went on the back burner for a while, we'll get back to that one. But this soup... I'm craving leftovers already!

Chicken Parmesan Soup

Just Another Day in Paradise

4 Tablespoons olive oil

2 chicken breasts, pounded thin

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

4 cups chicken broth (We used bullion, I have a costco pack!)

salt and pepper

1 cup fresh basil, chopped (I didn't have nor want to spend 3 dollars on basil, so it was 1/3 cup dried basil, which was perfect)

1 tsp red pepper flakes (the ones I have are pretty spicy and the soup had quite a kick, I liked it, but if you don't... maybe cut this in half.)

1 large onion, sliced really thin

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

(1 cup ish your favorite shaped pasta)

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook it in 2 Tbs of olive oil. Cook until just cooked through. Remove and set aside.

Add remaining olive oil and saute chopped garlic, onions, (dried basil) and pepper flakes. Cook until onions are beginning to soften...just a couple minutes. Add tomatoes and chicken broth and bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.(At this point, my friend J had a brain child, and we added some pasta and let it cook to almost done)  Add the chicken back in and cook another couple of minutes. Sprinkle in the (fresh) chopped basil and stir.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve with your favorite bread sticks. 

Note: Larissa at Just another Day in Paradise used the bread you would use for bruschetta. She toasted them and used them as crutons, which I'd like to try sometime, I'd bet it was delicious!  Alas... I made my own garlic Parmesan bread sticks. Mostly because I totally ruined a batch of rolls the other day (don't ask, I don't know...) and felt the need to redeem myself with yeast breads. 

I'm thinking this will make a quick, easy dinner group dinner during the up coming, busy count down to graduation! One month from TODAY!