Spinach and Orzo (sort of) Soup

The weather here in New Orleans has been a tad ridiculous recently. Off and on between being in the 40s/upper 30s, to the mid 70s. It's really quite annoying. Yesterday was a chilly one and because it was also a crappy day spent in a doctor's office and then driving around campus for 45 minutes trying to find a parking spot, I really wanted some soup. For me, after my Grandma Ruth's grits, fried egg and toast breakfast, my next favorite comfort food is soup. So yesterday I decided to branch out and make something other than my standard potato-leek or chicken noodle soup and make something else. I saw this while looking through my soup board on Pinterest and thought, "That sounds light and yummy." And Justin even said it looked good. So away we went to the grocery store.

Spinach, tomato orzo soup

I followed the recipe (almost) to the tee and to be honest. It's INCREDIBLY bland. Justin had about half a cup. The only variations I had were that I upped the amount of garlic to 4 cloves (because I LOVE garlic), I added mushrooms (because I've been wanting some for a while),  and because the orzo was pricier. I used a radiatori pasta which was a little bit bigger. I've never been so disappointed with a soup and now I'm stuck with a gallon of it. My only consolation is that I at least bought some leeks and potatoes to go to my favorite standby.

My onion, 4 cloves of garlic, and mushrooms

chicken stock (it was on sale at Whole Foods for cheaper than generic at Rouses), tomatoes, spinach

My seasonings

I didn't get a picture of the final product because I was cooking a few things last night and forgot to. Sorry.

So NO I would NOT recommend making the soup pictured in this pin. While it was easy to put together, it didn't taste like anything spectacular.