Creamy Vegetable Soup with Chicken

So, I've been trying to eat healthier, which often means many nights of grilled chicken with a side of salad, spinach or broccoli. Yawn. But really, none of those boring healthy options are really feasible for bringing to work for lunch. I will NOT re-heat meat in a microwave, unless it's in some sort of stew or soup, and salad prepared ahead of time for lunch gets wilty and stale too quickly. 

Luckily my mother-in-law came to visit last week and brought with her a batch of creamy vegetable soup with chicken. I took one bite and knew this was going to be my lunch for quite awhile. She left me the recipe, so I was able to make another batch once she left. While it wasn't as good as hers, it was still really tasty, healthy, and something that I'm not likely to tire of too quickly.

Yield
8 servings 

Ingredients
4 tbsp. Canola oil
4 Carrots
2 stalks Celery
1 Onion
2 cloves Garlic
1 breast of Chicken, on the bone, skin removed
32 oz. low-sodium Chicken broth
15 oz. diced tomatoes
1 Bay leaf
To taste, black pepper and salt

Directions
Slice all of the vegetables and saute in the oil a deep pot until slightly tender, about 10 minutes.

Move the vegetables to one side of the pot and brown the chicken breast on both sides.

Add the broth, diced tomatoes, bay leaf, salt and pepper to the pot and bring to a boil (You'll notice more than 1 chicken breast in here - that's because I needed cooked, shredded chicken for chicken enchiladas that I was making for dinner the same night - I'll post that dish soon too).

Lower to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, turn off the heat, remove chicken, and shred.

With a blender (an immersion blender is the easiest), puree the soup in the pot, and add the chicken back in.

I have to say, I get bored of most dishes very easily. If I cook something to eat for the week, usually about...  Tuesday I get sick of it and get a sandwich from the deli rather than eat it one more day. But this, this was amazing. Every single day I looked forward to eating it at lunch time, and never got tired of it. I was very excited to find something so healthy and freezer-friendly that I enjoyed every day for lunch for 2 weeks straight. Of course, I still liked the one my mother-in-law made more than the one I made, I thought mine had too many carrots and not enough tomatoes, but that's easily fixable next time. 

I will be making this probably a couple times a month throughout the winter!