Never on Sunday

So I decided that the next logical step would have to be chicken noodle. I hate canned chicken noodle. I used to love those envelopes of Mrs. Grass Chicken Noodle-- which were just packets of flavored salt I suspect-- but you can't get that anymore. At least not around here.

And I never order chicken noodle soup when eating out. It's just not a restaurant soup in my mind. It's a traditional comfort soup that I generally don't like.

There is one version I've been curious about-- Chick-Fil-A's Hearty Chicken Breast Soup. And so that's what I ate today.

I've been curious about it because Chick-Fil-A is sort of an enigma. First of all-- they are closed on Sunday. Of course, I only ever want Chick-Fil-A on Sunday.

And then-- it's fast food, but you can get chicken salad on whole wheat there. And it's good chicken salad-- it's not all mayonnaise-- it has a little tang to it and crunchy bits of celery.

I've been told it's an acquired taste, but I have acquired it.

Their combo meals have the option of swapping their waffle fries for a cup of soup, a side salad or carrot raisin salad. But when I feel like I'm being good-- having the chicken salad sandwich-- I must have the waffle fries-- to balance out the goodness. You know? Fast food is not for behaving.

(I've just peeked at their website and the chicken salad sandwich is just about as bad as their breaded chicken sandwich. The chargrilled chicken sandwiches are better. So I've just been lying to myself.)

Anyway-- today I just got the soup. And it was like no chicken noodle soup I've ever had before. It was more like a stew-- or what's inside a chicken pot pie-- but then with these thick noodles that were perfectly cooked. Tender but not falling apart. Yum. I could have licked the bowl.

I got the small. The website and a couple of other sites I looked at had it listed at 140 calories, but I think that's off. I was full and completely satisfied until well past 5:00-- on 140 calories??? And look at those noodles. No way. Maybe it thickens up or they don't dilute it as much as they're supposed to.

And it gets even worse-- the same sites that say 140 calories also say 900 mg of sodium. So if it's more condensed than it's supposed to be, that would be worse too.

The medium waffle fries have 200+ more calories (359) but 1/6th the salt (153). Of course the side salad would be better still.

This is getting sad. I meant this blog to be PRO-SOUP!! I need to find some good news tomorrow.

I'm going to give it 2 & 2-- so 4 spoons out of 8. I don't have an emotional attachment to chicken noodle and now I just feel decadent for having enjoyed it so much. It gets 2 nutritional points for bringing some protein to the party and because I suspect that normally it is a low calorie food.

I wanted to start logging this too-- Today I paid $2.25 for this bowl of soup.

9:47 p.m. Edit: Okay, I've decided-- I'm not going to sabotage this by becoming obsessed with sodium. The fact is that processed food contains a lot of salt-- it's not like I didn't already know that and it's not as if I've been eating low sodium up to this point.

I will eat one serving of soup each day and because it is filling and often nutrient dense, it will help me make better choices later in the day. And I'm going to look hard for sources of homemade soup. Mom?