Chicken Rice Soup

This morning, on our our way out the door to school, right smack on time, Joe slammed the door on his finger. Hard. That kid never does anything by halves. Luckily I am 98% sure it isn't broken, and on the way home from school I was thinking about how thankful I am for the random emergency medical knowledge I learned from my Mom. She certainly went through the ringer with the four of us, and whenever my kids get hurt or sick, she's the first person I call! We may have had a rough few years when I was a teenager, but I am so grateful for my relationship with my mother. I hated being the oldest when I was younger, all that responsibility and such, but as soon as Stephen was born, it was incredibly helpful to be able to call her up at any time and ask all kinds of Mommy-baby-type questions. If I had been the youngest, she might have forgotten all those details by the time I had kids! I love that we text all the time, I love that we both hate the phone. I love sharing random nonsense and life-changing decisions with her. Where would I be without my Mom? I can tell you this, I wouldn't be nearly as good a cook!

Chicken & Rice Soup
Printable Recipe

2-3 chicken breasts
1/2 yellow onion, diced small
2-3 sticks of celery, diced
3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced into disks
6-8 cups chicken broth
3 Tb butter
2 Tb flour
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
a few sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
salt

Simmer the chicken breasts in 6 cups of broth for 20 minutes, or until just cooked through. Remove the chicken from the broth, set broth aside for later. Shred the chicken. (You can also skip this step by using about 2 cups of any cooked shredded chicken you already have)

Melt butter in a large pot on medium heat. Add veggies and saute till softened. Add flour, and stir till it starts to darken and smells toasty. Whisk in the reserved broth and bring to a boil. Add the rice, let it come back to a boil, then lower to a vigorous simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through.

Add chicken, thyme leaves from those sprigs, and pepper. Season with salt to taste, continuing to cook for just a few more minutes while the chicken is warmed through, then serve!

I basically just took my favorite Chicken Noodle Soup recipe (which, in fact, is my Mom's!) and adjusted it for rice. Voila! Our current favorite soup! We can never agree on which kind of noodles to use for the noodle soup, so rice is perfect. And delicious :)

The broth is silky and lightly thickened, full of rich flavor and tender veggies, juicy chicken and rice. Perfect for a snowy day!