The first recipe is from my brand new soup book I got for my birthday, in March, it is a creamy chicken soup with rice.  It’s the first recipe I have tried from the 500 plus page book “The Ultimate Soup Cookbook” by Reader’s Digest, with over 900 recipes.  It’s on page 106.  I’d say it serves more like 6+.

It came together quickly.  I like recipes that use a butter/oil mixture, they usually have more flavor.  I made the stock from bouillon and omitted the onions, and used onion powder.   I used Basmati rice and the fresh parsley was from my garden.  I opted for milk instead of half-and-half.  I used a very tiny pinch of nutmeg.  It was tasty, creamy, and the smell was great.  I will experiment next time to add a little more flavor, maybe even more bouillon.  A!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 medium celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup long-grain white rice
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup milk or half-and-half
• pinch of ground nutmeg (technically optional)

Directions:

1. In a 5 quart Dutch oven over medium heat, melt butter and heat oil.  Add chicken and saute 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
2. Add stock, carrots, celery, onion, rice, parsley, salt, and pepper.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, 20 minutes or until rice is tender. 
3. In a small bowl, blend cornstarch, milk, and nutmeg.  Then stir into soup.  Cooking, stirring, until soup returns to simmer and thickens.