One thing that I am really loving about all of this cold weather...SOUP! We have made more than a few pots of really good soup this winter. We even went so far as to have a soup themed party. We celebrated four birthdays and it was a lot of fun. We had sandwiches, chips, dips, veggies, plus...
Vegetable Beef Soup
Tortilla Soup
Creamy Tomato Soup
Chicken and Rice Soup
Broccoli Cheese Soup
Venison Chili
Creamed Jalapeno Soup
It was loud and crowded, but we had a lot of fun. I bought insulated, to-go, coffee cups so there were no hot bowls of soup to manage and we made it work. We had a couple of batches of cookies, plus two cakes and two pies. It was a lot of food and we ate as much as we wanted and we didn't feel guilty a bit. The way I look at it, we celebrated four birthdays and we only crashed our diet once.
As much fun as that was, I am still on the soup thing. I recently posted a soup recipe on my Facebook page that I desperately wanted to try.
Click HERE! Facebook - Crossrdfarm
I heard about the soup from a blog that I follow...
Click HERE! Leaf Parade
She heard about it from the originator, another blogger...
Click HERE! Lady and Pups
I love both of these blogs. Leaf Parade is fun and she comes up with recipes that are a little healthier. Plus she is a runner and that inspires me. Lady and Pups is completely new to me. I love her mantra...
Lady and Pups - an angry food blog - Home Cooking with Extreme Prejudice.
So. When I saw the link, to the link, to the soup that looked so amazing - I posted it on Facebook. Then I started planning to make it. Feel free to follow the link below to the original recipe. This soup was invented as a remedy for a dog that is suffering from a heart murmur. In the end, it was a comfort to the people loving the dog. It is described as An edible blanket or A warm hug in a bowl - I agree!
Creamy Chicken-Rice Soup w/ a poached Egg.
Of course I did not follow the recipe exactly. If you know me at all, you know I feel like a recipe is just a suggestion. My philosophy on recipes has actually caused a multitude of small battles in my home. I won't go into the details of those discussions now. Just trust me when I tell you, "This course of action does not always end in success!"
The basic principle working here is to use up some leftovers. I had a left over chicken from a crock-pot chicken recipe I tried. I did chop it up really small (no shredding-as the recipe recommends). I sauteed onion in butter. Added in some salt and pepper, and then a quart of chicken stock. I used leftover steamed rice from Chinese take-out we had earlier in the week. I brought that to a boil, then reduced it to a simmer and let it cook about 15 minutes. You could easily use only a half a cup of rice, and remember it is cooked rice. You could use more. I used about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of cooked rice and my soup was very thick. I actually had to add a couple cups of stock to thin it out later.
The moral of the story - The rice will soak up a ton of stock!
You can use more rice and it will be super thick - You will be surprised how thick.
You can reduce it to 1/2 cup and it will be wonderful.
Moving on...throw all this in the blender after 15 minutes and puree. Pour it back into your pot and keep it at a simmer.
Now, take your chopped up chicken and throw it in a skillet with melted butter. Keep an eye on it and keep it moving. You want it to get brown and a little crispy. Of course, add salt and pepper as you go. I was sort of surprised at how much I like the chicken this way. I think it would be really good on a salad this way.
Once you have your chicken browned and a little crispy, start poaching your eggs. You have to figure that one out on your own. I have tried a couple of methods and now stick with a poaching pan.
Ladle your soup.
Top with Chicken.
Top with a poached egg.
*YUM*
This was super filling. It has a taste of Chicken and Dumplings. This was really good. I try to stay away from flour.
It doesn't really love me.
It wants me to think it loves me.
Then it rips my heart out.
Again.
And again.
If you use more rice, it has a texture of grits - almost, but not really. I don't know if that is an added selling point for you. I personally don't care for grits. I am just trying to convey the texture. Either way, this soup is good.
On a cold night, it is really good.
On an even colder morning, it makes a super special breakfast.
I am a soup lover! In fact, we just had a steaming pot of chicken noodle for supper (mostly because I was too tired to do anything else after work & we had leftover chicken & gravy sitting in the fridge). AND I had potato soup for lunch. I think you're right - it's good for any meal ;)
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