I am creating a scale for comfort food. On one end, we have cold salad that you are eating while sitting in an uncomfortable chair, wearing super tight pants (the tight pants are key). On the other end, we have a steaming bowl of thick soup that you are eating while curled up in a blanket, sitting on your cushy couch in front of the fire place while it is snowing outside.
We will call the salad a comfort level of 1 and the soup a comfort level of 10.
Following this obviously foolproof scale, this soup is a 13. Need I say more?
This bowl of heaven is the HEIGHT of comfort food…it is:
- Super thick. SO thick that it’s almost too thick. But it’s not ?.
- A flavor bomb with depth and complexity that comes from layers and layers of cooking in the same pot
- Hearty and filling. Man oh man, is this soup hearty. I could probably eat a half cup of it and be full. Between the chicken, rice, and thick, rich broth, this soup is as hearty and filling as it gets.
- Fall-y. Which, at this point of the year, is an absolute necessity in my meal planning…!
- So delicious that you will be doing happy dances around your kitchen while wearing leggings, a baggy sweater, and comfy socks as the smell of simmering soup fills your house. Can you picture it? DO IT.
You know how I told you in my last post that my awesome student brought me fresh milk from her dairy cow? Like…so fresh that the jar was still warm…? Bae.
I have been SO excited to start cooking with it in my recipes this week. I used it in this soup, and it just made the entire thing even more rich and delicious and wonderful. So, in order to make this soup, you have two options: one – you must find someone you know that owns dairy cows and get fresh milk from them. Two – you must sneak onto someone’s farm at night and milk a cow yourself. If you get in trouble, just tell them that I told you it was required, and they should let you off the hook with no repercussions.
Juuusssttt kidding – you don’t have to use fresh milk…you can use store bought whole milk! Or if you want to make it lighter, you can drop it down to 2%. But remember! This is a comfort food recipe…so don’t skimp too hard ?. And even with the whole milk, this soup is less than 350 calories per each generous serving – so you aight.
Guess what I did this weekend??? Other than obsess over and stuff my face with this soup. I got a new car! #adulting.
It’s a black 2016 Ford Explorer ???. I love it so much. We have been looking at buying a Ford Explorer for several months, and we were just waiting for an awesome deal. So Seth surprised me with a birthday trip to Kansas City this weekend, and since we were there, we checked out the inventories at the local Ford dealerships, found this car for a ridiculously good deal, crossed our fingers that it would stay there until we could make our way over to the dealership, and it did!
We walked off the lot with it on Saturday morning.
Isn’t it so pretty?! I have owned the same car since I was sixteen, so needless to say, this is a MASSIVE upgrade. I feel like I’m driving a spaceship. The fact that the trunk works, I can accelerate above 55 miles per hour, I have a little key fob so I can stop unlocking my doors manually, my vents can actually turn in different directions, and the dashboard doesn’t beep at me every three seconds when something stops working is SO BOSS. I feel super legit.
A new car and Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup = the definition of success in life.
- 5 cups cooked wild rice blend (I used two boxes of "Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice" and threw away the seasoning packets)
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 onion, peeled and diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 3 stalks of celery, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 7 tablespoons (1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons) butter
- 7 tablespoons (1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons) flour
- 3 cups whole milk (you can use 2% to lighten it up if you want)
- 3 cups chicken stock
- Cook your rice according to package instructions (if you use the Uncle Ben's brand like I did, make sure to throw away the seasoning packet that comes with the rice)
- Meanwhile, pound your chicken out using a meat tenderizer (meat mallet) until the breasts are thin (about an inch or two) - this will not only tenderize them, but also help them cook more quickly
- Heat a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat with some olive oil. Season your chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper, and add them to the soup pot when the oil has heated
- Cook the chicken until there is no longer pink in the middle. Remove and set aside on a plate
- Add a bit more olive oil to your soup pot and add your veggies (onion, carrot, celery, garlic) along with some salt and pepper - if things are sticking to the bottom more than you would like, deglaze the pan with a bit of your chicken stock (just a few tablespoons), and that should release the bits from the bottom of the pot
- Once your veggies have cooked for several minutes and are softened, add your butter
- When the butter is melted, add your flour and stir until it has evenly coated the vegetables
- To this, add your milk and chicken stock
- Bring this up to a simmer and cook until the broth has thickened (it will thicken further when you add your chicken and rice)
- Meanwhile, dice your chicken into bite sized pieces, and get your rice ready to add to your soup
- Once thickened, add the chicken and rice, stir to combine, and season to taste with salt and pepper
Nutrition info is for 1 1/2 cup servings of soup.
If you make this or any of my other recipes, be sure to Instagram it and hashtag #thegarlicdiaries!
In the mood for more yummy soup recipes? Check these out:
30 Minute Stuffed Pepper Soup (Soup Sunday!)
Potato Pumpkin Soup with Bacon
Omg this looks amazing! I’m making it tonight. Seriously your recipes are always soooo good. I’m a TERRIBLE cook and somehow even I can make them following your instructions. You’re making my family have restored faith in my cooking ?
Jenny!! You have no idea how much this made my night. I seriously could not receive a better compliment. You’re the best!! Let me know how this soup works out for you – I’m kind of obsessed with it ?.