Chicken Creole Soup

I too have been missing in action for a while. Things have been crazy around here since Thanksgiving. And boy has it been super cold here in New Hampshire! I can't wait for warm weather! 

I don't think it's going to slow down for a while, as I have begun taking online classes at my local community college. I have entered into the Medical Coding Certificate Program and should be able to complete all my classes in just over a year. As a result, I will more than likely have less time to devote to blogging. I really love sharing recipes with all of you, and I plan to blog as much as possible while taking classes, but it may be few and far between until I have school breaks. But I figured since I have a few min right now while my son is watching cartoons, I would share a recipe for one of my families favorite soups. 

I have made this soup a number of times, and each time it is perfect. Before I had our son, I made this soup a little spicier. But in the hopes that he would eat it, I went a little easy on the spice this time. The recipe as follows is the way I made it last night. It has a subtle spice (feel free to make it spicier if you want), but it's not too spicy. 

Also, as a little note, this makes A LOT of soup. There are only 3 of us, so after we had dinner last night I had two 6 C buckets and a 3 C bucket leftover. Now that is a lot of soup! You could totally cut this in half if you don't want that much soup, but we like to put leftovers in the freezer for a quick go-to meal when there is not much time to pull a meal together on a crazy hectic day. If you do choose to freeze some, when you reheat it in a pot, you may want to add some water or chicken stock to it to make a soup consistency again. We like to serve this with nice crusty rolls to complete the meal. 

I apologize for the lack of photos. I was trying to pull this together quickly with a toddler who likes to "help". 

This is the first stage of the process. Saute the onions, peppers, celery, minced fresh garlic, and chicken in a couple tablespoons of olive oil with a little salt, pepper and garlic powder. I know, your thinking fresh minced garlic AND garlic powder?! Yup. We like garlic in this house. If you don't like garlic that much, feel free to add less or leave it out or use only one type of garlic. 

Make sure you start with a large enough pot for this.....The first time I made this soup I had to switch pots halfway through because I didn't have enough room for the liquid.... The pot I use for soups is a large stainless steel stock pot. It is large enough to fit a whole turkey carcass for making stock.  

And this is actually one of the leftover buckets that we put in the freezer. But the time the soup was done, our son was antsy and ready for dinner, so I forgot to get a picture of it in a pretty bowl. 

The rice soaks up a lot of the juice in the soup, so feel fee to add less rice or more liquid. 

And here's the recipe. 

Chicken Creole Soup

(adapted from Betty Crocker)

2 T olive oil

1 med onion, chopped

2 large stalks celery, chopped

1/2 each green and red bell pepper, chopped

2 t finely chopped garlic

2 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1” pieces

Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

1/4 C flour

2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained (I used 1 can of jalapeno diced tomatoes and 1 can plain diced tomatoes)

4 C chicken broth or stock

3 C water

1 1/4 C uncooked regular long grain white rice

1/4 t cayenne pepper (add more if you like it spicy or even add hot sauce)

2 dried bay leaves

In 5-6 qt large dutch oven or stock pot, heat olive oil over med-high heat. Add onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic and chicken sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste; cook 7-9 min, stirring frequently, until onion begins soften. Stir in flour. Cook 5-6 min stirring constantly until flour begins to turn light brown. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to med-low. Cover and cook 15-20 min stirring occasionally, until rice is tender and chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove bay leaves before serving. Taste and add salt to taste, if needed.

We serve this with warmed crusty rolls.

Enjoy!                                            

Sandi