heavy cream detox

I mentioned that I have been in a bit of a heavy cream phase.  It is most definitely not good, but tastes so00 good.  Well, since I live here in the boot-camp-named The Wakefield House, there are about 3 of us with colds at any given time.  Combine that with my heavy cream infatuation and you get this meal.  Today I call it my “heavy cream detox meal,” but you could also call it Chicken Soup, but that would also be plain and boring.  I like meals that are easy, that I can throw together with whatever lurks in my large and very communal fridge.  We happened to have a leftover chicken roaster with about 2/3 remaining that was asking to be used up.  Side note, when I first got married I had a really hard time cooking for 2 people.  I mean, I grew up with a family of EIGHT and we didn’t always have enough food to eat, so I developed a disease that caused me to make way too much food.  Always.  Well, my disease is actually coming in handy now that I have come full circle to cooking for 8 again.  Young, married me was doomed from the start.

Chicken & Vegetable Soup

1 cooked rotisserie chicken or any kind of chicken (preferably dead and cooked)
3 carrots
1 onion
a couple cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
1 -2 cups roasted broccoli
Water or chicken stock
Herbs: parsley, basil and thyme
*I go with a pinch of thyme and a shake of basil and lots of fresh chopped parsley*  It’s very scientific here.

Here’s the deal.  Put any vegetable you like in it.  I chop up my onion and let it cook for 5 -10 minutes in my stock pot, add the garlic and cook for a minute.  Add the chopped carrots. Throw the whole carcass in the pot (take off the skin first).  **You can peel off all the meat first if you like, but I like to get all the meat I can so I fish out all the bones after it cooks.** Cover with water.  Add the uncooked rice, don’t worry it will cook by the end of it.  I threw in about 2 cups of chicken stock since I had it opened in the fridge.  You don’t need to do this.  Add herbs, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender.  About 30 minutes.  I made some roasted broccoli for dinner too, and today when I had leftovers I added the broccoli to the soup — it was fabulous. Next time I will add the roasted broccoli, I would recommend roasting it then adding it at the end of the cooking time so it doesn’t get too soggy.

Tagged as: Chicken & Vegetable Soup, Recipes