Chicken & Rice Soup

I don't usually make chunky soups, I tend to make creamy vegetable soups. This is partially due to my love for my immersion blender but I decided to mix it up with all this snow. It seems prime time for cold season and chicken soup is just what winter ordered. I worked backwards into this recipe, knowing I had a box of broth to use and trying to determine what soup to then make.

From the broth, I realized I also had a lot of uncooked rice and carrots. So really, I just needed some chicken. From another recipe, I still had some radishes and like I've said before, they don't really taste like anything, maybe dirt. So I decided to add those to the soup for good measure.

I spent a fair amount of time trying to decide which order to cook things. I could cook the chicken in the broth with the rice and carrots but is that sanitary? Does all the raw chicken go away? Okay, so maybe cooking the chicken first and then dicing it up would be best. And what about the rice. Should I make it in the rice cooker and then add it? Does that defeat the purpose of the broth as anything but something to have everything else added to?

Well, needless to say I eventually threw my hands in the air and threw some things in a pot. I cooked the chicken separately but allowed the rice and vegetables to be cooked in the broth. I also added some water to make sure it was a good soupy consistency later. Once I felt the rice was nearly cooked, I added the chopped chicken.

One very hot bite later and I determined that everything was cooked through and ready to eat. This is a healthier version of chicken noodle since you're making it yourself and the brown rice is probably better than noodles. But I'm not dissing chicken noodle, that stuff is great.

This makes a great lunch after shoveling feet of snow off of your car/driveway/sidewalk/life.

Recipe

• 2 lbs. chicken breasts or tenders
• 1 cup brown rice
• 1/2 cup radishes, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 32 oz. of broth (1 container)
• 2 cups of water

1. In a sauce pan over medium heat, heat the broth and 1 cup of water. Add the rice.
2. After about 10 minutes, add the chopped vegetables to the broth and rice. Cover to cook.
3. Season the chicken with black pepper. Then cook in a skillet while the rice and vegetables are cooking.
4. Once the chicken is cooked, remove from pan and chop into cubes. Add the chicken to the broth mixture.
5. Add the last cup of water. If you prefer a thicker soup, you do not need this last addition.
6. Cook until the rice and vegetables are soft.
7. Serve hot or store in an air tight container for up to one week and reheat. 

Note; I didn't use an onion but you can add half a chopped onion by browning in the pan before adding the broth, rice and vegetables if you prefer the taste.