Chicken and Rice Soup

Today's temperature was in the 80s...yes, it's still February. I guess that ol' groundhog was right and spring is coming early! Since it was warmer (and since I'm on a little bit of a health kick as of, oh, yesterday), I wanted something lighter and healthy that would still be filling. So with that in mind, I decided on chicken and rice soup. I'd never made it until today, and I think it turned out pretty well. The 'recipe' below is a little altered from what I did, but trust me, this will make it better!


You need this:

1 boneless & skinless chicken breast
olive oil
salt and pepper
4 chicken bouillon cubes (yes it seems like a lot...go with me!)
3 cups water
1 cup carrots
1 cup uncooked instant rice
1 celery stalk, cut into bite sized chunks
1/4 onion, in large chunks
4 mushrooms, quartered
fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 350.
1. Place your chicken breast into a baking dish, drizzle lightly with oil, then salt and pepper. Bake it about 20 minutes...or until its cooked through. I,of course, just put it in the oven and forget about it, so I have no clue how long it took to bake my chicken. Sorry...

***Don't start step 2 until the chicken is almost cooked.***

2. Put your water in a medium sauce pan and add the bouillon cubes. Set on medium high and add carrots. Let it cook together for 10 minutes or so.
3. Cut your chicken into bite sized pieces and add to the bouillon pot. Also add the celery, rice, onion and mushroom.
4. Take a few sprigs of the fresh parsley and tear it into pieces and add it to the pot.
5. Let everything cook together until the rice is fluffy and the carrots are cooked. Don't let the carrots get mushy! They should still be firm!

I was a little heavy handed with the rice when I made this. I wasn't thinking and added 2 cups of rice...eek. In the version above, I added one more bouillon cube than I used. I had to salt my soup and I really think the extra cube would just make it all around better. Over all, it was a really delicious soup!

WARNING: There are left overs. I know. I didn't want there to be, but really, you'll like having this soup for lunch tomorrow :)


I hope you like it! Tomorrow I'm going to try my hand at a spinach and avocado salad. I'll, as always, keep you posted!

Happy Cooking!


amy