Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

Good evenin' my friends!  It seems that winter has hit us.  Well the COLD part of winter has hit us, but fingers crossed the snow won't find us.  (yeah, right)  But oddly we haven't had much yet this year.  The cold doesn't bother me, it is the snow and ice that I dislike.  I hope you are all having a safe winter, and had a wonderful holiday season!

If you have been with me very long you know of my extraordinary love for soup.  I haven't shared many soups this season, well, let me rephrase that.  I haven't shared any soups that I love, only ones my hubby loves!  As a kid I would eat this stuff from the can, I know it is terrible, but I LIKE it.  I decided in light of trying to make as much from scratch as possible I would make my own homemade version.   I did it.  That is all I really have to say.  It is better than any other soup of the same variety I have ever eaten.  I added no veggies, I wanted to stay true to recreating what I loved as a kid. 

You will see in the ingredient list, I included one bouillon cube.  That is optional but I like the wee boost of chicken flavor and I use the Maggi or Knorr cubes when I find I need them.  In the event you do use a bouillon cube, do NOT add salt, you won't need it.  If you do not choose to use it, you might need a bit of salt, so I just added it as a "to taste" ingredient as I usually do.  Salt and pepper are definitely personal preferences and tastes. 

I hope you enjoy a bowl of this, it is soul warming and make sure to eat it on the sofa, with fuzzy socks on, and wrapped up in your warmest blanket watching your favorite show!  It makes it taste that much better!


2 T. butter
2 cups uncooked chicken cut into small cubes
1/3 cup+1T. flour
7 cups chicken stock
1 bouillon cube (optional)
1-12oz. can evaporated milk
2 cups cooked rice
1 T. dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste but I didn't need any salt at all

In a large pot melt butter.  Add in diced chicken and let brown/cook for 5 minutes.  Your pieces should be small, if they aren't small, allow them longer to cook almost all the way if not all the way through. 

When they are cooked, add in flour and stir until it is absorbed by the juices and butter.  Stir chicken and let the flour cook for 1 minute.  Now, add in your chicken stock.  If you heat the chicken stock first this will be a faster process, just FYI.  Otherwise, add in chicken stick and stir while it is coming to a boil.  It should begin to thicken once it starts to boil.  Let simmer stirring often for 10 minutes.  Add in rice and evaporated milk and let simmer another 5 minutes.

Your soup will be smooth and creamy and you will likely burn your tongue on the first bite.  Just be prepared, you won't be able to wait to eat it!

ENJOY!

Cherries In The Snow, Cherry Almond Popsicles

I love garage sales.  I love makeup.  I love things that bring back happy childhood memories.  Do any of these things relate to each other?  Relate to food?  Well let me explain how they do.

I was out at garage sales with my daughter in law the other day.  We did a few "drive-byes" and found one that looked promising.  I sent my daughter in law to scope it out as we had one screaming twin in tote.  She yelled back at me that there was a ton of Tupperware, like new.  Well, Tupperware is a complete blast from the past for me.  I mean haven't a lot of us moved on to Rubbermaid and Glad disposable storage bowls?  I had to go check it out.  As I was moving toward the boxes of Tupperware, I had eyeballed something that looked familiar right away.  I couldn't be sure if it was, in fact, what I thought it was.  As I got closer, my blood pressure rose, and I started to get the shivers, I had, at that moment, in fact, laid my eyes on none other than a  "vintage" Tupperware Popsicle Set!!  WHAT?  This was like my childhood  all wrapped in a Ziploc!  I was thrilled!  I snagged those babies up.  I wouldn't have cared if they were 20.00, I was going to leave with them in my hand! 

I got home, washed them up and sat contemplating what my first flavor would be.  I knew I had cherries to use up.  I didn't want to go with chocolate and cherries, it just seemed, not the right thing.  As I sat, I was thinking that I needed to do my makeup for an outing later and so I got to it.  When I put on my favorite red lipstick, it all came rushing to me.  YES!  Cherries and almond!  I would keep them looking white, with cherries in them and I would call them none other than, "Cherries In The Snow"! (Thanks Revlon!)  Many things I love rolled into one, Tupperware, garage sales, lipstick and food.  . 

My life is now complete.

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup cherries, pitted and chopped
1/8 tsp. almond extract
1/8 tsp. cherry extract

Combine all ingredients, pour mixture into popsicle molds and freeze until completely frozen overnight is best!!  While I am not exactly sure how many ounces each of these hold, this will make 6 popsicles using this set!  Very easy to double or triple! 

Enjoy these simple, but delicious summer treats!  But, be prepared because..... I'm in a popsicle state of mind!