Chicken and Rice Soup

This is my go to recipe for Chicken soup. I posted a picture on my Facebook recipe page after making it one day, and had requests for the recipe, so I finally typed it out.  I used up some leftover chicken that was in the freezer, as well as about a cup of a leftover wild rice mix that I had frozen from a previous meal, so this went together quickly. If you don’t have any leftovers lingering in your freezer, you can always brown a skinless boneless chicken breast or 4 skinless boneless chicken thighs in some coconut oil, and then throw them in at the same time as the chicken broth, to finish cooking thru. I often cook “planned leftovers” and freeze things like rice and quinoa in 1 cup portions to throw into soups like this.

Chicken and Rice Soup

1 cup chopped onion

2 -3 cloves garlic, minced

4 stalks celery chopped (include leaves if you have them!)

2 carrots, medium dice

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 tsp dried thyme

1 tbsp dried oregano

7 cups Chicken bone broth** (or good quality organic chicken stock)

1 ½ cups pre-cooked chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces

1 cup pre-cooked rice (I used a leftover wild rice blend that I had frozen from another meal, Quinoa would also be great!)

Juice of ½ an organic lemon (around 2 tbsp)

Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the onion, garlic, celery and carrots in the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the dried herbs and continue to sauté. You want the veggies to just start to brown for the best flavour.

Add the broth, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer until veggies are just softened, about 15 minutes.

Add the pre-cooked chicken and rice. Simmer until they are warmed thru (mine were both frozen when I added them, it took about 10 minutes)

Add the lemon juice, (the secret ingredient!! Trust me on this one; it brings a subtle brightness to the soup! )

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy! 

**for a quick primer on making your own bone broth or stock, here is a post from my old blog. I leave it for much longer now though, cooking for close to 24 hrs to get the most nutrients out of the bones. 

http://9cooks.blogspot.ca/2009/10/stocking-up.html