Chicken & Rice Soup

Soup is one of my favorite foods.  I'm picky about the kinds of soup I eat, but I really like soup in general.  It's surprisingly filling, usually fairly low-calorie, and the ultimate comfort food.  It kind of bums me out that soup generally takes a little while to make.  This one, however, is not too bad.  Really it's just the chopping of all the vegetables and such that take time.

This soup is really good, you guys.  It's creamy without being too heavy, it has flavor without overpowering the vegetables, and would be perfect to make for someone who just needs some comfort food.  I'm looking forward to making this again on some chilly fall/winter nights.

I added a can of green beans to mine, just for color and because I had them, but I wouldn't recommend doing that.  If you really want to, put in about 1/2 a can.  The original recipe included 2 stalks of celery, but I don't like celery so I took it out.  Add it back in if you like; just dice it and put it in with the carrots and onion.

Creamy Chicken & Rice Soup (adapted from For the Love of Cooking)

Makes at least 6 servings.  May not be the easiest recipe to halve, but you could either try that or you could freeze half of it and save it for a later date.

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
5 cups chicken broth
1 tsp (or 1 cube) chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 bay leaf
1 cup or more cooked chicken breast, diced (I bought a .8lb package of chicken and used it all)
1/2 cup dry long grain rice
1 cup frozen yellow corn, thawed
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
2 tbsp corn starch
1 (12oz) can evaporated milk

Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat.  Add diced onion and carrots and cook about 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.  Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute.  Add chicken stock, diced chicken, rice, bouillon, basil, sea salt, black pepper, and bay leaf.  Mix well and cover.  Cook over medium heat 15-20 minutes, or until rice appears cooked.  Turn heat to high to boil the soup.  In a small bowl, whisk together evaporated milk and corn starch.  Add mixture to boiling soup.  Stir to combine, lower heat, and add corn.  Stir together and simmer 5-10 minutes more.  Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.  Add a little cheese on top, if you like.