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This soup is simple to make and absolutely delicious. It’s one of those comforting meals you can throw together in the time it takes to cook your rice using a store bought rotisserie chicken, or you can do it the long way and cook the chicken yourself. The ingredients are few, but they are enough to give it a wonderful flavor that will have ‘em coming back for more.

Perfect for a sick day. Or a hard day. Or a long day. Or a lovely day that just needs a light and lovely finish.

But before I give you the recipe, I gotta tell you about what happened between me and my Katy Rose this morning. Get comfy, this won’t take too long but it never hurts get comfy anyway, right?

I love having kids. There is so much fun in raising someone and discovering their personality as they grow. When I was in college taking my education classes, I actually bought into the whole concept they taught about how behavior is learned and children are taught their personalities (I’m trying not to laugh as I type this now). Then I became a mother and saw firsthand how unique each individual is from the moment they are born – before that even!

My daughter, bless her precious sunshiney heart, is just a sparkle in human form. She is creative, artistic, can hear any song and play it instantly on the piano without having ever had lessons, and if you ask her what her favorite color is she will reply “rainbow” without even flinching.

She loves fashion and has fun with her clothes. She dresses in bright colors, playful prints, and even puts together creative new oufits from her closet that I would have never dreamed of. She does all of this while still managing to dress like a young lady.

I am in awe.

I, on the other hand, have the fashion sense of a lazy, colorblind mule.

If you ever see me look nice and put together then you can rest assured that one of three things happened:

1. Someone put together the outfit for me.
2. I saw the entire thing on a mannequin when I walked into a store.
3. I tried really, really hard and texted multiple pictures of the outfit to friends for help and advice.

Seriously. My idea of a great outfit was what I picked up last weekend in Bass Pro Shops.

Oooh Bass Pro Shops! – allow me to digress a moment.

I love Bass Pro Shops. It is my wonderland. I don’t get to go often because we don’t have one near us but whenever we are in Nashville my kids dread me dragging them there because I take ten times longer in that store that I would in an entire mall.

If I could shop nowhere else for the rest of my life but Bass Pro, I could die happy. They have clothes, food, all the good cooking equipment, anything you need to hunt or fish with, and more! A couple of years ago Maryland announced that they were awarding $200 Bass Pro gift cards to anyone who showed proof of killing a snakehead fish and I mentally hatched a plan for funding my entire retirement.

Just this past weekend Mama and I were in Nashville and I said “What do you think about going to Bass Pro while we’re here?” She said “Fine with me” and I lit up! They had men’s flannel shirts on sale 2 for $22 and matching Red Head brand men’s henley’s for the same price.

Meet my winter wardrobe!

Roll up the sleeves on that flannel and toss it on over that henley and all I need now is cold weather and stew! 

Katy Rose, well she is different. We are alike in many ways and polar opposites in others. Take fashion for example.  She was born knowing how to accessorize and she has been doing the best she can with me for these past 8+ years.

This morning, I decided to dress her in something I thought would be comfortable and fun. This is a half day at their school and the new rage is “spiritwear”. They have a new “spirit wear” store to promote and raise money for various things at school and my son is all over it. He is wearing school shirts every day. Katy Rose, not so much. Why wear spirit wear when she can wear “pretty”?

So today I decided to dress her in a pair of black pants and a spirit wear shirt that used to belong to her brother because the lady at the spirit wear store said all the girls were wearing big shirts and tying them on the sides with colorful ponytail holders.

Sounded fun and comfy to me!

I gave Katy Rose the shirt and had her put it on. She looked at me like I was crazy right off the bat (good on her for recongizing that sooner rather than later) but did as she was told. The gray t-shirt emblazoned with their school name kinda hung on her a bit but then I pulled out a bright red ponytail holder and set about gathering the bottom into a little loop that I pulled together just over her left hip.

I grinned as I looked at it, clearly proud of myself.

“There! Now look at that Katy!”

She looked down as if trying to see what it was that I was seeing instead of what she was seeing.

She flapped her arms a bit as the large sleeves billowed.

“Mama, it’s too big”

“Oh Katy no! that’s the style! the lady in the spirit wear store said all the teenage girls were wearing theirs like this!”

I often set up teenagers as the fashion model I’m trying to follow for her, thinking she will think this is cool. However, I just realized as I type this that setting up today’s teens as something for young children to emulate may not be the best parenting decision I’ve made…

She looked at me and tugged at the gray shirt a bit. “Mama, look at it.”

I tried one more bid to reassure her and said “Oh Katy, it’s the fashion now!”

Her little head raised up and regarded me with a mixture of pity and horror as if she was just now realizing what she had been saddled with as a mother.

“Ma” she said carefully, shaking her head with clear concern for me in her eyes “You think THIS is fashion?”

I burst out laughing. “Take it off Katy, I’ll get you something else.”

We sure are an interesting mix!

 Now let me show you how easy it is to make this delicious soup!

You’ll need: Chicken Broth, Rice, Heavy Cream*, Italian Dressing Mix, and a Rotisserie Chicken*

*You can use half and half or even milk in place of the cream but it won’t add the rich buttery flavor that cream does.

*Instructions for making this and cooking the chicken yourself are in the recipe at the bottom.

I am making enough for 6-8 servings because I love leftovers of this. Feel free to half this recipe if you’d like to feed only 4.

I also like to have about a cup of instant potato flakes to add to give my soup a little more body without altering the flavor. This is optional but I wanted to throw it out there that I do that. I love instant potato flakes as soup thickeners! Not so much as instant potatoes though For the sake of photos, I added a tablespoon of dried parsley to my soup as well. Entirely optional, totally not needed. But apparently I’m all about disclosing today

First of all, get your rice cooking. Cook two cups of dry rice, according to packet directions.

If you want to have a heartier soup, make more. If you want a lighter soup, cook less.

While rice is cooking, Pour your broth in a stockpot.

Or whatever pot you grab out of the cabinet first.

Add in your packet of dry Italian Dressing Mix.

Stirry Stirry!

Take your chicken of the bone and shred it. Add to pot.

Stirry Stirry.

Place this over medium heat and bring just to a boil, stirring ever so often.

Then, Reduce heat to a simmer.

Add cream.

If you like, you can also add instant potato flakes at this point. Stir that all up good.

Place about 1/2 cup of cooked rice in a bowl.

We don’t stir the rice directly into the soup because if we did and were planning on having leftovers, the next day that rice would be all bloated up and the soup would look more like a weird rice pudding. So just keep them separate until serving. Cooked rice refrigerates and even freezes well anyway.

Ladle servings of soup over the rice and stir.

My little Chicken bowls came from QVC. Mama and I saw them in the kitchens when we were there and ordered us some

Serve with warm crusty bread – or whatever you’re in the mood to serve it with.

Enjoy!

 Print This Recipe

“No one ever injured their eyesight by looking

on the bright side of things.”

~Unknown

Submitted by Jenny. Click here to submit your own motivational or inspiring quotes.

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