RECIPE: Hearty Chicken, Rice, and Vegetable Soup

Hearty Chicken, Rice, and Vegetable Soup

Here's a recipe that I created by accident tonight. What happened was my son requested Chicken a la King for supper. I had made the sauce a little thinner than usual, so, instead of serving it on a plate, I decided to serve it in a bowl. The problem was I had made frozen, California blend vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots) on the side. I thought, "That's okay! I'll just put the vegetables over the rice, then pour the sauce over the whole thing." This delicious new soup is what resulted! And it was so good that I wanted to share it with you. Here's what I did...

I put one cup dry, brown rice and 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan, brought it to a boil, then turned the burner down to low and let it simmer until all the water was absorbed.

While the rice was cooking I put my vegetables (3/4 of a package) on to cook and make my Chicken a la King sauce:

1 can (4 oz.) mushroom stems and pieces, drained (reserve liquid)
1 sm. or 1/2 lg. green pepper, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 c. butter (I use light butter)
1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 3/4 c. milk
1 1/2 c. water
2 c. cut-up cooked chicken

Cook and stir mushrooms and green pepper in butter over medium heat 5 minutes; remove from heat. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in bouillon, milk, water, and reserved mushroom liquid. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for one minute, making sure bouillon cubes are dissolved. Stir in chicken and heat through.

Complete by draining the vegetables and adding them and the rice to the pan with the sauce; stir and serve.