Kitchen Chemist - Crock Pot Chicken & Rice Soup

With all of the snow we've been getting, homey foods are a must. I made a variation of this Crock Pot Chicken & Rice Soup the other night and it was wonderful! Of course, I *tweaked it a bit...

From the website:

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 7 hours

Total Time: 7 hours, 25 minutes

Yield: Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces
• 3 (14 oz.) cans ready to serve chicken broth *I used one 32 oz. carton
• 1 (14 oz. ) can ready to serve vegetable broth *I used one 32 oz. carton
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 carrots, sliced *didn't have any carrots
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 8 oz. pkg. sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 cup long grain rice *I used instant brown rice
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil leaves
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. white pepper
• *added 1 18.5 oz can Progresso Cream of Mushroom Soup about 3 hours in (whisked in) to thicken consistency
• *added 4 large mushrooms, cubed, in place of carrots

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in 4-5 quart crockpot. Cover and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked and vegetables and rice are tender. I didn't start this until the afternoon of the day I planned to serve it, so I cooked it for 4 hours on high heat and it came out great!

Topped with shredded mozzarella cheese & chives, and served with large crescent rolls, brushed with melted butter & sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Happy Cooking!

Emily

Music Suggestion: If you like jazz, check out The Jazz Professors, a sextet of American jazz musicians who are all both working music professionals in their own right and faculty members of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. They came up on Sunday on my Music Choice station on my TV, and I've heard them a few others times & they are wonderful! During my time at WMU I got to hear the faculty jazz ensemble several times, and those who teach and perform for the love of the music are great to listen to.

Movie Suggestion: "Blackfish" (2013) directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, an incredibly powerful documentary about orcas in captivity, specifically those who lash out at their trainers. It tells about the stark differences between orca life in the wild vs. captivity, the lies and cover-ups by SeaWorld over the years, and is full of interviews with former SeaWorld trainers who give incredible testimonials to the good, bad & ugly of the animals' lives. It centers around one orca, Tilikum, a male orca who has been in captivity since he was captured off the east coast of Iceland at age 2 in 1983. He has killed 3 people in captivity, the most famous being Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old trainer at SeaWorld whom the other trainers described as being "everything it meant to be a SeaWorld trainer" and "the most experienced trainer" at the park. It is a really staggering film, including interviews with scientists, biologists, witnesses to orca attacks in captivity, and trainers who give great information about orca culture, biology, experiences in captivity and behavior.

Kitchen Chemist - Pea Soup

I will begin posting about some of my adventures as a Kitchen Chemist, aka a young pseudo-chef who marries her own family knowledge & skill with Googled recipes and a flair of creativity.

Today's post: Pea Soup!

I used this "Easy Peasy Pea Soup" recipe from Food Network as a basis for my soup, though I was missing a decent amount of ingredients. Here is what I actually used:

• 2 cans of sweet peas
• 2 medium onions, halved and diced (I diced chunkier for a more textured soup, up to you)
• 3 celery stalks, halved lengthwise and diced (I diced chunkier for a more textured soup, up to you)
• My own vegetable broth from the spices I had based off Vegetable Broth #1 from FitDay
• 1 1/2 cups of store-bought bacon bits
• 1/3 cup corn starch
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• Vegetable oil as needed when sautéing
• Assorted spices according to my taste & what I had on-hand: cumin, celery seed, garlic salt, salt, pepper, savory, marjoram, thyme, sage, chili powder
• A few tablespoons of corn starch to thicken soup to my desired consistency

Before starting, I used my Magic Bullet blender to puree 1 1/ of the 2 cans of sweet peas and the can juices. I put the puree in a metal mixing bowl and mixed in the leftover whole peas, and set that aside. I started by sautéing the onion and celery in vegetable oil, and simultaneously brought water with the broth ingredients (cumin, celery seed, garlic salt, savory, marjoram, thyme, sage) to a boil in a small pot, probably 3-4 cups of liquid total. When the onion & celery were cooked & starting to brown a little, around 8 minutes or so on med-hi, I pressed the fresh garlic into the pot and added the cumin (my husband loves cumin so I put in a little extra). I added the bacon and let that cook with the onions, celery and cooked that another couple minutes, then added the broth I had made and the pea mixture. I stirred everything and kept it over medium heat to intertwine the flavors and heat the soup through. The soup was a little thinner than I wanted, so I added some cornstarch a tablespoons at a time and whisked the soup. Once I had removed the pot from heat and let it sit a few minutes, the consistency was perfect. We like a little tiny kick to our food, so I added a few sprinkles of chili powder for fun. The soup turned out great! It's going to be a comforting dinner on this snowy New Year's Day. 

Pea soup doesn't look chunky just sitting there...

...but one bite and you get all the veggies and bacon chunks you could want!

Snowy porch on NYD

Patio table covered in glittery snow

Hope you enjoyed this post - try out this soup, it was quick, easy, and very tasty! Happy cooking, & Happy New Year!

Emily