Hearty Chicken and Rice Soup with Asian Veggies (Naturally Gluten Free)

Since I've been feeling a little sick lately,

I thought that I should make myself some soup to feel better.

It was super easy to make - perfect if you don't feel great!

Originally I wanted to make chicken noodle soup but I 
wasn't sure how the gluten free noodles would hold up as leftovers, so I went with rice which was a lot simpler.

I started by adding chicken broth and water to a pot. (I bet it would be even better with homemade chicken broth!!) Then I coarsely chopped an onion, and threw in 2 frozen chicken breasts.

I added a couple of tosses of herbs/seasonings to add 
some flavor to the broth.

I brought the broth to a boil and left it to simmer for about an 

hour and a half while I did other things. I occasionally came around to stir the broth and shred the chicken.

 About 30 mins before I wanted to eat dinner,

I gathered up the veggies I had on hand.  I didn't have many 'traditional' veggies so I used carrots, enoki mushrooms, 
garlic, baby bok choy and savoy cabbage.

I chopped the carrots and enoki mushrooms into bite-sized

chunks and threw them in a frying pan with a healthy dose of

powdered ginger, minced garlic and olive oil.

 After sautéing the mixture for a few minutes, I threw

it all in the pot. Then I chopped up my bok choy and cabbage,

and added it to the mix.  Then I added some jasmine rice.

After letting that cook for about 20 mins,

it was ready to eat!

It was really tasty!  But then as I was happily eating 

my soup and I thought maybe I should add a bit more flair to

clear out the sinuses and threw in some sriracha.

That was *extra* yummy!

The Recipe

Broth
- 4 cups chicken broth (I used Wegman's Organic Low-Sodium Broth)
- 4-5 cups water
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 1 onion coarsely chopped
- 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
- 1/2 tsp crushed rosemary
- 1/4 tsp celery seed

Veggies
- 3 large carrots, chopped
- 2 packages of enoki mushrooms, chopped
- 1.5 cups chopped savoy cabbage (about 3-4 leaves)
- 2 small bundles of bok choy, chopped
- 2 tbsp minced garlic

Other
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1.5 cups jasmine rice
- salt & pepper to taste


Putting it together:

1.  Put all broth ingredients (chicken broth, water, chicken breasts, onion, poultry seasoning, rosemary & celery seed) into a large pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, and leave for 30 mins to an hour (or more).
2.  Saute the carrots, mushrooms, garlic and ginger powder in the olive oil for approximately 3 minutes, then pour into the broth.
3.  Add the cabbage, bok choy and rice to the broth.
4.  Add salt and pepper to the broth to taste.
5.  Let the soup cook for an additional 20-30 minutes on low heat, until the rice is soft.

**I wanted a really thick and hearty soup.

If you prefer a soup with more broth, you could

either add more broth, or reduce the rice to 1 cup.
Because of the nature of rice, this soup will continue 
to thicken as it sits out, and by the time you're eating it as leftovers it's almost a porridge.  If you'd like to preserve
the 'soupiness,' collect some broth to store separately and add back in when reheating (or add new broth when reheating).

*Find a printer friendly version of this recipe

on my Google Docs here!