Manageable Mondays: Homemade Chicken and Rice Soup

As I had said in yesterdays post there's a ton of things you can do with left over chicken. I had planned on making chicken salad (because my husband is obsessed with it) but unfortunately our house had a rough night last night. Both kids decided to wake up at 2am...and then stay up for the rest of the night. Along with my 2am wake up call also came a stomach virus. OH. MY. GOSH. I haven't been in that much pain since child birth.

When I finally managed to get out of bed at almost 3pm there was no way I was going to make chicken salad. The mere thought of mayonnaise was enough to send my stomach right back up so chicken soup it was. There was also no way I could go to the store, so I had to use whatever was in our fridge and somehow it turned out to be the best chicken and rice soup I've ever made.

Ingredients: 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

2 cups chopped carrots 

2 cups chopped celery 

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 32oz container of gluten-free chicken broth 

1/4 cup brown rice, uncooked 

2 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded 

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano  

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 

1 teaspoon dried parsley  

1 sprig rosemary 

2 bay leaves

Heat olive oil in large pot and sauté carrots and celery on medium-high heat for about 2 minutes. Add minced garlic and sauté for an additional minute. Pour chicken broth into pot and bring to a boil. Add 1/4 cup rice, pepper, salt, oregano, thyme, parsley, rosemary, and bay leaves. Continue to boil uncovered for 1 minute then cover and simmer. Shred your chicken and then add it after your soup has been simmering for 5 minutes and then continue to simmer until your rice is cooked. Remove your bay leaves and rosemary sprig. 

Luckily for me, it was pouring rain all day so it didn't feel super weird making soup in July. Even more lucky was the fact that because my kids were up all night they crashed for an extra long nap and I got to sit on the couch with my soup and watch 3 straight hours of horrible reality television. It was amazing.