Chicken Soup of Deliciousness

I love to cook.  I love eating food, I love thinking about new recipes, I love trying to recreate things that I've eaten in restaurants.  My husband loves it, I love it, however, I never write anything down.  Ever.  I always make something delicious, ask Austin what he thinks and he responds, "It was amazing, but you'll never make it again, anyway..."  In an effort to be better about remembering things I've made, I am going to start sharing some of them online.  Feel free to make them yourself or share them with your friends if you like them.  The recipe titles are silly, mostly because I'm not good at coming up with clever names and I use phrases that people use to describe my food.

Enjoy my first blogged recipe:

Chicken Soup of Deliciousness

(similar to the Olive Garden’s Zuppa)

Kimberly Murray

*The measurements below are merely estimates, as I rarely use a recipe or measure anything while cooking.

**This is a large recipe.  You will want to cut it in half for a smaller batch.

Cook Time: 4-6 hours

Yields: 10-12 servings

Prepare the Chicken:

4 chicken breasts

black pepper, smoked paprika

1 box of chicken stock (not broth)

¼-½ bottle of Olive Garden dressing

half of a sweet onion, diced

green onions, chopped (only the white portion)

finely chopped spinach

Place the chicken breasts in a large crock pot, add chicken stock, cover the top of the chicken with a thick layer of black pepper and smoked paprika.  Carefully pour Olive Garden dressing over top of the chicken.  Cover chicken with spinach.  Add onions to stock.  Cook in the crock pot until the chicken is easy to break apart.  Put the chicken on a cutting board and either shred it or cut it into bite-size pieces.  Place chicken back into crock pot and add the remaining ingredients.

Soup:

quartered and sliced Idaho potatoes (you will need more than you think)

finely chopped mushrooms

leaves from 4 stems of kale (remove the stem from the kale before adding it)

1 box of chicken stock

3 cups Hansen’s heavy whipping cream

3 cups Hansen’s skim milk
1 cup Kraft Italian five cheese shredded cheese
1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

smoked paprika

black pepper

basil

oregano

Allow all ingredients to cook in the crock pot until the desired consistency.  Next time I make this, I will probably wait to add the kale until the soup is almost finished.  I will also add more smoked paprika.

The ingredients from Hansen’s are available at their outlet stores (they take cash only).  The Olive Garden salad dressing is available at the restaurant.