Classic Chicken and Rice Soup

Oh, Pinterest, how I love you! I've found several wonderful blogs to follow from the Pins on the site, which gave me even more stuff to pin! :D

This yummilicious - yet super-simple - chicken & rice soup came from the Picky Palate. I was a bit surprised at the Dijon mustard, but it just gives the soup a little depth. I used a lot more than 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, and the soup has a nice, peppery, warm flavor. Otherwise, I pretty much followed the recipe as-is (except for the parsley. Too lazy to bother with it!). Good stuff, lemme tell ya!

Classic Chicken & Rice Soup

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled & chopped
3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
7 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked white rice
1 tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 c finely chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add onions; cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring for 1 minutes. Add celery and carrots, cooking and stirring until tender, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Stir and reduce heat to low. Simmer until ready to serve.

Seres 8

Buffalo Chicken Pasta

This recipe was originally a pasta salad that I found on Pinterest. It evolved quite a bit after we realized how greasy the hot wing sauce made the dish (especially when you reheated the leftovers). It separates when it's heated and becomes rather icky. We solved the grease problem by holding the hot sauce until you're sitting down with a big bowl of the pasta. This also lets you control how much heat (and heartburn!) you want. Now it's just about perfect, and Jeff devoured the stuff. I don't like buffalo anything, and even I thought it was pretty good.

Buffalo Chicken Pasta

16 oz. penne
1 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup milk
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
3 cups cubed cooked chicken

10 oz blue cheese crumbles (2 small containers)
1 cup shredded mozzarella
Frank's hot wing sauce
Ranch salad dressing

Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta according to package directions. In a large bowl, whisk together evaporated milk, milk, soup, garlic powder, and onion powder until smooth. Stir in chicken, blue cheese, and mozzarella. When pasta is cooked, draine (do not rinse) and pour into chicken mixture. Carefully stir to combine. Transfer to a 9x11 or 1.5-qt casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the top turns golden brown. Serve with hot sauce and Ranch dressing.

Serves 6