I know, I know--soup in August? Well, not to alienate my readers, but we have central AC, so soup isn't bad on a warm day.
This recipe is actually one that I made up and is inspired by the soup at Sweet Tomatoes. They had a creamy chicken and vegetable soup and then they had stuffing to put on top. I had this there while I was pregnant with Nicholas and I just couldn't get enough.
The other good thing about this recipe is that all the ingredients are pretty standard things that you probably have in your fridge, pantry or freezer. I haven't been to the store this week (or last) and I made it work. I first made this in the winter, but made some adaptations this time around.
Ingredients:
2 TB butter
2 TB flour
diced onion (about 1/2 cup)
1 box chicken broth (32 oz)
Milk--about 1 cup
Frozen veggies about 1 1/2 to 2 cups
Diced cooked chicken--2 cups
1 tsp thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 box stove top stuffing (prepared as directed)
Optional ingredients--leftover mashed potatoes
First, I melted the butter and sauteed the onion. After it was melted, I added the flour and mixed it to make a roux. Then, I added the chicken broth, milk (I confess, I didn't measure the milk!) and thyme. I whisked it until it was all mixed together. I'm cooking it over medium heat at this point. After it started to warm up, I whisked in about a scoop and a half of leftover mashed potatoes. What else was I going to do with them, right? I love to do this when I make soups! They not only give the soup a great flavor, but they thicken the soup a little too.
After that was going and starting to steam a little, I dumped in some frozen veggies. I have used a bag of frozen mixed veggies in the past, but this time, I didn't have any! So, I put in some frozen peas and carrots and added some corn. I also added the chicken. Yesterday, I bought a rotisserie chicken at Costco and that was dinner last night. Tonight, I chopped up the rest of it and put it in the soup! I will confess at this point, I also put in the last of a carton of cream (probably about 2 tablespoons). Again, what do you do with the last 2 tablespoons of cream? I used some salt and pepper too--but just a word of caution here. The stuffing is going to add salt to this soup, so don't overdo the salt and pepper. You can add more later if you need it.
I let the soup come to a boil and simmer a little and I made the stuffing. I just made it right out of the box--if you so desired, of course you could do homemade or use leftover Thanksgiving stuffing, but this dinner is all about fast and easy for me! (If you wanted to make this in November, you could replace the chicken with turkey).
Serve the soup and top each bowl with a scoop of stuffing. YUM! This really is fantastic!
This served 2 adults and 2 kids at my house. TONS of soup leftover. Probably would serve at least 6 adults. But, not too much stuffing left. I might make 2 packages next time, just so there is enough for leftovers.
