Stupefyingly Simple Chicken, Rice, and Butternut Squash Soup

One taste of this soup, and you too will be stupefied.  And your body slammed with enough beta carotene to . . . . well to do something astounding.  Maybe even run or something crazy.

For me, making soup is not a quick or easy thing.  I think it's a Production.  I have my Soup Packs.  There's lots of chopping involved.  I plan to spend hours over my pretty purple pot.  And I generally end up with something good that my family eats happily the first time but the soup leftovers don't usually get fought over like other things.

The day I made this, I had 2 kids home sick with colds, and I was busy with baking.  I didn't have time to devote to soup, but I thought the kids would benefit from a warm bowl for lunch.  The oven was on anyway, so I selected a small butternut squash from the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve in the corner of the breakfast nook, split it, scooped out the guts, and roasted it upside down on a rimmed baking sheet with a cup of water for 45 minutes until it was tender.  That part was easy.  I kept going.

Since I wasn't Making A Production out of the soup, I grabbed a large saucepan, preheated oil in it over medium heat, and dropped in about half a cup of carrots and celery from a freezer bag of pre-chopped veggies.  After they had started to soften I tossed in some Onion Onion and minced garlic.  I also tossed in 4 bullion cubes because I didn't have any soup stock on hand.  After my electric kettle had come to a boil I added about 4-5 cups of water to the pan.  Then a can of chicken, half of a squash, and let it simmer gently until lunchtime (give it at least 30 minutes, could go up to 2 hrs).  When it was time to serve, I scooped out the remaining rice from the rice cooker (last night's dinner leftovers), added it to the pot, and dished up bowls of warm soup.

Stupefyingly easy and surprisingly tasty, especially given the utter lack of effort on my part.

Stupefyingly Simple Chicken, Rice, and Butternut Squash Soup

1/2 cup chopped carrot-celery mix

1 Tablespoon Onion Onion or other dried onion mix

1/4 teaspoon dried minced garlic

1 quart chicken stock (or 4 chicken bullion cubes plus 1 quart warm water)

1 can (10 oz) chicken breast meat, or 1 and ½ cups cooked chicken breast

1/2 small butternut squash, roasted (about 1 and ¼ cups)

2 cups cooked rice

Preheat a 3 quart saucepan over medium heat.  Add a teaspoon of oil.  Sauté the carrot and onion for 5-8 minutes until softened.  Add onion and garlic, stir for 3-5 more minutes.  Add chicken stock.  Bring to a gentle simmer, add chicken and squash.  Stir.  Simmer for 30+ minutes.  A few minutes before serving, add rice to pot and heat through.

This post is shared on What's Cookin' Wednesday, What's In The Box,  From the Farm Blog Hop, the Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Tasty Tuesdays

I've revamped my Visual Recipe Index! For more ideas on what to do with your butternut squash, click here.