Vicky's Famous Broccoli-Cheese-Chicken-Rice Soup

Megan and I made dinner last night for a few friends, and as we were pondering what to make, we looked for something warm on a cool and dreary day. We immediately thought of our friend Vicky's delightful Broccoli-Cheese soup. Now, this is no ordinary Broccoli-Cheese soup. This is the world's greatest broccoli-cheese soup. Find below the recipe that Vicky sent us to make this treat. I must disclose though, that Megan and I think that Vicky is holding out on us a little, as this is her specialty, haha. I think to make her version of this famous soup, you need to add a couple more cups of rice, and maybe even an extra can of chicken. (That or Megan didn't do it just right when I wasn't looking, haha.) Anyhow, it's delicious by either recipe, so enjoy! I did also make cheese biscuits from the Bisquick package mix that you can buy at Wal-Mart (as pictured below) to complement the meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3-4 stalk celery

1/2 an onion (or so - I try to do equal parts celery and onion)

1 bag chopped broccoli (I think it's 10.5 oz? I use birds eye, but any regular sized bag of cut broccoli will do)

5 cups chicken broth

8 oz cream cheese

8 oz regular velveeta

16 oz Mexican velveeta (if you want it less spicy you can do more regular or even all regular)

2 12.5 oz cans chicken (I usually get tyson white)

1 cup instant rice (I add an extra sprinkle of rice cause it's yummy!)

Directions:

Sauté the celery and onion untill soft. Add broccoli and stir until the broccoli is heated through. Add broth. Bring to a good boil. Turn the heat down to whatever setting you use to simmer (2 or 3?) and add cheese. Cream cheese first, because it takes longest, followed by the velveeta. STIR STIR STIR! It helps the cheese to melt and will make sure you don't burn it. Whatever you do, don't let the cheese burn! Ruins the whole pot! Add chicken and let cook at that simmer setting for 15 minutes or so. It should bubble a little, but like I said, don't turn it up too high and burn it. Add your rice and cook at the same temp until rice is done - usually another 15-20 minutes and TA DA!

Featured Chef: Jaime Nelson

Hello everybody! Meet Jaime Nelson! One of my favorite people in the world. On Friday, we were all getting together to have game night, and while at work during the day - I got a craving to cook! AND, I found this wonderful recipe via Twitter and Southern Living's "What's for dinner" special post. So I texted Jaime, and she was game for cooking in before our gathering. Here is the documentation of our cooking adventures, and the delectable results!

The recipe that I found was for a crayfish etouffee, but we substituted shrimp for a lack of crayfish at Harps. We also opted to bake some cheese biscuits to complement the meal. We just bought the mix from the muffin and cornbread section at the store - all you have to do is add water, bake, and voila! We also paired the meal with a Malbec, which went quite well with the meal. See our pictures and the link to the recipe below:

Recipe:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1646467

This was a really yummy meal, and Jaime makes a really cute chef too. She's super fun to cook with. :o)