Chicken Rice Soup

For several reasons, I decided to throw together some Chicken Rice Soup the other day.
- We've all had those nasty mid-summer colds hit us.
- We had leftover chicken from our camping trip that hubby had prepared to perfection on the smoker, and it needed to get used up before it was wasted.
- Our refrigerator is slightly possessed and has a tendency to freeze things at random times. That left us with a partially frozen bag of celery that needed to be picked through to find and use what was still fresh.

We recently got a Rice Cooker with a gift certificate, and we've LOVED using it. Make yourself a batch of about 4 C (dry) of rice. I ended up spooning my soup over the rice every time we ate it rather than ever mixing them together and letting the rice soak up all the broth. It worked for me.

For the soup: Start with the standard carrots (2), celery (whatever was useable), and onion (one large or two small). Saute that in a bit of olive oil, then add some herbs. We used what we had on hand that was given to us fresh by a friend: lime basil and parsley.

It already looked and smelled amazing!

Add 5 C. of water (or whatever seems proportionate to the amount of veggies and chicken you have available). I added pepper (a lot), but since the chicken was already seasoned, I left it at that.

Toss in your chicken, and cover to simmer for as long as you can. At this point, when I lifted the lid, I was blown away by the amazing smell of that smokey chicken.

Lastly, spoon some rice into your bowl and ladle some of that good-old-fashioned cold cure over top. Perfection!!