I hope to post more often, but life happens!
Zoey has found she loves snow. This was her first time in it. She sure had a good time!
Zach and I discovered Chicken and Gnocchi soup from Olive garden. After SEVERAL trips there we found our poor bank account was suffering so I decided to copy the recipe. It's still somewhat in the works, but this is what I have so far:
Amber's copy cat Chicken and Gnocchi
1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced (you can use a rotisserie chicken)
1 14 ounce can salt free chicken broth
1 quart half and half
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup carrots, finely shredded
1 cup onion, finely diced
1-2 cup fresh spinach
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon parsley
1 pound potato gnocchi (you can sometimes buy this at the store)
Sauté the onion, celery, and garlic in a bit of butter and/or olive oil, over medium heat until the onion becomes clear-ish (Zach says when they turn into ghost onions)
In the soup pot add the flour and butter, and make a roux, let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding 1 quart of half and half (I wonder if you can use half half&half and half milk. It was almost too much cream for me).
Into the roux/cream add in the onion, celery, garlic mixture, carrots, and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick add the chicken broth (I had to boil it a bit before it became thick). Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasonings, simmer until soup is heated through. Don't overcook the gnocchi or it'll become mashed potatoes!
I also added 2 cubes of chicken and herb bullion in the end. I would have used "Better than Bullion" but I only had beef. It seemed to give it a bit more flavor. Also, the carrots turned the soup slightly pink. I suppose you can rinse them, but I figured that would kill their nutritional value.
Let me know how I could improve on this, if you have any ideas!
