Pure comfort!

I want it to be Fall.  I am so ready for cooler weather, but alas, it is still at least 105 degrees.  :(  I am still trying to will some fresh autumn air our way, so this past Sunday night we made another one of our favorite comfort foods:  chicken pot pie soup!  We love the taste of chicken pot pie, but in the interest of saving a few calories, we created this recipe for a soup a few years ago with the same flavors of the pie, but without the buttery crust.  We also wanted to have dessert, so omitting the crust makes us feel a little better about it. 

[More on the dessert this Friday!]

Unfortunately, we only wrote down the ingredients and completely drew a blank when trying to recreate it this past Sunday night.  I mean seriously, we have made this at least ten times in the past three years and we could not remember anything!!  So, we just kind of threw things together.  I was just getting over a cold and my husband had just returned from a business trip, so the two of us in the kitchen??...kind of a disaster.  Our soup was still great, just not as we remembered.  We wrote down the steps this time, but will still try to get it back to what we remember another time...if we succeed, I will post those steps.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup  Chicken Corn Chowder?

Ingredients (I apologize for the random measurements):
-1 cooked rotisserie chicken, chopped
-4 cups of chopped potatoes (about 3 medium potatoes)
-about 2 cups of chopped carrots
-3 celery stalks, chopped
-2 corn cobs cooked and cut off cob
-1 cup of chopped mushrooms
-1 medium yellow onion, diced (we also added two random green onions, chopped)
-1 quart of chicken broth
-a lot of fresh parsley, chopped
-2 teaspoons of poultry seasoning
-3 tablespoons of flour
-3 tablespoons of butter
-1 cup of milk
-salt and pepper
-olive oil

~We chopped everything and gathered the spices for easy assembly.

~Put the potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, and a tiny bit of olive oil into a large pot over medium heat for about 15 minutes to slightly brown the veggies, stirring frequently.

~Add the poultry seasoning, stir, and continue browning for maybe another 5 minutes.

~Add 2 cups of the broth and bring to a boil.

~Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the veggies are tender to your liking...about 20 minutes.

~Add mushrooms, corn, and parsley.  Stir and simmer for about 5 more minutes.

~Add chopped chicken, cover, and reduce heat to medium/low heat for about 15 minutes.

 

~This was a complete experiment.  We could not remember how exactly we made the soup creamy, so still following the ingredient list, we sort of made a bechamel sauce.  1.  3 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of flour into a saucepan.  2.  Whisk flour and butter to make a roux.  3.  Gradually add the 1 cup of milk while whisking.  4.  Add remaining broth and continue whisking until creamy.

~With a potato masher, I mashed a few of the potato chunks to help thicken the soup and then added the sauce from the other pot.  Salt and pepper can be added depending on your taste preference.  Stir and voila!

Honestly, it really was good...and even better the second night.  I am still so annoyed that we did not write down the initial recipe, because it was perfect.  Oh well.  :)