And so it begins.
The middle of January.
AKA the countdown to spring.
I know we have a loooooong way to go, but man, the whole January/February/March combo is just rough. Deep dark cold rough. There’s just nothing really to look forward to, aside from maybe that scarce beautiful 70 degree day we are occasionally thrown in early March. That would be lovely this year, please. Yes, let’s order that.
At least the sun sets a few minutes later each day. So that means once January is over we’ll have gained about an extra 45 minutes or so of light at the end of the day. Hey, that’s something! It will be nice to have the kids off the bus with the sun still in the sky. What a concept.
So my friends, until then, it’s lots of cooking over the stove with soup being the go to option to warm everyone up. I can’t say enough good things about this chicken and rice soup with lemon and dill. It is ridiculously easy, so tasty, healthy, and stretches so you’ve got dinner and a lunch or two all lined up. Get yourself a fire going and grab a glass of red wine and settle in with your show of choice (Homeland, anyone?). We’ve got a long few months ahead of us…..
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 1 TBS butter
- 2 cups chopped onion
- 1 cup chopped carrot
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup chopped zucchini
- 3 cloves garlic
- salt & pepper
- 8-10 cups chicken stock (depending on how thick you like your soup)
- 2 cups brown rice (I used microwaveable from Trader Joes, you can use uncooked rice it will just need longer to simmer)
- rotisserie chicken, shredded up (or you can roast your own!)
- Handful of fresh dill, chopped
- 1 lemon, juiced
- Heat your evoo and butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add in onion, carrot, celery, zucchini and saute together until softened, roughly 10 minutes.
- Add in garlic, and season everything with salt & pepper.
- Pour in your stock and rice. If using raw rice, it will need to simmer awhile now to soften (roughly 45 minutes or so). If you used already cooked rice, it's already done.
- At this point I let the soup simmer awhile anyways to come together, then tasted and adjusted the salt and pepper.
- Off the heat stir in the fresh dill and lemon juice.
- Serve in deep bowls with crusty bread.
If you liked this post, check these out!
Courtney
Latest posts by Courtney (see all)
- Roasted Bruschetta Salmon - August 30, 2018
- Four hour Bolognese - August 28, 2018
- Summer sandwiches - July 25, 2018
Excited about this recipe – but where’s the chicken? I see it in the picture of the soup, but can’t find it in the recipe. Thanks!
oh my goodness – thanks for catching that! I just shredded up a rotisserie chicken or you can roast your own bone in chicken breasts for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven and then shred up 🙂
I made this soup yesterday and it was so yummy and perfect! And then I sat down last night to read the daily entry in Savor, and there the soup was on the same day! I didn’t even notice that it was adapted from there until I came back to write this comment. Thanks for the recipe! This will be on rotation during the winter months!