Worries Go Down Better With Soup

As far as my blog is concerned I was feeling ambitious on Sunday & wanted to have a post everyday.  Monday was a given (Weekend Recap), Friday was a given (Happies & Crappies/The Friday Five), I had already scheduled one for Tuesday bitching about my lack of motivation, that left Thursday.  I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to blog about but I needed to think of something & I needed to do so before my motivation left me & the week began leaving me possibly with no time to come up with something.  I decided to go with soup.  Every Sunday I cook 1 or 2 meals to last me a week or 2.  Since I still had some left over pasta I only needed one dish this week.  I knew I wanted to make soup not only because I love soup but also because temps would be dipping back down for part of the week.

So here it is blog friends.  The soup that I made myself for the week.  Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup (my favorite at OG!)

Be impressed that I not only remembered to take a picture of all of the stuff I needed but also that I took the time to set it all up... (I took pictures of some of the steps too but meh, take what you can get from me...)

Ingredients

• 1 cup chicken breasts, diced and cooked (can use canned chicken or turkey)
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 quart half and half (can use evaporated milk)
• 1 14 ounce can chicken broth
• 1/2 cup celery, sliced
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup carrots, shredded
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 16 ounce package gnocchi

Preparation

In a large stockpot, saute the onion, celery and garlic in the butter and olive oil. When the onion is clear, add the flour and form a roux. Stir and cook a minute. Add the half and half . Meanwhile in another pan, cook the gnocchi. Add the carrots and chicken to the stockpot. Stir often and when it gets thicker, add the chicken broth, gnocchi, spinach and seasonings. Cover and heat through.

And ta da....