Monday, October 10, 2011

Day 10 | Chicken Soup with Lemon and {are you ready for this?} RAIN!

Texans are just a tad bit addicted to weather watching.  It's true. 

It's probably because we get to experience all manner of extreme weather situations.  There's an old saying that if you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait 5 minutes and it'll change.

Well, that old saying hasn't held true this year.  We've seen one of the worst droughts ever, with a record setting number of consecutive 100+ degree days.  It was a recipe for disaster...and then disaster struck.

Last month, more than 1500 homes were lost to wildfires in Bastrop alone.  That's not counting all the smaller wildfires that seemingly sprung up around every corner in other cities and counties.

To say that we needed rain was a bit of an understatement.

And starting last night {at 1:00am when I was up with the kiddo} rain is what we got!

Buckets and buckets and sheets of pouring cats and dogs rain.

We have 3 rain barrels which hold a total of 630 gallons in our backyard and they were overflowing when we got up at 7am.

And it was still raining. 

So excuse me while I take a moment to be thoroughly Texan and tell you that IT RAINED!!

Because of the excessive much needed and super fabulous rain I have not grocery shopped.

When I asked the Hubster what he wanted for lunch he told me "that chicken soup stuff from Las Palapas".  Not meaning we would swing by and pick some up in the buckets of pouring rain.  Meaning he wanted me to make it, from scratch, and soon, because he was hungry.

Ummm...how do you pull that off when you only have 2 packets of chicken bouillon left and are out of every kind of broth?  And onions? 

Like so...

Chicken Soup with Rice and Lemon {inspired by Las Palapas' yummy soup}

Ingredients
2 packets of chicken bouillon {I use a no sodium version, but ideally I would use a quart of chicken broth}
4 cups of water
1 can diced tomatoes plus liquid
1 can diced green chiles plus liquid
1 cup brown rice, cooked
meat from 1 1/2 cooked chicken thighs, shredded
3 carrots, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chile powder
1/4 cup chopped chives
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice {yes, I used the kind in a bottle}

Saute carrots and garlic in olive oil until softened {about 5 minutes}.  Add cans of diced tomatoes and diced green chiles plus liquid and bring to simmer.  Add all spices and stir until well blended.  Add chicken bouillon, water, chicken, rice, and chives and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 15 - 30 minutes.  Add lemon juice and stir to blend.  Serve immediately and garnish with an extra splash of lemon juice.

1 comment:

  1. Oh, wow, that looks good! I've never even heard of lemon in chicken soup so now I definitely have to try it. And how awesome is it that you guys got rain!!! Such good news for Texas.

    Thank you for your sweet words on my blog. I know what you mean about cranky. It makes it hard to get excited to cook when you can't just start eating! We are likely our own worst critics because I think your photos look great - appetizing, which is exactly how food should look!

    To be honest, I'm still trying to figure out how to take good photos and so far I spend way too much time on them. I do it because, when I'm finished with school, I'd like to get a job in publishing (either in magazines or cookbooks) and so I sort of treat my blog like a resume.

    Hope you have a great day and enjoy the rain!

    ReplyDelete