Girl Talk Hop: Favorite Fall Recipe

It is time for another Girl Talk Blog Hop.  This week's subject is favorite fall recipes.


I love many things about fall.  Not the least of which is the fact that it is the beginning of soup and stew season.  Comfort foods.  Yum!  One of my very favorite things to make is Chicken and Gnocchi Soup - Olive Garden style.  Doug and I ate at Olive Garden sometime last fall and I loved their Chicken and Gnocchi soup so much that when we got home, I scoured the internet to try to find the recipe.  This is the one I found.  It is very close to Olive Garden's.

Olive Garden Style Chicken and Gnocchi Soup (if you click on the title, it will take you to the website where you can find a printer-friendly version)

Ingredients

• 3 -4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 carrot, shredded
• 1/2 onions, diced
• 1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• salt and pepper
• 16 ounces potato gnocchi
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)

Saute the onion, celery, garlic, and carrot in oil over medium heat until onion is translucent.

Add chicken, thyme, salt and pepper, chicken stock, and half and half. Heat to boiling.

Add gnocchi. Gently boil for 4 minutes, then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes.

Add spinach and cook for another 1-2 minutes until spinach is wilted.

(Heat to boiling and add cornstarch dissolved in 1-2 Tbsp water at this point if you want a thicker soup.).  I've never added cornstarch.  The soup is thick enough for me.


Ladle into bowls and serve!

A few tips from my experience ...
I cook the chicken breasts in my pressure cooker and depending on the size, two breasts are usually plenty.  Or you could also use any leftover chicken or a rotisserie chicken.  Either way, cook the chicken breasts first, then chop them up.  It is easier that way.


Also, I measure accurately the first time I make a recipe.  Then after that I usually wing it.  Unless it is an ingredient that needs to be accurately measured.  For instance, I use a whole carrot and I don't measure the spinach, I just eyeball it.  Which means I usually use more, but more veggies is a good thing, right?


In case you don't know, gnocchi is in the pasta section at the grocery store.  The kind I use is potato gnocchi.  I don't know if there are other flavors.  But we buy a 3 pack of potato gnocchi at Sam's Club.


One last thing ... the soup usually tastes better the next day.  I guess all the flavors have a chance to soak in.


I usually make a pot of soup, then Doug and I eat it for the rest of the week for lunch.  The kids won't eat it, which is fine because that is just more for us.  :)


Enjoy!  


Be sure to stop over a Girl Talk and link up your favorite recipe.  I look forward to getting some new recipes!

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