Yesterday, I had a ton of things to do while I was trying to get things ready for a special romantic dinner party at my house in a few days. While I was busy cleaning and preparing for the event, I realized I needed to make something for dinner. Oh, great!

After surveying the pantry and looking through my cookbook binder of recipes, I came across an old favorite recipe I had not made in a very long time. It’s originally called “turkey chowder,” but chicken works just fine for me and it is a recipe that doesn’t take very long to make. Perfect!

This recipe is from an old newsletter called, “The Homemaker’s Forum” which I can’t find on the internet, but the author, Marilyn Moll, is still busy writing and creating great recipes for moms like me. (Because I’m a mom who still makes her own bread most of the time, I continue to buy her bread bags. They are a great value. And by the way (I know I’m going off on a tangent), whenever you empty a bread bag, just stick it in the freezer until you want to reuse it. That way you don’t have to buy bags very often.)

Well, back to the recipe.

This soup is very delicious. I changed a couple of things in it because my husband really doesn’t like cheese, but he’ll tolerate mozzarella cheese in different dishes. However, true confession. Last night I used a bag of shredded four cheeses in place of the Swiss cheese the recipe calls for, and he really liked it! You just never know.

The ingredients make enough for 4 to 6 servings, so I usually double this one. It’s a great soup to heat up in the microwave for lunch the next day.

Chicken Chowder

Ingredients:

2 cups sliced carrots

10 oz. fresh or frozen broccoli flowerets

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 cups water

1 1/4 cup chicken stock or broth (I use chicken bouillion cubes for this)

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup flour (Marilyn’s recipe calls for ground oat flour, but regular will work fine, too.)

2 cups milk

6 oz. shredded cheese (Swiss and cheddar add great flavor)

1 1/2 cups chopped chicken or turkey (canned chicken works fine, too)

Directions:

1. Combine vegetables, water, broth and salt in a large saucepan.
2. Bring this mixture to a boil while cooking over medium heat.
3. Once a boil is reached, simmer for 10 minutes to soften the vegetables.
4. Bring mixture back up to a rolling boil and add the flour gradually, stirring constantly.
5. Simmer for another 10 minutes until any lumps disappear.
6. Reduce heat.
7. Add milk and chicken.
8. Once heated through, remove from heat and stir in cheese.

Delicious