Cheesey Chicken and Rice Soup

Not sure if anyone still looks at my blog since I don't post as much anymore! But last Sunday at church we had what we call Souper Bowl Sunday! It's a lot of fun really as people bring different kinds of soup, and after church we go and have lunch together. This is the soup I made this year and it won first place! Most of my cooking I never measure so I tried guessing the closest measurements on things to write the recipe out! You can always tweak it to your liking too! :) Hope you enjoy this!

 

 

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Soup

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed into bite sized pieces

1 onion chopped or you can use dried minced onion

Garlic powder or minced garlic (I think i had used about 2 teaspoons minced garlic)

8-10 cups water

1 1/2 cups rice ( You can use any kind of rice, brown rice will just take longer to cook. I used Jasmine rice.) 

 3 Tablespoons chicken base

Broccoli, fresh or frozen and how ever much you like in the soup

1 quart heavy whipping cream

American cheese slices

Pepper jack cheese

Salt and pepper optional if you think it needs it. (I didn't add any because i thought it was seasoned enough already.)

If using fresh onion & garlic, saute in butter until tender in a large soup pan, (at least a 6 quart pan). Add chicken breast, water, rice and chicken base. cook until rice is almost tender, add the broccoli and continue cooking until the broccoli is cooked to your liking. Turn down heat a little and add the heavy cream, heat until almost boiling and add your cheeses until how ever cheesy you like it. If it is to thick you can add some milk to thin it out, or if it is to thin you can add some cornstarch and cold water mixed together to the soup and stir until thickened. Season to taste if needed.

Note* I do not usually measure anything when I make soup! I usually go by taste so if you have questions you can ask me! :) I tried to figure the amounts the closest to what I put in!    

Update

Hello Everyone!
 Sorry I haven't taken time to keep up on my blog! I've been busy with life! :) As I am sure everyone has been!

  I am excited to announce that Dan and I are expecting our first baby in June 2015! This is a exciting yet scary new journey for us! :)

I hope you all have a wonderful New Years! It's hard to believe that it's almost 2015 already!! ~Beth

Thoughts.....

So I have been thinking about everything with how I haven't been able to get pregnant.... This time of the year is hard because I would love to have a baby in my arms to be honest! It's been a hard year emotionally. I don't really talk about it much... I rather not. I guess I don't want to get my hopes up and then get disappointed again. Earlier this year We thought we were pregnant but then through a bunch of stuff we found out I have a split uterus and a couple other things. After several Dr visits and a horrible experience at a specialist in Pittsburgh that all I really learned was that I should be able to   get pregnant no problem.... Which was good news, but was not happy with the Dr who I saw that just sat there and read off from a report from the Dr here in Erie and was rather rude when Dan tried to ask a question. Honestly I was ready to run from the room in the first 3 minutes of the maybe 10 minute consultation we had with him.... Anyways....
 Dan and I have talked about it all and both of us don't want to spend a bunch of money trying to get pregnant and we rather just leave it in God's hands and see what kind of things He will do! :) I know God is in control of this all! At times it is hard! ( I have to be honest!) Maybe there's a reason we haven't been able to have a baby that we can't see yet. I don't know!
 I have my nieces and nephews that I get to spoil and God puts little friends in my life that I get to spoil too! :)
One verse I keep thinking about but I don't remember where it's found right off the top of my head is "He will make the barren woman a mother to thousands". Or something along those lines... That was the first verse that went through my mind that I had read years ago when I was finding all the stuff that is "special" about me.
 This time of the year I wonder what it would have been like to be the mother to the Son of God! He was sinless... That is a mind boggling thing right there! What would that have been like?! And how can I be more like Christ and live my life to become more like him each day?

 I know this is a bunch of random stuff! I have been doing a lot of thinking! :) (As usual!)

random things

I was thinking about some things that are all random and don't really go together. Thought you might find them interesting!:)

  If I enlisted into the military which branch would I want to join?... I want to see what everyone would answer that they might think I would join before I say on this one!

  What is the craziest thing I've done as a kid growing up?...   Drinking mud puddle water with Josiah, and Daniel, because we wanted to see what happened. Dogs and Cat's drank out of them so we should be fine too, right? Nope! We all got sick!  Not sure what we were thinking! (I think it was Josiah's idea too) 
 
Dumbest thing I've done my entire life is not something I'm proud of and not sure where my brain was that night. Let's say it's something I would go back and change if I could. God let me do it so He could teach me from it though.



 

3 more weeks!

I know I haven't written on here in a LONG time! It is only 3 more weeks until I leave my Father and Mother and become One with my Husband to be, Dan! I'll try to get pictures put up on here at some point of the wedding and everything!

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm alive and well. :)

Thoughts

I have been doing somethinking about some things and decided to write on my blog. :)
Since I am engaged some things about the Love that God has for us has been coming to my mind more and more lately. I am out in Minnesota helping my Aunt and Uncle while my sweetheart is back "home" in PA. I'm only going to be gone for 5 weeks and 2 have already passed. Yet my heart longs to see him again and to be with him and not just talking on the phone but to be there WITH him in person. It is the same with our Christian life and our walk with the Lord. The Lord is our Lover, we long to be with Him at all times, yet we have times where the things of this world cloud our view and our desires become for the things and pleasures of the world. I even struggle with this! But if we stop and think about it God is the only one who can fully satsify our every need. I say NEED because a lot of times what we think we need is just a desire or a want that we have that we consider a need to make us happy or to feel satisfied.
Only God can be the one who can truly satisfy us and meet all of our needs. People will let us down and leave us hurt. God never will! I'm so glad He's always there no matter what we are going through. We seem to not look to Him like we should when we are going through the good times in life. We think we are doing just fine on our own during those times. I know I tend to do that and I reliy less on the Lord and more on my own strength during the good times. I really am trying to work on this with the Lord's help. We should have a desire to be with our lover, the Lord and spend time getting to know Him better and becoming more like Him. When we are with our earthly lover, we want to be on the same page as far as what they like to do and will become more like the other. It can be a good and bad thing at the same time. But as we get to know our Savior more the more we desire to be like Him. Or I do. There is a lot we can learn from our relationship with the Lord that impacts the relationships we have with others around us if we stop and think about it.
I have been struggling with something someone said to me and it has hurt, but at the same time it has made me think. They had said it looks like I jumped into the relationship I am in now. I don't feel that way but I can see why they said that. I made mistakes that I have had to overcome and God has used them to teach me a lot of things. I was going to not see anyone for a while and just let it be me and God. But that is not what God had in mind. Yes, things happened fast. We, Dan and I, started dating the Beginning of September and we were engaged a couple of days after Christmas. We are planning a wedding for September 3rd, one year from when we first met! Did I rebound into this relationship, no. I know it might look like it. I was not going to meet him at first or give it a chance. I just wanted to get my head back on straight and have time with the Lord before I got into the dating world again. But I was encouraged by my parents to give it a shot and see what would happen. I did, and I don't regret it one bit! I just wish that we would have met a long time before, but both of us agree that if we had it wouldn't have been the same and we would have not given the other a second glance as neither of us were ready then.
I could keep writting but I need to get somethings done.
I have been reading "Streams in The Desert" by L. B. Cowman. It has been thought provoking and challenging at the same time. I'm really greatfull to Mrs Maurer who got it for me as a gift! And in the Bible I have started reading through the book of Daniel. :)
I'll keep thinking and will have to do another post sometime soon.

Long needed update

I know that it has been a while since I have written! Sorry everyone!

Wow! Time has flown by and a lot has happened!

The most recent exciting news is that I am seeing a wonderful young man, Dan! God was the one who had to bring about our meeting, and used his sister and my aunt to bring us together! We'll see where this leads!

Work has been going okay! Living with my brother and sister-in-law has been challenging. ( They moved in with me!) Lady, my dog had 8 puppies almost 2 weeks ago! ( 5 boys and 3 girls.) I bought some laying hens and added them to my little family down the road at my house, so now I have a kitten, a dog with 8 puppies and chickens. I am supposed to get a turkey but I need to get it still! Some one has told me I need a pig! (Not to fond of that idea!)

Well, I will try to post sometime soon! :)