A few months ago, I made Dinner: A Love Story’s taco soup (from their first cookbook).  The part that threw me the most was a suggested topping: fresh sliced avocado.  Doesn’t avocado go in guacamole?  It’s a best-served-cold vegetable (fruit!), isn’t it?  My friends–be ready to be amazed: fresh sliced avocado is the best thing ever in chicken soup.

If you add a dried chili when you pour in the stock to simmer, you get extra points.  This takes soul-warming, illness-healing chicken soup to a new level.

I give you Emily Chicken & Rice soup! (gluten-free 🙂 )

In a medium saucepan, warm up 1-2 tablespoons olive oil or butter, and at medium-high heat, add 1 finely chopped carrot, 1 stalk (finely chopped) celery & 1/2 (finely chopped) onion to soften up for about 6 minutes.  Add 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley at minute 7, to get a little color on it, and add salt and pepper to taste.  At minute 8, pour in about 4 cups chicken broth, 1 cup cooked (leftover?) rice, 1 can chicken (or rotisserie, or whatever–as long as it’s COOKED), and 1 dried ancho chile.  After it’s almost at a simmer, add 1/2 cup frozen corn, to up the veggie intake a little bit–they’re full of vitamins!–and then, at about minute 16, it’ll be all steamy and ready!  Cut up 1-2 avocados (depending on how much of a fiend you are), and if you’re feeling fancy, squeeze a lime over them before dumping them into your bowl with the soup.

This will definitely, absolutely, make you feel better PRONTO!