Creamy Chicken & Gnocchi Soup - The Secret Recipe Club (#SRC)

This has been a pretty busy month for me posting with The Secret Recipe Club. All amazing recipes, all a chance to help out where it was needed. This week is my originally assigned blog, It's Yummy To My Tummy! I really enjoyed browsing Heather's blog. She says that she de-stresses through cooking and baking and her blog serves as a collection of recipes to share with others. Well, I am so happy that she shared them with us, because I found this amazing Creamy Chicken & Gnocchi Soup recipe.

I especially loved that she made her own gnocchi from scratch. That is the only way we eat it in our home. My thought was, if she took the time to make each piece of gnocchi then the soup must be good! And yes, yes it is.

This was the perfect bowl of soup for the rainy and windy Oregon weather we had a few weeks ago. Gnocchi gives me a "during naptime" project, perfect for a dreary afternoon.

The most time consuming part of this soup is assembling the little gnocchi army. But, you can just as easily buy it pre-made. I promise not to judge.

Creamy Chicken & Gnocchi Soup

taken from It's Yummy To My Tummy originally from Food.com

You Will Need:

1 c. onion, finely diced 

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 stalks of celery, finely diced*

2 carrots, finely diced*

4 Tbsp. butter

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
4 Tbsp. flour

1 quart half and half

1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp parsley

16 ounces chicken stock*

1 package chopped, frozen spinach, thawed* 

1 c. cooked chicken, diced

1 lb gnocchi

salt and pepper, to taste

*denotes a change from the original recipe.

1. Saute the onion, garlic, celery and carrot in olive oil and butter until translucent.

2. Add the flour and heat to form a roux. Stir constantly so it doesn't burn. Then add the half and half and seasonings. Bring this up to a simmer and let it begin to thicken. Then add the chicken stock, chicken and spinach.

3. As the mixture thickens, cook your gnocchi, according to package directions, in a separate pot. Lift out when cooked and add them to the soup pot.

4. Simmer for an additional few minutes till everything is warmed through. Salt and pepper to taste. Be sure to salt your soup at the end since the stock and simmering may cause the soup to become more salty than you realized. Enjoy!

A big thank you to Heather for sharing this delicious recipe. We loved it and will be having it again. 

Be sure to check out all the other great recipes on the SRC linky this week for Group B: