Chicken Rice Soup

This is a great chicken soup.  It is much more flavorful than most and yet is easy to make—you can use leftover chicken or turkey and chicken broth.

Ingredients

1 cup carrot, finely diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 tablespoons jalapeno pepper, finely diced
1 tablespoon butter

3/4 cup uncooked rice

4 cups canned chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon crushed rosemary
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper as needed

1 14-ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
2 cups cooked chicken meat, cubed

fresh cilantro, snipped

Directions

1. In a large pan or Dutch oven, sauté the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and jalapeno peppers (discarding all seeds and membrane before dicing) in the one tablespoon of butter for about five minutes or until the carrots begin to cook.
2. Add the rice, chicken broth, rosemary, ginger, and bay leaf to the vegetable mixture.  Cook until the rice is nearly tender.
3. Remove the bay leaf from the broth mixture and then add the corn and chicken.  Heat to simmering. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve hot.