Crock-Pot Chicken & Right Rice Soup

Like a 45-year-old mom, I love a crock-pot meal. This Chicken & Right Rice soup as SO much flavor for being a simple crock-pot soup. I love how the Right Rice is a nod to the texture of noodles in chicken noodle soup and the shape of rice like in chicken & rice soup. It’s hearty, grain free, and has great protein from the chicken and bone broth. Enjoy!

Crock-Pot Chicken & Right Rice Soup
yields 4-5 servings

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breasts
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups chicken bone broth (stock or regular broth will do)
3/4 cup original Right Rice*
salt and pepper
1/4 cup of fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
1-2 springs fresh rosemary, chopped
parmesan rind if you have one

Directions:
Lightly coat your crock-pot with a nonstick spray. Arrange the chicken breasts along the bottom of your pot. Add the carrots, celery, and garlic on top. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in 4 cups of chicken bone broth. Note, your rice will go in later.

Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 1/2 hours. After the initial cooking, add the 3/4 cup of dry, uncooked Right Rice, 2 tbsp. parsley and 1 tbsp. rosemary, and continue to cook for 2 hours on low or 1 hour on high**. If you have a leftover parmesan rind, now is the time to add it. The parmesan rind gives it an extra level of flavor, but is not necessary!

After the cooking time, remove the chicken from the crock-pot and place it on a plate or cutting board. Using two forks, shred the chicken and then place it back in the crock-pot. Add additional broth or water if your soup has over thickened from the Right Rice.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of remaining parsley, rosemary, and fresh cracked black pepper. The soup is good to last in the fridge for up to 5 days.

*The Right Rice can be substituted for brown rice, orzo, or Israeli couscous.
**Cooking times are relative to how hot your crock-pot cooks. I prefer cooking on high for a shorter amount of time. 3 1/2 hours of total cooking time was perfect for me! Check your chicken occasionally to make sure you aren’t overcooking it.

Annie

Bites of My Life

Daylight savings sneaks up on you woof! It was bright as day at 6:30am this morning and sadly so dark by 5:30pm last night. I had a relatively lazy week after a run in with being sick and then proceeding to lay low after that. Lot’s of naps and couch time, which who am I kidding, I’m not mad about. I’m obsessed with the fact that the past two weekends have not been jam packed with plans. It’s so nice to just chill before the holiday hooplah. Fingers crossed for something similar this week/weekend!

-Started the week with a group of my favorite people having the coziest girls’ night with homemade butternut squash soup, a cheese board, and girl talk for days. The little group that has formed from my time at The Slate is my favorite.
-My Kindle came in and I love it! I thought I’d always be a book girl, but after using that excuse and not reading but maybe 1 to 2 books this year, I bit the bullet and got the basic Kindle.
-I woke up Tuesday with the most random spat of sickness. My symptoms came out of nowhere making me miss the Rolling Stones concert. A batch of buttered noodles on the couch is how my night turned out. And by buttered noodles I mean red lentil noodles with ghee and nutritional yeast 🤪
-Sick day uniform which has easily transferred into everyday uniform. My sweet Bailey sold me on this UO crop top (size large). It’s as good as she told me it would be, and I’ve worn it in some capacity every day since I got it. Paired with these little gold hoops from Amazon, and some basic gray sweats (I got a large) that are just it.
-Cheeres Marget aka Cheers Margaret! A Tom Thumb party fail but a good laugh nonetheless for Margaret’s bday.
-Birthday celebrash round 2 with ice cream and caramel cake. The most delish.
-Cozy Friday early birthday dinner for Morgan!
-Peter and I wasted zero time trying Mayer’s Garden. From our faves Alamo Club, it did not disappoint. We snacked on the meat & cheese plate and bacon jam deviled eggs for Sat. lunch.
-Best Sunday prepping bolognese all day. I’ve never made bolognese and it was the perfect meal for daylight savings and the Yellowstone premiere. We used ground elk meat because #Texas. Used this recipe.

Annie

Bites of My Life

November omg. How did we get here? BUT it’s truly the best time of year. I love the Halloween kickoff to the holidays. I’m ready and here for them!

-Spark is open! Couldn’t have done it without my PIC!
-Extra extra read all about it. Our opening blew out my expectations and there was press to match. I’m feeling proud and excited for Spark’s little future.
-Spent one last morning in OKC, then hit the road to make it back to Dallas. Park Power Bowl, I miss you already.
-Fall flowers at my door after a successful opening :)
-Since I’ve lived in Dallas I’ve wanted to do The Old Monk’s pumpkin carving. For $15 you get a hollowed-out pumpkin, carving kit, and a pint of beer. Such a fun weeknight activity. My sugar skull on the right won my IG poll - weee!
-My crazy fall is settling down a little just in time for the holidays. I’m so excited to have some free time to just let plans fall together and not have everything be so structured. That is exactly what happened on Friday. The girls were in town and we threw together a chill evening in, with copious amounts of snacks and sweets.
-OGs know. I made THE verde turkey chili for Friday’s gathering and slurped down leftovers Saturday.
-First time trying Crisp & Green. It opened earlier this year in Dallas. Similar to sweetgreen for national folks and Cool Greens for my okies but errrrrr way better and cleaner than CG. I got their seasonal Chicken Casablanca and my sweet Morgs got the Squash Goals. I can’t wait to go back.
-A great little Halloween Sunday with Peter’s fam at a neighborhood block party and then off to watch the Cowboys game with friends.

Annie

The day after Halloween means one thing: Halloween Candy Compost Cookies
Save this cake for your Thanksgiving or fall pot-luck contribution: Caramel Butterscotch Cake

Caramel Butterscotch Cake

This cake, this cake, oooh this cake. A family favorite. The Tucker’s have been making this cake for years. Specifically in the fall! It’s a classic 90’s cake made from a box cake mix and powdered pudding mix. The original recipe calls for mazola oil in the cake batter and margarine in the icing, I die.

It’s always been called Caramel Cake but there isn’t a lick of caramel in this recipe….I snuck butterscotch into the title to describe its ingredients a bit better. I love, I mean love a butterscotch chip. The best part of the recipe is that it only calls for 1 cup so then you have a leftover cup of chips to snack on. The best dessert is a handful of butterscotch chips.

Cake Ingredients:
1 box Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix
2-3.4oz butterscotch pudding mix
1 1/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 cup butterscotch chips

Icing Ingredients:
4 tbsp. or 1/2 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 - 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tsp. milk

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Use Baker’s Joy to prep your bundt pan or generously grease and flour it and set it aside.

In a large bowl with a whisk or electric beaters, mix together all of the cake ingredients except the butterscotch chips. Once the batter is combined gently stir in the butterscotch chips. Pour into your prepped bundt pan. Bake for 50 minutes and a toothpick comes out clean. Let sit for at least 10 minutes before attempting to remove from pan.

While the cake is cooling mix together oil, brown sugar, and powdered sugar. Add milk 1 tsp at a time until it forms a thick but pourable icing. Run a nife around the outside and inside edges of your bundt pan. Invert your cooled cake onto a serving platter or cake stand. Pour the warm icing over the cake. Let the icing set before serving.

I hope you enjoy this old family recipe, it’s such a great one!

Annie

Bites of My Life

I’m writing this the night before I head back to Dallas (finally) after 10 days up in Oklahoma. It’s been a looooong time coming, but my company’s newest concept Spark, opened yesterday. We’ve been working on this project since 2018 (zipes!!). After construction, covid, paper good delays, hiring shortages, and food sourcing Spark is finally open. It’s been a labor of love, but always so rewarding to open a new concept. While my trip was long it was productive and so fun. The work can get exhausting but I truly love my job!

-Got to Oklahoma City last week for a 10-day stint while here for work. Spark being the #1 reason!
-There is an F45 on every corner in Dallas yet I’ve never tried it. F45 landed in OKC and is still in its opening week. I ended up finding myself there 4 times during my trip. I’m hooked on this quick and effective workout!
-This little sparkie got to come try Spark during our soft opening. Hallie approved!
-I ate this burger bowl from Spark’s menu about every day while here.
-Veggie Chili by sis which is sneaky good. Topped with shredded gouda - the key!
-Oatmeal kiiiiick. Have had it every day for the last 10 days. Best when eaten from an almost empty almond butter jar.
-I wasn’t kidding when I said I kept eating this burger bowl. A side of pink fries for good measure.
-Mom and dad had planned a big family dinner Sunday night, which made for the perfect occasion for the Tucker family favorite Caramel Cake. Hoping to have this recipe posted tomorrow!
-Perfect ending to the weekend all around the table with family.

Annie