Making Bath Time Lots of Fun and Eating Soup

Okay, I'm not going to mince words here, I'm just going to come out with it. Lately, many of my neighbors have been having suspicious visitors lurking about their houses and galleries. Two were found floating in a coy pond. A few were spotted creeping up front porch steps. In my case, I found mine lurking amongst the flowering plants on my balcony:

I hardly think it a coincidence that my ducky is wearing a tiara, do you? Like many in the 'hood, my money says a certain pint-sized diva is responsible. Just a guess. Meantime, this little guy will be taking up permanent residence in my jacuzzi with the rest of my bath toys.

In other news, I developed a whole new chicken soup recipe by accident yesterday. And I know you're saying to yourself--Self? Where DOES she find the time to blog, cook, write, lunch, act as Satan's cobana girl, garden, catch Dr. Phil and be unemployed and fabulous all in the SAME DAY?! And, friends, all I can say about THAT is really. I don't know HOW I do it all. I'm completely exhausted and will likely have to treat myself to a pedicure on Friday in order to recover, no two ways about it.

Anyway, with the S-Man partial to eating chicken, chicken, and more chicken, I was running out of ideas having stir-fried, fried, grilled, and baked the bird ad-nauseum. I developed this soup recipe with an All Recipes recipe as a starting point. I wanted chicken soup, but not chicken NOODLE soup. I substituted wild rice for noodles and threw in a few extra ingredients. Very easy, healthy, and above all adaptable. It made a TON of soup, enough for at least five. Whip up some cornbread and add a simple salad and you've got a feast.

Suzanne’s Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

2 Large Chicken Breasts
1 Large Onion, Chopped
3 Stalks Celery Chopped
2 Cans Chicken Stock plus 3 Cans water
1 Cup Wild Rice
1 Can Sweet Corn, Drained
Whatever Fresh Herbs you have on hand—I used thyme and sweet basil

Season w/salt and pepper, and toss the breasts, celery, and onion in a stock pot and cover with the chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about twenty minutes. Remove chicken from pot. At this point you can add the wild rice and cook in the broth with the veggies or cook in your microwave according to the directions until about fifteen minutes from done and cook the rest of the way in the stock w/veggies. Shred the chicken with two forks. When the wild rice is almost done, add the chicken back in and throw in the drained corn. Simmer until flavors come together and rice is cooked. Add lots fresh herbs at the end and simmer a while longer. Enjoy! Obviously, you can substitute any veggies you prefer or switch the wild rice for white or brown.

We enjoyed our soup with our friends, Steve and Karen while we traded stories that came under the heading of "Stuff that Happened to Me that Was So Funny I Almost Peed My Pants." As you might imagine, this category was sort of an off-shoot of mine and Satan's story about the Lady from Funland who peed all over MacDonalds. What? You don't talk about pee at dinner?

I suggest you try it some time.