[Iarwain]

This is my super easy chicken and rice soup that I flung together one day and discovered we love it. Warning - this recipe is proportioned for my family, your freezer, or a small army. Second warning - I am a really throw-it-together kind of cook so if you love precision don't look.

In a 12 qt stock dump in 4 cups of brown rice and fill it 2/3 of the way with water. (I use hot water to speed it up but depending on your pipes you might not want to do that.) Put that on the heat to get going while you chop stuff.

Into the water put 3 large (more if they're smaller - aiming for half a 3 lb bag or a bit more) frozen chicken breasts to thaw while you chop the veggies because you didn't have the foresight to take them out of the freezer the day before.

Chop 1/2 a pound of carrots, 3-5 sticks of celery, and a couple onions and dump in the water.

Take out the chicken breasts which may be about half thawed by now and dice them into 1/2 inch cubes. They're actually easier to chop half-frozen than completely thawed so really why bother thinking ahead anyway? (like how I rationalize that?) Dump the chicken back in the water.

Add a couple big spoonfuls of chicken base (I love the Better Than Bullion brand!), a handful of thyme leaves - don't be shy!, and some fresh ground black pepper.

Add more water if you need to until it is a little below the handles or so. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice and carrots are tender, about 40ish minutes depending on how slow you chopped stuff. Taste and add more chicken base - or whatever else you forgot - if necessary before serving.