Cream Cheese Chicken and Vegetable Soup

One of my friends from my BYU days has a website where she tries popular recipes from pinterest or online and then rates and reviews them.  This soup received her highest rating, and so we tried it tonight.  We were not disappointed.  Oh, this one is really yummy! You should check out her website here. 

Original recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter 
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced 
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced 
• 2 stalks celery, diced 
• ½ cup diced carrots (about 2 regular carrots or a handful of baby carrots) 
• 3 cups chicken broth 
• 2-3 potatoes, peeled and finely diced (I like to leave the peels on red potatoes, if using them) 
• 1 cup milk (1% is my milk of choice) 
• 4 tablespoons flour 
• 1 (8 oz. package) regular or light cream cheese 
• 2-3 (about 1 pound) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced 

Instructions

Earlier: Cook the chicken.  I prefer to stick this in the crockpot earlier in the day and let cook with a little chicken broth until done.

About an hour before eating: In a large pot, melt the butter and saute the onion, garlic, celery and carrots in the butter until the vegetables are tender.

Add the chicken broth and potatoes. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook, until the potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes.

In a separate small bowl, whisk flour and milk until smooth. Quickly whisk the milk mixture into the soup and continue to cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes, until the soup begins to thicken. Be sure to stir the soup often so the soup doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot.

Microwave the cream cheese until it is soft. Add the cream cheese to the soup by the tablespoon. Let the cream cheese melt some more in the soup and then whisk the cream cheese into the soup until it is combine and leaves no lumps.

Add the cooked chicken and heat through. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.