Cheesy Chicken & Veggie Soup

This is a fuzzy cell phone picture of soup, but what it represents is significant: the first time I ever cooked for my boyfriend.

I don't really cook much in general, especially since during school, I have a meal plan at my dorm. Spending this past summer on the East Coast, buying groceries and doing stuff with them, gave me motivation, though, that I wanted to cook a little for myself and share the food with my boyfriend. Visiting a friend, who cooked delicious ceviche for his visiting girlfriend, my boyfriend, and me, provided even more motivation.

Instead of going out to eat before watching a ballet Saturday, my boyfriend and I had a home-cooked meal. It was up to me to decide what I would prepare. What ended up influencing my final decision for a dish was that my boyfriend was recovering from a cold, so a warm bowl of soup on a cold evening sounded wonderful. I found a recipe for Cheesy Chicken & Veggie Soup, courtesy of the blog vanilla sugar. My boyfriend especially seems to like creamy soup that's good for dunking bread into, so this definitely fit the bill. I would definitely consider this comfort food.

One of the things that I like about this recipe is how easy it was to make something so yummy, especially on my first attempt. I did feel a little bit of pressure (from myself), though, because I wanted to make a good first impression in the kitchen. Before starting cooking, my nerves definitely were getting to me when, for example, I couldn't find the milk that I had bought and my boyfriend had to go out and get some more. For the 10 minutes or so he was out, I was probably 80 percent done with chopping a medium to large onion (I'm not very confident in my knife abilities and tend to chop slow). However, things ultimately ended up working out for the best!

This is a dish where you can use whatever you have on hand in terms of leftover poultry and vegetables, which also helps cut down on the cooking time. Since I didn't have the "luxury" of leftovers, I used cubed pieces of turkey breast and grilled chicken from a supermarket's salad bar and a can of strained vegetables that had carrots, corn, green beans, lima beans, and potatoes.

I served this soup with slices of French bread that had garlic rubbed onto them, along with butter, cracked black pepper, and parsley. The bread unexpectedly got a little too toasty after just a couple minutes of broiling in the oven, but on the bright side, they weren't that burnt. Since this meal is hearty and kind of rich (with the creamed corn, cream cheese, milk, and mozzarella cheese), I served something light for dessert: fresh blueberries -- yum!

All in all, it was a great meal. My boyfriend and I were very pleased, and I definitely would like to cook again in the (hopefully near) future, not just for sharing food I had cooked (He also helped me a little in the kitchen, too), but also for myself.