Homemade Cream of Chicken and Rice Soup

1 whole fryer chicken - about 5 lbs

6 Carrots

1 Onion

Half Pint Heavy Cream  (about 1 cup)

A few handfuls of rice

1 or 2 Chicken Bouillon cubes

Large stock pot

2 Cloves Fresh Garlic

salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, rosemary

I started this at about 11 30 am and finished at about 9 30 pm, it's all about waiting.

Fill your large stock pot with water, enough to cover the chicken and a bit more about a gallon - a gallon and a half.

Start by removing the neck from the chicken and add to pot of water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and your onions and carrots to the water and boil the chicken on a medium high for about a 2 hours.

By the time 2 hours have passed, your chicken should be about falling apart easily. Now is the time to get out a pair of tongs, and take that chicken out of the boiling water! It will almost certainly fall apart on you. It's ok, you can always fish out any unwanted parts of the chicken from the broth with a large slotted spoon or something of the sort. Now that your chicken is in front of you, steaming and extremely hot, it's time to remove the meat! If the giblets and heart did not fall into the water, remove them and give them to your cat or dog. Or keep them in the soup for added flavor it is up to you I give them to my cat. Make sure to avoid adding any small thin bones into the soup, it can happen easily with a small chicken.

The skin I remove and put to the side, maybe toss in a few small pieces once in a while, they boil down nicely. Just start picking about the chicken with your tongs, white meat is what you will want, the breast contains the most as well as the back. You can shred the chicken a bit before putting it back in the pot, or just put the bigger chunks meat whole, they will all cook down and shred themselves.

Add in your spices; salt, pepper,garlic and onion powder, rosemary (just a small pinch , and your two whole cloves of garlic. Salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder I would use about 1 tablespoon each or to your liking.

Once all of your chicken parts have been added back into the pot, add in your bouillon cubes, they will dissolve and mix in by themselves, so there is no need to make an extra step for yourself.

Keep the cooking chicken at a low boil for about 5 hours checking and stirring occasionally. 

For the last hour, add in your handfuls of rice (literally this is what I did, I used 4 or 5 handfuls) and your heavy cream. Put a bit of soup in a small bowl, and add some heavy cream, whisk lightly, then add into the stock pot.

Cook on low for another 25 minutes, stir occasionally and serve!