Spinach Artichoke Soup

I may have jumped the gun making soup.  Just because the calendar says it's autumn and you really, really, really want it to be autumn, does not mean it actually feels like autumn.  Making soup when it's almost 80 degrees isn't ideal.  As the kitchen fills with even more heat and you are feeling a bit overheated and thinking of turning on your AC again even, you might even wonder what possessed you to make soup on an obviously non-autumn like day.  That is until you taste this spinach and artichoke soup.  Then you'll know you had to make it because well, it's spinach and artichoke and soup.  That's enough justification for making soup in the middle of summer. 

This soup couldn't be easier.  I made it over the weekend but it was so quick and easy to throw together, it could easily be a "drag your butt in the door after a long day at the office and still have the energy to cook soup" kind of recipe. Yep, that easy.  

The ingredient all come straight from the fridge or pantry and required enough effort to roughly dump or chop.  If you wanted to leave the spinach leaves and artichokes whole and you used frozen diced onions, you wouldn't have to chop at all.  I cooked some chicken for this, but this would be a great recipe for using a rotisserie chicken. 

Love artichokes but really who doesn't?  And why not?

Cooking the flour first helps get rid of that raw floury taste.  

Spinach always makes me nervous when I add it to recipes as I wonder if this will be the one time in spinach history that it will just refuse to cook down.  But alas, my worries were for naught...it all cooked right down and made perfect little bites of spinach in a soup that was reminiscent of the dip.  Definitely a keeper of a recipe. 

A little bonus Chipmunk cuteness. 

And a little puppy curiosity wondering how much we paid for Manning again?

The look of Tebow longing...

Spinach Artichoke Soup

adapted from Cuisine at Home

Ingredients:
1/2 c. diced onions
3 garlic cloves minced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained and roughly chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1⁄2 cup dry white wine
32oz chicken broth
1 12oz can evaporated milk
8oz fresh spinach, roughly chopped
2/3 cup grated Parmesan
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 block (4 oz) of cream cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Sauté onions and garlic in oil in a large soup pot over medium heat until onions are soft, about 3-4 minutes. 
2. Add artichokes; sauté 2 minutes
3. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring continually
4. Deglaze pot with wine and simmer until nearly evaporated, scraping any bits from the bottom of the pot. 
5. Stir in broth and chicken and bring to a boil. 
6. Reduce heat to low, add the milk, spinach and Parmesan, and stir until spinach wilts taking care not to boil soup.  Add cream cheese and stir until fully melted...if you want a lighter soup, you can leave the cream cheese out.    
7. Season soup with salt and pepper to taste before serving.