Hot homemade soup is great for any occasion and why not make it easy on yourself and your wallet?

2 cups of leftover chicken, diced (or 1 large can of chicken breast)

2 chicken boulion cubes

1/2 cup of dry white rice

2 carrots, peeled, and diced

lemon zest (dried or fresh)

sea salt and pepper

1 tsp dry basil

1 tsp minced garlic (I like the jar stuff)

1 small green bell pepper, cored, and diced

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1 small onion pealed and diced or 4 green onions, snipped, and diced

a few white mushrooms, washed, diced (optional)

Large Pot, filled with 2-3 quarts of good, clean cold water

Dump all ingredients in the pot and let simmer for roughly 45 minutes. Enjoy!

*on a side note, instead of using canned chicken and boullion, my sister boils the whole leftover rotissiere/baked chicken, saving the broth for the base of chicken soup and cleans the leftover meat off the bones once removed from the pot after boiling. Either method is easily used!