From There to Here

On your last day with baby Hodge, you can sit under a tree. Until his mother urges you to sit in the sun to offset the beginnings of jaundice.

Your mother will send you home with roses and your brother will burn a CD of the Carpenters. Yesterday once more.
You warm a serving of Chicken and Rice Soup for your sister and everyone gets a baggie of Chocolate Charlies. And shelve The Bishop's School Cookbook that you had a lot of fun with.

Until we meet again.

Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Rice Soup
Makes 4 to 6 servings

1/2 C uncooked white rice
1 1/2 C water
4 C chicken broth
1/4 C chopped green pepper
1/2 C diced celery
1/4 C diced onion
1/4 C shredded carrot
1/4 C chopped mushrooms
1/2 t minced garlic
2 T butter, melted
1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 C shredded cooked chicken (white meat)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t white pepper
1 C evaporated nonfat milk

Combine rice and water in large saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or less. Add chicken broth to rice in saucepan. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Sauté green pepper, celery, onion, carrot, mushrooms, and garlic in butter in large skillet. Add chicken, salt, pepper, and rice to mixture in skillet, a little at a time at first, stirring constantly, so flour will not lump. Stir in evaporated milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until thoroughly heated. DO NOT BOIL.

Chocolate Charlies
Makes 16 large cookies

2 oz unsweetened chocolate
6 oz semisweet chocolate
2 T unsalted butter
1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
2 eggs
3/4 C sugar
2 t instant coffee
1/2 t vanilla
6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
8 oz chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt unsweetened chocolate, semisweet chocolate, and butter in a small, heavy saucepan over very low heat, stirring slowly but constantly. When smooth, remove from heat and let cool. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl. Beat the eggs, sugar, coffee, and vanilla in a large bowl on medium-high speed for 1 or 2 minutes to thicken slightly. Then lower speed and beat in the cooled, melted chocolate and flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto foil-lined cookie sheets. Bake until cookies look shiny outside and still moist, but not gooey inside, approximately 10 minutes for large cookies, less for smaller ones. Cool completely before trying to take the cookies off the foil. (The cookies have a crisp, chocolate, meringue-like exterior and a soft, fudge-like interior, irresistible to chocolate lovers.)