cheesy chicken & veggie soup

Do you have a bunch of leftover chicken or turkey or even veggies you need to use up? Want to get your kids or hubby to eat more veggies? Want something nice and hot to warm your bones? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then do I have the answer for you....
Ha ha, don't I sound like a TV commercial, selling the latest and greatest chopping gadget for only $9.99?
But seriously, this cheesy soup is super easy to make, very versatile when adding any type of leftovers, and I swear your kids might just love it. If my over-the-moon fussy hubby eats it--veggies and all, then so will your fussy kids. The best part I love is you can add whatever veggies you have from the ice age in your freezer and chopped leftover chicken or turkey (never tried roast beef, but hey, I bet it might work too).
I was just frozen today, pretty much all day. No amount of hot tea was going to warm my cold bones up. I wanted a hearty, warms you to your bones, soup. This is it for me. Yeah, plus I had a bunch of leftover roasted chicken that I needed to use up too. Leftover potatoes would be wonderful in this too. See, just about anything can go in this cheesy soup.
This time around I added in leftover broccoli, corn and leftover roasted chicken. Wouldn't it be great to add this soup to a hollowed out bread to use as a bread bowl?

Cheesy Chicken & Veggie Soup

2 TB butter
2 TB of extra virgin olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
2 cups cooked chicken breasts, grilled is even better
1 cup frozen peas, corn & carrots veggie mix, or whatever you crave
8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
1 can (14.75oz) creamed corn
1 cup milk
2+ tsp. of chicken bouillon cube, chopped fine (add as much or as little)
Couple dashes of black pepper
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
Chopped fresh parsley as garnish, optional

Melt butter and olive oil in a saucepan and add onions. Slightly brown the onions.
Remove onions to plate. Then stir fry the chicken breast slices till fully cooked. (or you can grill the chicken, cut it up into cubes).
Add veggie mix, then add the cooked onions back in. Stir together, then add in the cream cheese, stir until the cheese is melted. Add in the creamed corn and milk; sprinkle in the chopped chicken bouillon. Stir well to mix and bring to just boiling, turn off heat, and stir in the mozzarella and some black pepper. Taste test to see if you need more chicken bouillon or salt. Serve with crusty, warm bread.

Serves 4 (depending on portion size)

Note: I like my soup very thick. If you don’t want it thick then add a couple dashes of water or more milk to thin it out. The next time I make this I will be adding chunks of cooked, cubed potato.