Chicken and Gnocchi Soup (Olive Garden CopyCat)

Ingredients: 

• 2 Chicken tenderloins
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 quart half and half (can use evaporated milk)
• 1 14 ounce can chicken broth (I used buion cubes. I thought maybe using 14 ounces of water with 2    cubes would be fine, it was but next time I might shave off a little of one of the cubes.)
• 1/2 cup celery, sliced
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 16 ounce pkg of Gnocchi (I used spinach filled Gnocchi, it's pretty much up to you and what you would think tastes good. Spinach was a safe bet since there is spinach in the soup.

PREP

Dice chicken and cook. Set aside. Prep your other veggies. (Celery, I took one stalk, sliced it in half lengthwise and then sliced it into pieces so they are a little smaller. Carrots, I didn't have shredded carrots, only baby carrots so I sliced them up the best I could into little slivers and it worked fine. Chop and dice other veggies. Keep them separate to be added one at a time.)

Directions:
In a large stockpot, saute the onion, celery and garlic in the olive oil and butter. Once the onion is clear, add the flour, stir and cook a minute. Add the half and half. At this point start cooking the gnocchi according to package. Add the carrots and chicken to the stockpot. Keep stirring and when it gets thick, add the chicken broth, gnocchi, spinach and seasonings. Cover and heat through.

We served our soup with poor mans garlic bread. Recipe found here. 

Original recipe found here