Creamy Chicken Italian Soup w/Gnocchi

2/3 cup butter or olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

2 lbs cooked chicken OR 2 cans cooked chicken

2/3 cup flour

1 quart whole milk

1 quart heavy cream

5 Tbsp Chicken Soup Base (this is the yellow powdery boullion)

Pepper to taste

1 bag fresh spinach leaves

Make your gnocchi first, by boiling it according to package directions, or make homemade gnocchi.  Set it aside.

Melt butter in a soup pot and sauté the garlic.  Add the flour and cook and stir together, cook for a minute or so for the raw flour smell to cook out.  Add the chicken and cook to combine the chicken and the flour paste.

Cool the pan a little bit by lifting it off the burner and turning the heat down, then add about a cup of the milk, and stir stir stir to get any lumps out and make it as smooth as you can.  Add the boullion or soup base and stir it in well, no lumps.  Add the rest of the milk and the cream and cook over medium low heat.  Taste it, add salt and pepper if needed.  Add the gnocchi to heat it through in the soup.  Just before serving, add the whole bag of spinach leaves and warm them through, they will cook way down.

REMEMBER:  Cream soups should never boil hard, only barely simmer so they usually take some time to heat through.  If you boil it, it scorches and separates, not what you want.  Stir it a lot, don’t let it scorch on the bottom.