Spicy chicken, rice, black bean soup

So I made some cornish hens last night. I got some big ones and stuffed their butts with fresh cut lime wedges, fresh cilantro and minced garlic. I seasoned the skin with a chipotle rub from pampered chef along with paprika, chili powder and ground cayenne pepper. I roasted at 425 for 20 minutes then covered with foil for another 40 minutes and let sit to rest. We munched on it a bit but I had leftovers so I decided today to make a soup out of the meat. Since the hens were cooked in southwest spices I needed a soup to reflect that essence.

It turned out sooooo good..and was so easy to make.

I winged this so I do not have measurements of ingredients. Making soup outta leftovers is a creative process and not exact science. I have mad soups off of some else's recipe and I never end up adding what they do because our tastes are different.

After I picked off all the meat I sliced and diced some onions, celery, carrots, and corn off the cob. I sauteed that in a little olive oil in a dutch oven then added 2/3 cup of uncooked basmati rice, I use basmati for every recipe because it's my favorite.

Then I took the 2/3 measuring cup and filled it with water twice rather than try to figure out what cup doubles it. It's a little hard to do math when you got the burners going.
So I also had frozen chicken broth in the freezer probably 1 1/2 cup-2cups worth. I thawed it in the microwave and added that. Bring to boil, turn down heat cover and simmer 10 minutes or until rice is cooked. Then add chicken, beans of your choice (I used black), cilantro, garlic poweder, sea salt, black pepper, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, and I used chipotle, oh and almost forgot a good 2-3 tbsps on Franks Red Hot sauce. I really use it a lot because we like things with a little kick and Franks isn't that hot, it's just right and has the perfect flavor to compliment anything.

I simmered all that about 10 more minutes then removed from heat let it sit so the flavors marry and it can cool for another 10 minutes. Then garnish with whatever you want, a little guacamole, sour cream or greek yogurt, shredded cheese, tortilla chips or whatever floats your boat.

Variations of meat for this recipe could be hamburger, stew meat or beef brisket. You could even sub in potatoes instead of rice. Make sure to freeze your leftovers in handy quart size freezer bags in individual servings for easy heat up lunches.