Chicken Gnocchi Soup

This soup is a copy-cat of the Olive Garden chicken gnocchi soup and it is so darn yummy. Kind of like an Italian chicken and dumpling soup. It's just the right amount of creamy, but not too thick. I really loved it! The recipe is from Jamie Cooks It Up, which is one of my favorite food blogs. My kids loved it too - even my pickiest ate it happily. I served it with homemade Italian Bread, though if you want to give it the whole Olive Garden treatment, you could serve it with these Bread Sticks, which are awesome.

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
4 stalks celery, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 cups cooked and cubed chicken (rotisserie chicken works great here)
8 cups chicken stock
1, 16 oz package Potato Gnocchi (I used the Da Vinci brand)
4 cups (or 1 quart) half & half
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach, chopped (2 good handfuls)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon sugar
5 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
salt and pepper

Combine olive oil and butter in a large pot, melt butter. Add onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, season with salt, and cook over medium high heat for 5-8 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add chicken ad chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Add gnocchi and bring to a boil again. Boil for about 4 minutes, until the gnocchi start to float. Pour in half & half. Add chopped spinach, thyme, nutmeg, sugar, stir and bring to a boil. In a small bowl combine cornstarch and cold water, stirring until smooth. Stir this cornstarch mixture into the soup. Boil the soup until it thickens a little. Taste and season with salt and pepper (needs to be seasoned liberally with the salt and pepper).