kitchen experiment - chicken and bell pepper soup

Sometimes you just have to do some kitchen experimenting. This soup was one of my better ones and I'm pretty excited about it. My boyfriend went nuts over this soup and he keeps bugging me to remake it. 
I sit around surfing through recipes on Pinterest and the recipes on some of my favorite blogs for hours on end when I actually have free time. I see food I want to make food I never want to see again and food that gives me ideas. These ideas sit in the back of my head waiting for a day when the time is right, the ingredients are in the kitchen and my boyfriend is bugging me to make something (his special culinary creation is the peanut butter sandwich). I had been searching through soup recipes and many of them included carrots as part of the base of the soup rather than a chunky ingredient. I love carrots in any form. So the day came where I was ready to make a soup with carrots as part of the base and that was the only definite thing I had decided about the soup when I set out to make it. The bone in chicken breasts called to me and so did the bright red bell peppers. In the end I came up with this recipe. I was cooking from taste so maybe your soup will turn out a little different, but that is the fun part. Use your buds (taste or otherwise) to help you bring this soup full circle. 

Ingredients:
2-3 lbs bone in chicken breasts (about 2 chicken breasts)

Half an onion, diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 or 2 quarts chicken broth (must have 2 quarts of liquid, chicken broth and water or all chicken broth)

¼ tsp cumin

1 tablespoon dried basil

½ tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 cups carrots, diced

2 red bell peppers, diced

2 cups cooked rice (1 cup uncooked)

Directions:

Dice half an onion and add to large pot. Cook until translucent. Add 2 quarts chicken broth or water and bring to a boil. Add chicken breasts and boil until cooked (internal temp of 165 degrees or no pink). Remove chicken breasts and save for later.

Add cumin, basil, parsley, garlic powder, chili powder, diced carrots and ONLY 1 diced bell pepper to chicken broth. Simmer until carrots and peppers are soft and use immersion blender (or regular blender) to blend as much as possible. Add the second diced bell pepper and simmer until cooked halfway, will still have some crunch. Remove bones and shred or chop the chicken breasts and add back to the soup when the bell peppers are halfway done. (I preferred the chicken shredded)

Start rice: Boil water in small saucepan and add rice. Reduce to simmer and cook until tender. (I wait until there is almost no water left visible in the pan to check the doneness of the rice.)

Mix cooked rice into soup OR keep rice separate and add to individual bowls This will keep the rice from becoming mushy if you’re keeping soup for later. It also allows you to choose how much rice you’d like and appease picky eaters.

Serve with a light salad or a grilled cheese if you’re feeling frisky.

Other suggestions/substitutions for this soup:
Add frozen or fresh corn
Add canned/fresh diced tomatoes
Use small pasta in place of rice
Cook rice/pasta in the soup to add extra flavor 
Add eggplant
Cook down broth after chicken is removed to make soup thicker