If you like soup, here is a recipe that I served at quilting and everyone really liked it. There is no official chicken and gnocchi soup recipe on the Olive Garden site, but by goggling, I came up with this one. There are many other very close but I chose to go with this one. I will add in red the actual things I did. This soup when served at Olive Garden is not a really thick with vegetable soup, but you can add whatever amount of chicken and vegetables you want. The first time I made it I concluded that I had added too much. The 2nd time I definitely cut back on the chicken to the amount listed below and liked it much better. You decide how you like it. I hope you enjoy it! Love, Mom
Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup – non official recipe
http://www.food.com/recipe/olive-garden-style-chicken-and-gnocchi-soup-348802Serves 8 to 10 –
I doubt it, more like 4 to 6
3 -4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced – 1 to 1 ½ c. –
diced is important – and not big chunks – tiny!
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups half-and-half
1 stalk celery, diced - extremely thin and small
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 carrot, shredded – extremely thin (
first time a tried it I used some grated from the store – but they were too thick and didn’t cook well. I grated my own the 2nd time)
1/2 onion, diced - fine dicing
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped –
don’t use canned, and chop very small – about the size of parsley flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil -
I didn’t think that was quite enough, so the 2nd time I added some butter to the olive oil
1 teaspoon thyme -
I used about ¾ tsp., but just because I was just being hesitant
salt and pepper - about ½ t. of each –
the chicken stock already has salt in it, and I boiled the chicken for about an hour and a half in salt, bullion, garlic and onion flakes
16 ounces potato gnocchi -
I used Danish dumplings – probably a half recipe, I used a melon ball spoon, and I cooked them in a separate container of chicken bullion broth. When they were done, I drained the juice off and hopefully much of the little pieces that had broken off, and put them out on a separate plate. I added them to the soup the last couple of minutes. I tried to cook them right before I was able to serve the soup
1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional) mixed with 2 or so tablespoons of water.
(This is not a thick soap – like – chowder, but I would used 1 ½ to 2T. cornstarch)
Directions:
Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 35 mins
Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in oil (butter) over medium heat until onion is translucent or 3 or 4 min. – in the same pan you will cook the soup in. Add chicken stock, half and half, salt and pepper, thyme and carrots (stirring frequently and not doing it so fast that it curdles the milk). When it is about to boiling, thicken with the cornstarch. When thickened to desired thickness – remember it is not a thick soup, add the chicken. Heat to boiling and simmer for 10 min. (This is where the regular recipe has you add gnocchi. It says gently boil for 4 minutes, then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes.) During this time I was doing the dumplings. Add the pre-cooked dumplings and spinach and cook for another 1-2 minutes until spinach is wilted.
This is where their recipe says to thicken it but I prefer thickening it before.
You can serve with Romano cheese, Parmesan cheese, or mozzarella cheese sprinkled on top. We used the Romano and Parmesan.
Serve with hot roll, bread sticks, or whatever and tossed salad with Olive Garden dressing.
Mom
I thawed the frozen chicken by placing it into a bowl of warm water for about 20 minutes. This is about five pounds of chicken. I did a total of 20 lbs. My 16-quart pressure cooker states that it will process 10 pints at a time, but it really only did 8 - maybe because I used wide-mouth jars. Each jar held about one pound of chicken. 
When it was completely thawed, I trimmed off any fat on the chicken (which wasn't much). I then put the raw breasts into clean jars with about 1 inch of head space. I didn't add any water. I could have added a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, but because the chicken had already been injected with some broth, I choose not to add the salt.
