Olive Garden Chicken & Gnocchi Soup (copycat)

Whenever we go to the Olive Garden for lunch, I like to get the soup, salad and bread sticks. My favorite soup, BY FAR, is the Chicken & Gnocchi. I always ask them to make sure there are lots of gnocchis in mine too. Naturally once I started this blog and started cooking more and trying more things, I searched for a similar recipe for this amazing soup. There are a lot of them out there! I have only tried one, but it was so darn good, I just stuck with it. It's pretty easy too, once you chop/grate/julienne everything.
The Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup celery, chopped fine
3/4 cup onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup carrot, grated very fine and chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (not pictured)
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup milk
4 cups chicken broth or 4 cups fresh chicken stock (I use bouillon)
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken (I like to buy a rotisserie chicken at the store. I get the Italian Herb one if they have it)
3/4 cup fresh spinach, julienne cut
16 ounces gnocchi
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary (I used Thyme since I had no rosemary)
black pepper & salt to taste

Melt butter in a large heavy saucepan. Add onions, celery, carrots, garlic and sauté until soft.

Add flour mixing well, cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add heavy cream, milk

and chicken broth mixing well.

Cook and stir until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Reduce heat and stir in chicken, spinach, gnocchi and remaining seasonings.

Adjust seasonings to taste. Cook over low heat 8-10 minutes until gnocchi become tender. (you could also place the ingredients in a Crock-Pot and cook on low for 1- 1 ½ hours, this really makes the flavors come together)

Perfection!

***UPDATE***
I found this Mini Gnocchi at a fancy-pants grocery store in town. They are perfect for this dish :)