Week 8: Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup (for Christopher)

Look at that bowl of soup. That is a nice bowl of soup you might say. Round!

Look at the pretty colors. It has carrots and celery, two things I don't like in anything except soup. They get all squashy and I can't tell that I'm eating vegetables. I'm like a 5 year old in that sense. I need to be tricked into eating my veggies. 

When I moved back to Ann Arbor, my brother was quite excited that he would be able to come visit me. He has a car on campus now and I am not going crazy in grad school. We finally got our schedules to mesh up and he came over for some food. I gave him options. Do you want pizza rolls with salad, orange sesame chicken, or chicken and wild rice soup? It was a pretty quick response to the soup. So soup it was, and even though I'm under the weather, I made a big pot of soup. I cheated...I used the crock pot. I walked in the door after work today and could smell it cooking. It smelled great. I even modified the recipe a bit based on the comments that other people were leaving and my experiences with this type of soup. So proud to be getting to this point in my cooking. I chose to add the rice later so it wouldn't make the soup pasty or gross. I also cut back on the original amount of roux because a full stick of butter seemed like an awful lot.

Brother seemed pretty excited to get his soup today. I also sent him home with the rest of the red velvet cupcakes from last week. They were a little stale, but I'm sure his roommates aren't going to mind. 

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup 

4 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package of Rice-a-Roni long grain and wild rice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 tbsp all purpose flour 
4 tbsp butter
2 cups half and half
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery

Directions:

Combine broth, water, carrots, celery, chicken and rice seasoning packet in a large slow cooker. 

Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours. About 1 hour before serving, add rice to slow cooker.

Take out chicken and shred with two forks and then add back into slow cooker.

In a small bowl combine salt, pepper, and flour. In medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in flour mixture by tablespoon to form a roux. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Stir cream mixture into slow cooker and then let cook on low for 15 more minutes.  

 Brother and I just about to enjoy our soup, bread and tea with honey.