Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

I followed this recipe exactly except I used a 6.2 oz pkg of Uncle Ben’s long grain and wild rice. Easy and fairly quick if you plan ahead. I cooked the chicken in a crockpot and then cooked the rice closer to dinner time.

So, I adjusted this recipe just a touch, just so I could cook the majority of this in my crockpot and make it a little heartier/ make it really stretch. I doubled this recipe so that we could have some now and another premade meal for next week. I cooked the chicken breasts in the *organic* chicken broth most of the morning, then shredded it and added it back in with sauteed celery (I used half of one large bunch), fresh onion, garlic, carrots (about a cup, that I ran through the food processor), the mushrooms and the rice mix, that I cooked seperately (I did not want the rice to expand too much in my broth plus I've had really bad luck when I've tried to cook rice in soups, it almost never turns out and I get raw rice--I also used Uncle Ben's rice). I took half of the soup out of the crockpot so I could freeze it as I didn't want to freeze it with the cream in it. With the half I didn't freeze, I then added the milk (I used fat free evaporated milk to cut back on some of the calories), a little thyme, red pepper flake, and a drained/rinsed can of corn. Very simple, adapted well to changes and came out very flavorful. Wonderful for a cold and rainy night. The house smelled like comfort. I'll make this again. NOTE: This soup is missing something. Cheese? Maybe a little parmesan? I think that might be a good addition to this soup.

So, I adjusted this recipe just a touch, just so I could cook the majority of this in my crockpot and make it a little heartier/ make it really stretch. I doubled this recipe so that we could have some now and another premade meal for next week. I cooked the chicken breasts in the *organic* chicken broth most of the morning, then shredded it and added it back in with sauteed celery (I used half of one large bunch), fresh onion, garlic, carrots (about a cup, that I ran through the food processor), the mushrooms and the rice mix, that I cooked seperately (I did not want the rice to expand too much in my broth plus I've had really bad luck when I've tried to cook rice in soups, it almost never turns out and I get raw rice--I also used Uncle Ben's rice). I took half of the soup out of the crockpot so I could freeze it as I didn't want to freeze it with the cream in it. With the half I didn't freeze, I then added the milk (I used fat free evaporated milk to cut back on some of the calories), a little thyme, red pepper flake, and a drained/rinsed can of corn. Very simple, adapted well to changes and came out very flavorful. Wonderful for a cold and rainy night. The house smelled like comfort. I'll make this again. NOTE: This soup is missing something. Cheese? Maybe a little parmesan? I think that might be a good addition to this soup.