chicken wild rice soup

Here is one of or favorite cold weather soups.  A few people have asked me for the recipe and it has taken me a while, sorry everyone.  Those of you who know me know that I really only measure ingredients when I have to.  Sometimes this makes it hard to share a recipe because I am not sure of the exact measurement of all of the ingredients.  So last this time when I made this soup I was a little more careful to write it down.  So here it is.

The recipe I first tried called for cooked chicken and canned chicken broth but if I am going to cook the chicken I might as well make chicken broth as well right. So here is what I start with in my crock-pot.  

Chicken Broth and Chicken:
2-3 chicken breasts
2-3 carrots chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 tsp salt
few shakes of pepper (is that a measurement?)
1/2 tsp celery salt
(I don't always have celery but if you have it use 1-2 stalks and add a little more salt)
1/2 Tb Parsley
I then fill my crock-pot full with water about 8 cups.
Cook this on high for 4-6 hrs or low 8-10hrs.

Sometimes I use dehydrated carrots and onions in the chicken broth instead.  Whatever you have on hand will work.  When the chicken is done scoop out chicken to a cutting board and then strain the broth.  This will make more that what you need for the soup.  I put my extra in a glass jar and put it in the fridge for a later dinner in the week or freeze it in ice cubes trays for longer storage.

For the soup:

Cook 2 boxes of Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice (original)  with seasoning according to package directions.
When done add about 3 cups of chicken broth and cubed cooked chicken.
You may also add some the diced carrots or celery from your broth if you like.
Add 1/2 cup of cream (this is a key ingredient) and about 1/2 cup milk.  You can adjust the milk to more or less depending on the consistency you would like.

The recipe really is pretty simple.  If you want to use canned chicken broth and use some other type of cooked chicken that would work also.  Hope you like it!!