Foodie Fridays: Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

If you live in the snowy northeast, you are probably very tired of snow. While I like winter (and snow), the tall piles of dirty snow, the narrowing sidewalks, and the icy/slushy/snowy puddles are starting to get a little trying. If you have the winter blues and need something to help you warm up, soup is one of the most comforting (and most affordable) ways of doing so.

Not so long ago, I considered myself a soup failure. While I enjoyed soup, I seemed to lack the ability to actually make a good soup at home. However, after Thanksgiving 2010, I found myself with scanning websites to find something to do with the turkey breast carcass that was taking up precious refrigerator space. Luckily, I found an awesome stock recipe as well as a good recipe for turkey and wild rice soup. I did a little tweaking (some of it based on other reviewers' ideas) and found that the soup was flavorful, hearty, and filling. As an added bonus, the recipe is relatively low in calories (according to the calorie calculator I use, it is around 215 calories per serving)

Chicken (or Tukey) and Wild Rice Soup (based on this recipe from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

-          3 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed, low sodium chicken broth*

-          2 cups water*

-          ½ cup finely chopped green onions (optional)

-          ¾ cup chopped carrots

-          ½ cup chopped celery

-          ¾ cup chopped onions

-          2 cloves of garlic, minced (optional)

-          ½ - ¾ cup of wild rice (you can also use long grain white rice, but the cooking time will be shorter)

-          ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon butter

-          1 tablespoon olive oil

-          ¼ cup all-purpose flour

-          ½ teaspoon salt

-          ¼ teaspoon poultry seasoning (or chicken bouillon)

-          1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

-          ½ cup half-and-half

-          ½ cup 1% milk

-          1½  - 2 cups cooked, diced turkey or chicken meat

*I typically like to use homemade stock in place of the condensed broth and part of the water. I will usually use 5 cups of homemade stock and ½ cup of water.

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter with the olive oil. When the butter is melted and the oil is hot, add the chopped carrots, celery, green onions, and onions. Allow them to cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. Halfway through this, add the garlic if using.
2. Add the chicken broth, water, and rice to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the rice is tender (35-40 minutes for wild rice, 20-30 minutes for long grain white rice).
3. When the rice is tender, melt ¼ cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in flour, salt, poultry seasoning (or bouillon), and pepper. Cook, stirring, until smooth and bubbly. Stir in half-and-half and milk, and cook mixture until thickened (about 2 minutes).
4. Stir the flour mixture into the rice mixture. Add the chicken or turkey. Heat through. Makes 9 servings.