Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This soup was recently made for us during one of our trips to my parents ranch house. My mom, K,  got the recipe out of her Taste of Home Classic Cookbook and OMG it is heavenly. With its creamy texture full of veggies, shredded chicken, and wild rice it is the definition of comfort food. It's not the most healthy soup, with all that 1/2 & 1/2 and butter, but every once in a while, on a really cold winters day, it's perfect. Add a salad or some hot buttered bread (your already in for all those calories why not go all the way) and you have a great cold weather meal. Just so you know, this recipe makes a huge amount, 10 to 12 servings. If you don't need quite that much you could always freeze half for another night or just cut the recipe in half.

 Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

1              med       onion, chopped

2                              celery ribs, diced

2                              carrots, diced

1/2         cup         butter

1/2         cup         flour

4              cups       chicken broth

2              cups       wild rice

2              cups       1/2 and 1/2

2              cups       cooked chicken, diced

1              tbsp       fresh parsley

                salt and pepper to taste

In a big Dutch oven or soup pot, saute onion, celery and carrots in butter until onion is transparent. Reduce heat. Sprinkle in flour and cook until bubbly. Gradually add the broth, stirring constantly to avoid getting lumps of flour. Bring to a boil; boil for one minute. Reduce heat and add rice cream, chicken, parsley, salt and pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the rice is tender.