Wild Rice Soup

It has been extremely cold these past few days. The temperature is in the single digits. Throw in the wind and you have a wind chill of minus zero. I woke up the other morning to -13 degrees. I can't imagine what the chill was that morning.

It has been so cold that I haven't taken the dogs for a walk in days. I'm afraid it's too cold for them. I've just been taking them out in the backyard for a short time and my Sheltie is not very happy about it. She Loves her walks! I can't wait til we can go again too. There is something to be said for walking the stress of the day away and it's a great way to start the day.

Since the weather has been so cold and miserable. We've just been shut up in the house trying to keep warm. Of course we've had a fire in the wood stove like every night since Thursday. I don't know what I would do if we didn't have that stove.

I also made some Wild Rice Soup the other night. There's nothing better than soup on a cold night. This soup is so good that you'll want to just keep on eating and eating and eating. 

Now this recipe originally was from the paper, but I've changed it over the years to suit me. It is really easy to make and truthfully I don't think it can be messed up it's that easy. If you have leftovers the liquid will get absorbed, but all you have to do is add some more chicken broth and some milk and you've got soup again.

The recipe calls for half n half, but sometimes I just use milk. It turns out just as good.

Wild Rice Soup

Wild Rice Soup
1 Cup raw wild rice
3 T butter
1  medium onion, chopped
8oz fresh mushrooms, sliced thickly
1/2 C flour
1-32 oz box of chicken broth
1 1/2 C diced cooked chicken, optional
1 C half n half
1 t worcestershire sauce
hot pepper sauce to taste ( I use Sriracha sauce)
salt and pepper to taste

Wash and drain the rice. Put in a saucepan with 5 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer about 45 minutes or until most of it has "popped". Drain well.
Cooke the chicken in boiling water until done. Set aside to cool. When cool cut into bite size pieces.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onions and saute them over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they become translucent. Add the mushrooms and saute, stirring occasionally until they yield their liquid and it's almost all cooked off.
 Add the flour, stir it into the onions and mushrooms and cook, stirring about 1 minute to heat the flour. Stir in the broth, making sure each addition of liquid is absorbed before more is added. Add the rice and chicken and heat through. Add the half n half, worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper and heat through.