Soup has so much appeal when it is freezing out. It's warm, it's smooth, not a lot of chewing involved, and if you know how to spice it up just right, it's delicious! This recipe originated on a web site, but I fiddled with it. I don't know how much changing it requires before it becomes an "original" recipe, but here's what I did. We just reheated the leftovers, and enjoyed a second dinner, plus one more container is headed for the freezer.
Creamy Crock Pot Chicken Soup
2 tbs vegetable oil
4-6 medium sized carrots, 1/2" dice
1 c chopped celery
1/2 chopped Spanish onion
4 c chicken stock
2 c water
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg (5 oz) Carolina long grain rice and wild rice
4 tbs butter
1/4 c flour
2 c warm water
1 env powdered milk
salt and pepper
Heat the oil in a saute pan, and sweat the vegetables until they are a little soft. Put them in the crock pot with the stock, 2 c water, chicken breasts and the rice package. Set the crock pot on high for a couple of hours, then turn it to low for another 3 hours or so. If you are out all day, set to low for the day. Half the time I don't think about dinner until noon, so I give the heat a boost, just to get it cooking.
If you are at home, about an hour before serving, pull the chicken out and let it cool down so that you can shred it without annoying your fingers. If you don't have the luxury of time, you'll just have to do it while it's hot. In any case, put it back into the crock pot to reheat.
Melt the butter in the saute pan, add the flour, some salt and pepper, and anything else that occurs to you by way of seasoning, and cook until bubbling. Dissolve the powdered milk, whisking out the lumps, and gradually whisk into the butter flour mixture, and cook until thickened. Stir this into the crock pot. By now things should be looking and smelling pretty good, so get the soup bowls out and ladle away!
The original recipe skipped the first veg saute, and used a box of Rice-a-Roni long grain and wild rice. I couldn't find this in my store, and thought the Carolina packet looked fine, and it was delicious, so I'll stick with that. Also, the thickener was twice the butter, and 2 c half and half. I imagine this would be lovely and rich, but I wanted to cut the calories. Also, I don't see why this wouldn't work with chicken on the bone--maybe legs, but certainly the boneless breasts made things simple. Anyhow, just thinking out loud. Hope you like it!
