Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This is the yummiest soup I have ever had! It's all creamy and warm and flavorful, YUM! I made it tonight and easily fed six adults and three small children, plus the men all had seconds! If you don't have that many to feed or don't want it twice in one week you may want to half the recipe. This is another from my kitchen cafe blog. She also lists it with a recipe for bread bowls. I tried them, but didn't have a lot of luck! Tonight I made this with the Lion House rolls recipe, I'll put that one in the next post. I made the mistake the first time I made this of using a 5qt pot, it just barely fit! So I went and bought a 9qt pot. Everyone should have a good big soup pot!

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

½ cup butter

1 finely chopped onion

½ - 1 cup frozen corn (or ½ cup chopped celery, if preferred)

½ pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

½ cup carrots, sliced

¾ cup all-purpose flour

6 ½ cups chicken broth (can use 7 bouillon cubes plus 6 ½ cups water)

2 cups cooked wild rice

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon curry powder

½ teaspoon mustard powder

½ teaspoon dried parsley (I add about 1tsp because it makes it look pretty!)

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 cup slivered almonds (I didn't add these just because I didn't have them on hand)

2 cups nonfat half-and-half (use normal half-and-half if you prefer, but you won't believe how delicious this is with the nonfat variety!)

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, corn, chicken and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté 3-4 more minutes. Then add flour and stir well. Transfer mixture to large pot. Over medium heat, gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly until all has been added. Bring just to a boil and then reduce heat to low and let simmer.

Next, add the rice, salt, curry powder, mustard powder, parsley, ground black pepper and almonds. Allow to heat through and then pour in the half-and-half. Let simmer 1 to 1 ½ hours. Be careful not to let the soup come to a boil or it won't thicken properly - let it simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally.