Wild Rice Chicken Mushroom Soup

You can’t beat this for a full meal soup in the Fall or Winter months. Just add a nice hot slice of buttered bread! Very similar to the Panera Bread version, this one uses a couple supermarket hacks to make it really easy.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups low-sodium chicken stock

• 1/2 cup dry sherry or dry white wine

• 3 ounces fresh white mushrooms, halved then thin sliced

• 1/2 cup thin sliced celery

• 1/4 cup shredded carrots

• 1/4 cup diced onions

• 1 tsp chicken bouillon

• 1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes

• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 1/4 tsp dried thyme

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter

• 2 tbsp flour

• 1 (10 3/4 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup

• 1 1/2 cups cooked wild rice brown rice blend

• 1 cup cooked chicken, diced

• 1/2 cup cream (opt)

• Kosher salt to taste

Directions:

1 – In a large saucepan, combine the first 11ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

2 – In a Dutch oven, melt butter then add the flour and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the soup mixture (from the first 11 ingredients). Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes to allow it to thicken a bit. Whisk in the cream of mushroom soup (straight from the can. Simmer for a minute or so then add the cooked wild rice and cooked chicken and heat through, about 2 minutes. Add the cream if using and heat through. Check for seasoning and add salt if needed.

3 – Garnish with chopped chives (opt).