Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

I had gone to the website cooks.com to find a recipe for Chicken and Wild Rice Soup.  I had my doubts as to whether the recipe would be as good as I wanted it to be.

Being a basic cook, i.e. following every single step one by one, I found that the recipe lacked a step and I had to improvise.  So, here is the improvisation of the recipe – I omitted the onions.

The ingredients are as follows:

2 quarts chicken broth

1 box of Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice original recipe (seasoning packet will not be used)

1/2 cup celery, chopped

1/2 cup carrot, chopped

1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped

1 qt whole milk

Salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

8 ounces fresh mushrooms (sauteed in butter)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

4 cups cooked chicken (I used skinless chicken thighs)

– After it starts to boil, simmer approximately 40 minutes

– While the ingredients in the pot are cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet

– Once melted, add the chopped mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are soft

– Add the flour to the mushroom mixture and whisk

– Slowly add the milk and continue whisking the mixture

– Stir until thick (about 7 to 10 minutes)

– Cut the chicken in medium sized pieces and add those pieces to a small pot of water

– Boil the chicken until it’s cooked (about 15 – 20 minutes)

– Remove the boiled chicken pieces from the pot and cut them into smaller pieces

– Add the mushroom sauce mixture and the cooked chicken to the vegetable/rice mixture

– Add salt and pepper to taste.

Heat through for about 30 minutes.

The original recipe assumes that one knows what it means when it says “4 cups cooked chicken.”  I did not.  I am a very basic cook and follow the directions as stated.  Since I didn’t know what it meant, I boiled the chicken to cook it.  I’ve been told that it can also be baked.