Chicken Bacon Wild Rice Soup

It's a chilly night here in Minnesota and nothing sounded more amazing tonight than a yummy thick warm soup. What better way to find a great recipe than on the one and only Pinterest. If you're not among the gazillions (real #) that are a part of this new amazing pin board site then you must join asap! If you need an invite feel free to comment under this post with your email and I will send one :) It sometimes takes long if you request one on your own.

Ok so back to the soup... This one looked beyond delicious so I looked it up on another blog called Pinchofyum.com. I didn't have all of the ingrediants at my home so I improvised and I think I did a great job! It's still simmering on my stove top but I've been tasting as I go and I will say I'm pretty stoked to try it in a little bit.

I didn't take a ton of step by step photos because at first I wasn't going to blog it (in case it didn't turn out) but as I was cooking and smelling I pulled out my camera.

I'm posting the original recipe with  my changes in ( ) next to it.

Chicken Bacon Wild Rice Soup

Author: Pinch of Yum, from Cambridge Medical Center cookbook

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 30 mins

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 3 (10 3/4 oz) cans condensed chicken broth (I just used regular chicken broath & added 1/2 can of Cream of Chicken soup)
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup uncooked wild rice, rinsed (I forgot to rinse & after soup cooked for an hour I added some brown rice I made last week for something and needed to use)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
• 1/2 cup margarine or butter
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning (didn't have any so I used: cumin, ground oregano, tumeric, paprika, Mrs. Dash original)
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups half and half
• 1 1/2 cup cubed or shredded cooked chicken or turkey
• 8 slices bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled
• 1 tablespoon chopped pimiento (our grocery store didn't have this)
• 2-3 tablespoons dry sherry, if desired (did not use)

Instructions

In a large saucepan, combine chicken broth and water. Add wild rice and onions. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30-45 minutes or until rice is tender (Mine took about 25 mins because it took awhile to go from boil to simmer). Once the rice is cooked, there will be some additional broth – do not drain.

fogged up my lens a little but it smells amazing!

In a medium saucepan, melt margarine, stir in flour, salt, seasoning, and pepper. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly. (mine was THICK and I mean thick so I wasn't sure if it was correct...hence the no picture. OH and I also used the pan I fried the bacon in so it soaked up all of the bacon crumbles at the bottom).

Gradually stir in half and half with the butter/flour mixture and cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. (it was really lumpy so I used a whisk and stirred it on low and it loosened up find.) 

Add this creamy mixture back into the saucepan with the rice/broth. Add chicken, bacon, pimiento, and sherry (didn't use pimiento & sherry). Heat on low, stirring every once in a while, for at least a half an hour. Do not boil. The mixture will look thin, but the longer you heat the soup, the more the flavors merry and the more it will thicken. This soup is best served after gently heating for an extended period of time (even a few hours) or the next day! For extra flavor, add more poultry seasoning and/or bacon.

Just because a pile of bacon is always a gorgeous sight.

what it looks like an hour in the pot.