Chicken Soup with Wild Rice

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cut green beans ( please don’t use mushy canned beans. They have their place, and it’s not in this soup.)
• 1 packet onion soup mix
• 12 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup long grain white or brown rice
• ½ cup wild rice
• ¼ tsp ground pepper
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• ½ c sour cream
• salt to taste

Instructions

1. Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season liberally with salt and pepper.
2. In a heavy bottomed dutch oven or stock pot, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium high heat until it shimmers. Add chicken to the pan and cook until the chicken has some colour on it, but it doesn’t need to be completely done. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. Add remaining Tbsp of oil to the pan and cook the onions, carrots, garlic, and celery until the onion is translucent and vegetables are starting to get tender.
4. Add in the chicken broth, onion soup mix, corn, beans, both rices, and thyme. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and add the chicken. Cook soup for about 30 minutes or until the rice and vegetables are cooked through.
5. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the sour cream, pepper, and salt to taste.
6. Crock Pot Directions:
7. Follow the directions above through cooking the onion, carrots, celery and garlic.
8. Then put all the ingredients into the crock-pot, except for the sour cream and cook on low for 4-6 hrs, or high 2-3 hrs. Stir in the sour cream and serve.
9. Alternately, if you are running short on time, you can skip all the directions above and put all the raw ingredients, minus the sour cream in the crock-pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hrs, or high 4-6. This method will result in a little less flavour that would have been achieved by sauteing the chicken and veggies first, but you can take your pick. Stir in the sour cream just before serving.