Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

I married a football/baseball player.  Soccer never entered the realm of his imagination...until he had a business trip to Seattle and we couldn't reach him and there were tryouts and phone calls from a coach and one thing leads to another and pretty soon you are picking  your husband up from the airport and telling him that he is going to raise a soccer player.  4 soccer players.  (yes I know that was a run on sentence)
It's a great story, but for those who are just looking for a Wild Rice and Chicken Soup recipe, it's best to stick to the story at hand.
Jake is my second son and first soccer player. He went to  Minnesota one summer to play soccer and we followed.  He flew...we drove with the other 5 children for two days straight because that is how much we love watching Jake play soccer...or football....or baseball or anything.  Jake stayed with his team and we stayed in a brand new, very empty, hotel somewhere near  a town called Elk River.  There is a little cafe there called Olde Main Eatery and they were the masters of feeding our small crowd the most delicious home cooked meals you could ever imagine!  Look them up--they have 5 stars.  The point is that they served this creamy wild rice soup that literally warmed the soul and made old Campbell 's soup commercials look lackluster.  If I had a dime for every time my kid's have said, "remember that wild rice soup in Minnesota?"... well let's just say I would have quite a few dimes.
At the risk of ruining their fond recollections of the Olde Main Eatery, I set about to at least put a wild rice soup together that would help them remember the fun we had.  My family loved it and since I believe that every kitchen should have an inexhaustible repertoire of great and varied soup recipes, I thought I would post this baby!

Here's the short list of ingredients you should gather.  I got my wild rice from Costco and I'm sure you don't need HEAVY whipping cream but since that's what Costco sells in the quantity I use then heavy cream it is. After this soup is refrigerated you will need to thin it and for that I used milk.  You know how rice absorbs all the moisture:)

Wild Rice and Chicken Soup by Sweet Suppertime

Prepare:
one cup uncooked wild rice according to package directions and reserve

Saute:
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sliced green onions or one medium onion
3 stalks chopped celery
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Add:
32 ounces chicken broth/stock (reserve 1 cup for thickening)
4 chicken bouillon cubes *optional
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cooked chicken breast cubed

Simmer for 15 minutes.  In the last 2 minutes add remaining 1 cup of broth (reserved) mixed with 2 tablespoons flour until all lumps are gone.  I always pour this through a strainer to avoid lumping.

Add:
1 1/2 to 2 cups cooks wild rice
2 cups cream

bring back to a low boil and serve immediately.

Garnish and Serve:
Top with slivered almonds, fresh parsley and sliced green onions.

Don't add the rice too far ahead because it will absorb much of the liquid in the soup.  When reheating you will need to add milk or additional cream, but it is delicious the second day if for some wild reason you have leftovers!

Poppyseed Chicken Bake

Yes--I know Poppy Seed is two words.  Not for this Bake it's not!
Several years ago I had to do some time with bed rest.  Not fun.  I was expecting our sixth child and for some reason this little guy kept thinking he wanted to rush the pregnancy along.  Often neighbors would bring us dinner and it was so kind and thoughtful.  One particular evening as my husband opened the door he found a woman that we didn't even know standing on the front porch with a pan filled with this delicious meal.  I found it so endearing that someone I didn't even know had found out that I was on bed rest and, because she had had a similar experience, she wanted to bring dinner to me.  I never asked her for the recipe and there have been so many times over the years that I wished that I had.  So I started my quest to make this comforting bake.  This is how it turned out!

Cook 3-4 chicken breasts and cut them in to bit size cubes. Sometimes I use my pressure cooker and sometimes I boil the chicken breasts with a couple of bouillon cubes. Set these aside.
Saute one medium chopped onion in one tablespoon of butter with 1/4 teaspoon of pepper until they become transparent and delicious looking.  I love this part of cooking, it's the tiniest bit of involvement and all of the sudden my house smells like a five star restaurant.

Mix the sauteed onion with 1 can of cream of chicken soup, 1 1/2 cups sour cream, 1/2 cup mayonnaise,
1 1/2 Tablespoons poppy seeds, and 1/4 cup of milk. The mayonnaise smooths out some of the tang of the sour cream. Fold in the cooked chicken and spread in a 13 X 9 baking dish.  Crush one sleeve of buttery crackers ( I use Ritz) and combine with 1/2 cup (yes the whole cube) melted butter.  I don't try to crush the crackers into oblivion, i like larger pieces and I think they look pretty on the top in all different shapes and sizes.  Top with 1/4 cup green onion and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.  You should see bubbles sizzling away on the edges and the casserole should be nicely browned on top.
Take it out of the oven and sprinkle with 1 cup of finely grated cheese...or not.  I like doing this at the end because the cheese doesn't bake it just melts in pretty little patches of goodness.  My family likes to eat this over rice and the preferred side dish of the meal?  Broccoli.  Obviously the ingredient list is not on all the "healthy diet" lists.  I will say though, that for a woman on bed rest it tasted like pure heaven and was delivered to my family by an angel.

Poppyseed Chicken (yes we spell it all run together)  by Sweet Suppertime

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

3-4 cooked chicken breasts, cubed (if the boys are home for dinner I make it 5) set aside
1 medium onion chopped and sauteed in
       1 TB butter with
       1/4 teaspoon pepper
Mix onions and chicken with:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

Spread in a 13 X 9 pan and add topping.

Topping
1 sleeve butter crackers crushed
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
Mix butter and crushed crackers together and sprinkle over the chicken bake.

1 cup finely grated cheese to add after it is out of the oven


Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until bubbly and brown.  Serve over rice if desired.  (doubly delish over wild rice) add grated cheese as soon as it it out of the oven.