Wild Rice Soup

My house smelled divine today! I made homemade bread bowls and my homemade Wild Rice Soup to be served with in them. It was a really great dinner. My husband kept telling me over and over again how delicious it was.

I have made this soup recipe for many years and my family loves it, and I have received many compliments from others. So I decided to share this recipe with all of you. The bread bowl recipe I just made for the first time today, and can be found right here on this blog.

Wild Rice Soup

1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken or turkey broth
2 cups cooked wild rice
2 cups half & half cream
2 cups diced cooked turkey or chicken (I use canned chicken and I sometimes use 1 cup chicken and 1 cup diced ham just to change it up a little)
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

In dutch oven or soup kettle over medium heat, saute onion, celery & carrots in butter until onion is transparent. Reduce heat. Blend in flour; cook & stir for 2 min. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil; cook for 1 min. Reduce heat. Add remaining ingredients; simmer for 20 min.

I really hope you enjoy this soup. Its definately one of our favorites!

Whole Wheat Bread

This is the bread recipe I have been making for my family for the past 10 years. Up until about 4 years ago it was only occasionally, but now I make all of our bread so we don't have to buy it. I actually sold this at the farmer's market last year and it was really popular, haven't been able to go this year because I work on the weekends...

Whole Wheat Bread
This recipe makes 5 large loaves and I use my Bosch mixer to mix and knead it, you can cut the recipe in half and make 3 smaller loaves. This makes good rolls too.

* 1 can of evaporated milk + enough hot water to make 2 quarts (8 cups) or 8 cups hot water and 3/4 cup dry milk powder, I have done it both ways
* 1/2 cup sugar or honey
* 1/4 cup yeast
* 1/4 cup slat
* 1/2 cup oil
* 15-20 cups of wheat flour (if the flour is from red wheat I use part white flour with the wheat. I grind all of our wheat to make bread and often don't measure the flour when I mix, so this is approximate.
* 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten (optional) this isn't necessary, I sometimes use it sometimes don't depending on if I have any in the house.

1. Put hot water/milk in a mixer and add sugar, yeast, salt and oil. Mix slightly and wait a few minutes for yeast to bloom.

2. Add about 8-10 cups of flour and mix until well incorporated. Keep adding flour and mixing until dough is soft but not too sticky.

3. Allow dough to rise until about double in size.

4. Grease 5 large loaf pans (I just spray them with cooking spray). Shape dough into five loaves and place in pans.

5. Set loaves to rise on stove top while oven preheats to 350 degrees.

6. Once risen, bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Poblano Corn Chowder with Chicken

I was looking for a good way to use some of the yummy stuff I got in the Mexican ingredient add-on of my bountiful baskets and found this recipe on Recipezaar. The overwhelming consensus in our house is that it is yummy and the recipe is a keeper! We ate it with fresh whole wheat bread right out of the oven (I'll post that recipe soon).

Poblano Corn Chowder with Chicken

* 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 2 cups water
* 4 cups frozen corn, divided
* 1 cup milk
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 2 poblano chiles, seeded, diced
* 1 white onion, chopped
* 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1 large tomato, diced
* 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled (I didn't have feta so I used a shredded pizza blend that I had in the fridge, I think any cheese would be good)
* cilantro, chopped (optional)
* avocado, slices (optional)
* lime slice (optional)
* black pepper, freshly ground

1. In a small saucepan, add the chicken breasts and 2 cups of water; bring to a boil and cook until chicken is tender; approximately 10 minutes.

2. Shred the chicken reserving poaching liquid.

3. Puree 2 cups of the corn kernels in a blender with the milk; set aside.

4. In a soup pot, heat the olive oil; add the diced chilies, onion and garlic; sauté 4 to 5 minutes.

5. Measure the poaching liquid and add enough water to make 2 cups, add to soup pot along with the chicken.

6. Add remaining corn and seasonings bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

7. Stir in pureed corn, tomato and cheese; simmer to heat through and melt cheese, about 3 minutes. (I stirred in about half a cup of sour cream at the end too)

8. Ladle into servings bowls and garnish as desired.

Because of the mexican ingredient pack that I got I had fresh cilantro lime and avocado for garnish and it was so good with all of those things added.

Serves 4-5

Bread Bowls for Soup

Who's been holding their breath for this one? Sorry about the delay...a million excuses, but you probably just want the recipe right? This is a very simple yummy recipe, but it is a little time consuming because like most bread...you have to let it rest and rise for some time. 6 ingredients though, couldn't be easier than that and you don't need a mixer (love that, mostly because I don't have one!) Also really cost effective. Bread bowls at the store are always expensive...plus these are better!

Bread Bowls

2 1/2 C warm water

3 T sugar

2 T yeast

1 T salt

1/3 C oil

6 C flour

Combine water and sugar in a large bowl. Sprinkle with yeast. Let soften and dissolve. Add salt, oil and half of the flour. Mix well with a large spoon. Add the rest of the flour. Stir/knead well. Let rest 10 minutes. Repeat the kneading/resting cycle 5 times. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter or board. Knead lightly. Divide into 6 or 8 pieces. Shape into balls. Place on a greased baking sheet (3 or 4 balls to a large sheet). Let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool. Cut off "lid" of rolls. Pick out the soft middle, leaving a 1" to 1 1/2" thick shell. Place in bowls. Fill with soup, top with "lids" and enjoy. Don't you just LOVE fall????

NOTE: Cream soups don't soak in as much as broth-based soups.

My Grandma's Clam Chowder

It is FALL and that means...soup to warm up the cold afternoons. This is a really YUMMY and fairly mild recipe for clam chowder. It also happens to be very easy and really is my grandma's recipe. Enjoy!

Clam Chowder

3 - 6 oz cans of clams (I get the minced clams so the chunks are smaller...personal preference)

1 C chopped onion

1 C chopped celery

2 C diced potatoes

1/2 tsp sugar

3/4 C butter

3/4 C flour

1 qt half and half (recipe also says you can use milk, but I don't think it would be as thick...)

1 1/2 tsp salt

Dash of pepper

Place your veggies in a pan, add just the clam juice and enough water to cover them all. Simmer for 20 minutes or until they are all tender. Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour and salt. Cook 2 minutes on a medium heat, stirring constantly. Add half and half. Cook on medium high and stir until bubbly and very thick. (Be careful here or you'll burn the cream sauce!) Add undrained veggies and clams. Season and serve hot. This is really yummy with bread bowls...which I happen to have a GREAT recipe for. I'll try to post that tonight too if possible...

TIP: I had a busy afternoon and needed this ready by a certain time this evening. So instead of preparing it all together I chopped the veggies right after lunch and threw them in the crock pot on high with the water and clam juice. They cooked all afternoon and then it took me about 20 minutes to put the rest of the soup together later. I was then able to keep it warm in the crock pot without worrying about burning it on the stove. For me splitting it up made it a little more manageable with two smaller pieces of time to get it ready, but it did require planning ahead.

Like it? Come back and let us know!

Another cooking blog

My cousin also has a recipe blog. I have got a few good recipes off there, but haven't had a chance to look at it much lately. Check it out and see if there's anything worth trying! It's at quickandhealthymeals.blogspot.com.

Happy cooking! One of these days I'll get some more posts up. Just no energy right now :(

I see I have a lot of visitors from the tracker that I added...how come no one comments? Come on guys....share the love ;)