Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

I know it is spring and soup whether is no longer upon us, but crack a window and let the cool night air in and give this one a try. One of my favorite soups in the whole world is Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. I've been on a quest to find the best recipe to make it at home. This is it! It is perfectly creamy and full of flavor. It reheats well and actually is quite thick and less soup like when you eat it the next day. This soup will send you into soup nirvana. Your head will be spinning with sweet carrots, tender rice and moist chicken all perfectly mingled a bowl of soul warming goodness.

The recipe uses fat free half-and-half, but don't be fooled by the non-fat dairy. This is still wonderful and creamy. The fat free half-and-half has a sweetness to it. If you don't want the sweetness, you could use full fat half-and-half mixed with some milk to thin it down a little.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
From Mel's Kitchen Cafe

½ cup butter
1 finely chopped onion
½ – 1 cup frozen corn (or ½ cup chopped celery, if preferred)
½ pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
½ cup carrots, sliced
¾ cup all-purpose flour
6 ½ cups chicken broth (can use 7 bouillon cubes plus 6 ½ cups water)
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon mustard powder
½ teaspoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup slivered almonds
2 cups nonfat half-and-half

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, corn, chicken and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté 3-4 more minutes. Then add flour and stir well. Transfer mixture to large pot. Over medium heat, gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly until all has been added. Bring just to a boil and then reduce heat to low and let simmer.

Next, add the rice, salt, curry powder, mustard powder, parsley, ground black pepper and almonds. Allow to heat through and then pour in the half-and-half. Let simmer 1 to 1 ½ hours. Be careful not to let the soup come to a boil or it won’t thicken properly – let it simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally.

Chocolate Trifle

This Chocolate Trifle is fantastic and a cinch to whip up. You'll have to excuse my not so great pictures. (A new camera is on my to do list, as is a residence with better lighting). This dessert looks super impressive in person. I brought it to my a picnic for my husband's school and people practically licked the bowl clean and I got oodles of compliments on how great it looked. Sadly, that day I forgot to take a picture because we were running late. But, I made it again for a presentation my husband did at school and there were no leftovers to be had.

This dessert starts with brownies, and you can use any brownie recipe you like. You want a brownie that isn't super fudgy for this, otherwise you'll have a mouth full of goo while eating this. You want a nice moist cakey brownie for this. Not too dry, not too fudgy is the way to go for this dessert. Then these wonderful brownies are layered amongst fantastic chocolate pudding-based mousse like filling and cool-whip. Yum, Yum, Yum!! Next time I make this, I would really like to try it with homemade whipped cream instead of cool-whip. But don't worry, the cool-whip tastes great in this. Your taste buds will be thank you for making this one.

Chocolate Trifle

1 9x13 pan of brownies, cooled and cut into 1 inch squares
1 (3.9 0z) package instant Jello Chocolate Pudding
1/2 c. water
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (8 oz) Cool Whip, thawed
1 (12 oz.) tub Cool Whip, thawed
1 (1.5 oz) bar chocolate or crumbled Oreos

In large bowl combine pudding mix, water, and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until smooth. Fold in 8 oz. Cool Whip, until no streaks remain.

In trifle bowl, place half of brownies in bottom. Top with half of pudding mix, followed with half of the 12 oz container of Cool Whip. Repeat layers with remaining brownies, pudding mix and ending with remaining Cool Whip. Chill for 8 hours. Garnish with shaved chocolate or crumbled Oreos. Serve in bowls.

BBQ Chicken Bread Braid

It has been quite a while since I posted. I'm going to get better at it, I promise. I've had a couple of recipe flops and my computer died and I lost all my pictures. But with a new computer in hand and a few successful recipes to share, I'm back.

My husband loves BBQ chicken pizza. Whenever we make pizza or order pizza, that is always what he wants. As an alternative to BBQ chicken pizza, I found this recipe over at Mel's Kitchen Cafe for a BBQ Chicken Bread Braid. It looks impressive when it is all done and tastes fantastic. The crust is this perfectly tender, fluffy caspsule to store tender chicken, tangy BBQ, spicy red onion and gooey cheese. I'm salivating just reliving the experience. I slightly adapted the recipe by adding celery, because I love celery on my BBQ Chicken Pizza, otherwise everything else is the same.

This is a pretty versatile recipe too. If you don't want BBQ chicken fillings, go ahead and sub pizza fillings. Or maybe you want some breakfast and you can make some scrambled eggs, bacon, milk gravy and cheese in the middle. So many possibilities to add to my list.

BBQ Chicken Bread Braid
(yields 2 bread braids)
Slightly adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

1 recipe French Bread Rolls (recipe follows)
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
1 red onion, thinly slice into half moons
1/2 c. chopped celery
1 1/2 c. BBQ sauce
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1 cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 4oo degrees.

After french bread roll recipe has gone through the first rise, divide dough into 2 equal parts. Roll the first portion out into an 11x17 rectangle directly on parchment paper or baking sheet liner. Using a knife, cut 1-inch wide strips down the long side of the rectangle on both sides (looking like a fringe on the long side of the dough), leaving about a 2-3 inch strip down the middle for fillings. About 16-18 strips on each side. Spread half BBQ sauce down the middle and top with half of the chicken, celery, onion, and both cheese. Fold the strips diagonally over the toppings in a criss-cross fashion to the opposite side, alternating sides to create a braid effect. Pinch the ends to seal. Repeat with second half of dough.

Move braid to baking sheet on the parchment paper. Rest for 15 minutes. Bake each braid separately for 15-20 minutes until the top is golden brown and dough is baked through. Rest for 5 minutes, before cutting with a serrated knife or pizza cutter. Serve warm.

French Bread Rolls
From Mel's Kitchen Cafe

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 12-14 equal pieces, and form into round balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth (or greased saran wrap), and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Bake for 12-13 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.