Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

3/4 cup uncooked wild rice blend

1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 small onion)

1 cup diced carrots (2 medium)

1 cup diced celery (3 ribs)

7 Tbsp butter, diced, divided

1 large garlic clove, minced (1 1/2 tsp)

4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/4 tsp of each of the following dried seasonings: thyme, marjoram, sage and rosemary (or 1 tsp fresh, minced of any)

Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts halves (I used frozen boneless/skinless tenders)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup heavy cream (or half and half - not shown in photo - woops fail!)

1 tsp lemon zest

In medium pot, prepare rice according to directions listed on package. Meanwhile, chop carrots, onion and celery.

Halfway through the rice cooking, in a large stock pot, melt 1 Tbsp butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery and saute 4 minutes, add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer.

Add chicken broth, thyme, marjoram, sage, rosemary and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Increase heat to medium-high, add chicken and bring mixture to a boil.

Cover stock pot with lid, reduce to medium-low heat and allow mixture to simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 12 - 16 minutes (rotating chicken to opposite side once during cooking for thicker chicken breasts - if they don't fully immerse in broth).

Remove chicken and set aside on cutting board to cool 5 minutes then shred into small bite size pieces. 

Leave soup covered over warm heat.

Meanwhile in a separate medium saucepan, melt remaining 6 Tbsp butter over medium heat. Add flour and cook 1 1/2 minutes, whisking constantly.

It will get thick! Then while whisking vigorously, slowly pour milk into butter/flour mixture. Whisk in heavy cream. Cook mixture, stirring constantly until it thickens again. It takes some time but does eventually thicken - just keep stirring or you'll scorch the bottom portion!

Add milk mixture to soup mixture in pot along with cooked rice, add in chicken and lemon zest. And stir. 

 

Serve with a crusty bread or in a pinch saltine crackers. Add more salt or pepper to taste.

Thanks for passing the recipe onto me Jaime J!

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

So my friend Micaela of Striving Bean made these once for a treat day back when I was in corporate world.  Ever since that day I have wanted these bars/cake again.  I finally made them the other day... and made only one mistake, but, it was still delicious!

Ingredients
Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. NOTE: When sifting flour measure first, then sift.  Not the other way around (which, yes, is what I did... duh!).

Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan.

Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.

Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined.

 

Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

 

See how thin my "cake" is... well that's because of the sifting of the flour and then measuring!  

This should be more like a cake than like a bar.