It’s January 3rd and Michigan is really darn cold. Okay, it’s not that bad…but bad enough. I nearly wore my gloves through our dinner date last night. No lie. Worse, I didn’t leave the house prior to our dinner date.
But at least I gave our new treadmill a whirl while also testing our my new FitBit. If I’m going to be seeing more of the great indoors, I must learn to make the most of it. We also did really productive things like take the Christmas decorations down, unpack, and laundry. Adulting – fun!
Anyway, can we chat just a second now that winter is in full effect?
I love, love, love soup but I can’t photograph it worth a darn. Especially creamy soups. Wait, no. It’s really all soups. I just can’t make them look delicious. It’s a shame, really, because a picture is very telling with this whole blog business. And while I could take 3 hours to get the perfect shot with the perfect set-up of props, mama ain’t got time for that!
But really, even 3 hours may not be sufficient to acquire a good soup shot.
So let’s just take my word on particular soup that looks particularly lack-luster and not-so-appetizing, mmmkay? It’s really quite delicious. And easy. And healthy. With the exception of the sodium because…well, flavor. The soup needs the salt. Or at least I needed the salt to bring out the flavor of the soup.
Moving forward, can we pretend my soup photos are beautiful and tempting? K, thanks!
- 1 cup uncooked wild rice blend (not parboiled)
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup onion, diced
- ¾ cup celery, diced
- ¾ cup carrots, diced
- 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- Rinse the rice under running water. Place the uncooked rice, chicken breasts, onions, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, chicken broth, 21 Seasoning Salute, salt, and pepper in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on the high for 3-4 hours or on the low for 7-8 hours.
- With ½ hour of slow cooking remaining, remove the chicken from the slow cooker. Allow to cool slightly before shredding using two forks; set aside.
- Heat the butter and oil in a saucepan. Once the butter is melted, add the flour and let the mixture cook for 1 minute. Whisk the mixture slowly while adding in the milk. Continue to whisk until all lumps have dissolved. Cook mixture 5-6 minutes or until thick and creamy.
- Add this creamy mixture to the slow cooker; stir. Return shredded chicken to the crock pot, cover, and cook an additional 5-10 minutes. Serve hot.
You can aim to reduce the sodium but I can all but promise that you'll end up adding it. Sadly, this soup *needs* the salt for flavor. If you're thinking, "meh, bland"...add some more. I bet it'll liven the flavors right up!
Hi Nicole,
I think the pictures turned out great – that soup looks delicious! Do you find yourself pre-making any soups in the winter? I try to get as much of my weekly meals done on Sundays as possible so I never have an excuse not to eat healthy during the week.
Author
Thank you, Dade! I definitely pre-make soups for busy weeks. Tonight we’re having soup leftovers with Panera bread that I’ll pick-up on my way home from work – a bread bowl for hubby and a baguette for me 🙂 Make-ahead meals are the best, aren’t they!? And soup seems to reheat really well almost always 🙂
Hi Nicole! Do you think I could sub almond milk for cream? I’m lactose intolerant.
Author
Hi Mia! Yes, I think so…probably won’t be as creamy, but should work fine 🙂
What’s your Fitbit name? We can be friends! It is motivating to walk more than my fitbit friends, so I am warning you 😀
Congrats on the new treadmill! 😀
yeah i dunno what ur talking about – i love anything creamy like alfredos and chowders anything like that looks it has parmesan or heavy cream i am DOWN… and this looks SPECTACULAR Im excited to use my crockpot that i begged pops for christmas years ago lol may have to start with this!!
This looks delicious! Thank you for providing all of the nutrition info…that’s extremely helpful.