Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Even though it is spring time, even in California we have had cool enough weather to extend soup season.  This makes me happy.  :)  I love soup, and this is one of my favorites!  Comforting, creamy, flavorful and nourishing.  I hope you enjoy it! 

* 4 cups free range chicken broth

* 2 cups water

* 2 cups leftover free range chicken meat, shredded

* 1 cup cooked wild rice

* 1 TBS all purpose seasoning of choice.  (I prefer the one from US Wellness Meats)

* 1/2 teaspoon celtic grey sea salt

* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

* 3/4 cup all-purpose, unbleached flour

* 1/2 cup butter

* 2 cups heavy cream (I use whole raw milk)

* Vegetables of choice (optional)

Combine broth, water and chicken in a large stock pot.  If you do not have leftover chicken, start raw chicken in the broth and water and simmer all afternoon until falling apart.  Shred chicken and add vegetables.  Cook until veggies are tender.  Add rice and simmer until heated through. (Add water as needed to replace what evaporates.)

In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and flour. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in  seasoning of choice until bubbly. Reduce heat to low, then stir in flour mixture by tablespoons, to form a roux. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Cook until thickened, 5 minutes.

Stir cream mixture into broth mixture. Cook over medium heat until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes.   Enjoy!

This post is part of Pennywise Platter at the Nourishing Gourmet.

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Oh For the Love of Chicken Pot Pie

Need a way for your kiddos to eat a ton of veggies?  Throw them in this pot pie!  This recipe was adapted from one on Allrecipes.com but of course I've changed things up a bit.  TIP: use a deep dish pie plate if you have one.  I currently do not have one (gave mine away- why would I do that?) so I just use my normal pie plate which works fine, just be sure to set the pie plate on a cookie sheet to catch any overflow.  There is a little bit of prep to this i.e. making the pie crusts, chopping veggies, but nothing too extensive.  The results are well worth it~ is there anything better than nourishing with a comfort food? ;)  Without further ado...

Ingredients:

• Pie Crust from Cheeseslave (this is AMAZING! I use sprouted spelt)
• 1 lb. Free-range organic chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 1/2 cups organic veggies, sliced
• 1/3 cup onion
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup flour (again, I use spelt)
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 1/2 cups organic Free-range chicken broth
• 1 cup raw whole milk

Directions:

1. Make your pie crusts in advance and refridgerate for at least 30 minutes.  Remove one, roll it out and place it in a pie pan.  Roll out the top crust and set aside.  There is no need to prebake the pie shell.
2. Preheat oven to 425°.
3. In a saucepan, combine chicken, veggies and broth.  Cover and boil for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat, drain~ save the broth, and set aside.
4. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook the onions in butter until they are soft, about 3 minutes.  Stir in flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Slowly stir in the saved chicken broth, and milk.  Simmer over medium heat until thick.  This should take almost exactly 5 minutes.
5. Place the chicken and veggies on bottom pie crust.  Pour the hot broth mixture over the chicken and veggies and cover with top crust, sealing edges.  Cut away excess dough and make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top crust is golden brown.  Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

 Enjoy!

The post is part of Real Food Wednesday

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Abundant Harvest Organics

If you live in Central or Southern California and don't know of and/or don't use Abundant Harvest, I have to tell you what you're missing! On their website Abundant Harvest describes themselves as "an alliance of small family farmers in Central California dedicated to growing superior organic produce and getting it to you in the simpliest manner possible...". Everything is grown locally and they only deliver locally~ which means that all the produce you receive is as fresh as possible. Deliveries in my area are on saturdays and everything we receive was still in the ground the Thursday prior. Two days old! Can you imagine going to the grocery store and picking up fresh and ripe produce that wasn't harvested 5 weeks prior and shot with any number of chemicals? This is what Abundant Harvest offers.

Their prices are so reasonable as well. For a small box (which provides just the right amount for my husband, myself, and our 3 small boys) the price is $19.80 a week. There is also a large box available which runs $33.80 per week. In today's small box we were given: potatoes, clip top carrots, oak leaf lettuce, asparagus, vidalia onions, grapefruit, naval oranges, and mandarin oranges. Those receiving a large box were also given: artichokes, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, cabbage and tomatoes. I love getting our box Saturday mornings~ it's like a little present waiting for me. The variety has also forced us to try new veggies. For instance, I had never cooked with a beet or a parsnip (I had to google parsnip for a picture of it so I could identify it that week). But I soon found a recipe for roasted beets, sweet potatoes and onions that is out of this world, and I learned that parsnips are amazing to add into mashed potatoes. There's also a little newsletter in each box that gives pointers on how to store and cook specific items from that week. (click here to see if Abundant Harvest delivers to your area)

And that's not all Abundant Harvest offers. Along with the produce there is a long list of "add-ons" that can be added on to your weekly box. The add-ons range from raw milk to grass-fed beef and free range organic chickens to coffee and composts. Here is an example of their weekly add-ons. We have been buying our raw milk from Organic Pastures through Abundant Harvest and are now adding on all of our boneless, skinless chicken breasts and pastured eggs. It's wonderful to be able to support all of these local farms!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet and Food Renegade

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Raw Milk Yogurt

I decided a while back to start making all of my yogurt at home. I reasoned that I could make yogurt with better ingredients (raw milk) and could also save a little money. We go through a lot of yogurt at our house! So, I had a yogurt maker all picked out when I stumbled across this post about making yogurt in your slow cooker. I was so excited to try it, and let me tell you, it is just as easy and wonderful as she says that it is! I am thrilled with the results, and am equally thrilled that I don't have to buy another kitchen gadget! So, here's what you do:

1. Pour 1/2 gallon of raw milk in your slow cooker and let cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.

2. Turn off slow cooker and let sit, covered for 3 hours.

3. Whisk in 1/2 cup of prepared yogurt, (to be used as a starter) cover and wrap the whole slow cooker in a big towel. Let it sit this way for 8 hours.

4. That's it! Wasn't that easy? :)

I started mine around 4pm, and by the time I whisked in the starter yogurt and wrapped it up, it was time for bed. It sat out all night and went in to the refrigerator first thing in the morning. The flavor is very mild, not as tangy as I like, but I'm going to experiment with other starters and see what I can come up with. It is also pretty thin, but she states in the original post that you can strain it with cheesecloth if you like it more thick. The best part about that is that the liquid can be saved for soaking! We like it thin, the kids LOVED it and ate it without any sweetener at all. It was wonderful and we will definitely be making it from now on.

This is what it looked like right before I added the starter yogurt in. I love all of that bright yellow fat!

The finished product.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet.

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