Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

I love soup. I eat soup for lunch probably 3 times a week, at least. What I don't like are salty canned soups that are full of preservatives. Homemade soups are so easy to make, freeze really well, and are much cheaper than the canned variety.

Here's my recipe for chicken & wild rice soup:

1 roasted chicken (you can buy a rotisserie chicken, but I like to roast my own. It's super easy and has way less sodium that way. Just rub it with a little butter and pop it in a 375 F oven for 1.5 hours.)

1 onion, diced

1 cup carrots, sliced

1 cup celery, sliced

1 cup wild rice

3 cloves garlic, peeled and whole

1 tsp. herbs de provence

2 T olive oil

64 oz. chicken stock

While the chicken is roasting, set Crock Pot to high. Add olive oil, onions, carrots, celery, and herbs de provence. Cover and let cook for one hour, stirring occasionally. Add wild rice and chicken stock. 

Once the chicken is done roasting and has cooled enough to handle, pick into bite size pieces. Add to the Crock Pot.

Continue cooking on high for 4 hours, until wild rice has "popped."

This soup is great to keep in the freezer. I portion it into quart size bags and freeze on a flat surface, like a sheet pan. Once frozen you can easily stack the portions in the freezer for space saving storage. If you are going to freeze some of the soup, do it immediately. Don't let it hang out in the fridge for a few days, then freeze. And, don't forget to write the date on it. As a general rule of thumb I like to eat frozen meals within 6 months. (Though this never sticks around that long).