North Woods Wild Rice Soup

In honor of the last full week of winter (yay!), I decided to make one of our favorite soups. It's yet another recipe I got from my mom years ago, and I couldn't find any exactly like it online, so I'm not sure of the original source. It's simple and yummy, and it incorporates the state grain of my home state, Minnesota.


Not the prettiest picture in the world, but how do you make soup look pretty?

North Woods Wild Rice Soup

1/4 cup butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups chicken broth
1 12-ounce can evaporated fat-free milk
1 cup cooked wild rice (I took a short cut and used one of those 90-second microwave packets)
1 cup chopped cooked chicken
1/2 of an 8-ounce package reduced-fat cream cheese, cubed

In a 4-qt. pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and carrot. Cook and stir over medium heat until carrot is tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Add broth all at once. Cook and stir until bubbly. Stir in evaporated milk, wild rice, chicken and cream cheese; cook and stir over medium-low heat until cheese is melted. (We got about 4 servings out of this.)

Cheddar Ham Chowder

With a busy weekend of shopping, baking, gathering and eating, I've already gotten behind on some recipe posts. Tonight (before and after the mandatory Chuck and Heroes viewing, of course!) I'm going to make my best attempt to start catching up, starting with Thursday's dinner. I've had the recipe saved for a long time, but I think I got it at Allrecipes, here. It was pretty easy, and Shaun made it even easier by having all the veggies chopped and ready to go when I got home from work. They say it serves 6-8, but I think we got around 5 servings as we didn't think to have any sides with it.

Cheddar Ham Chowder

2 ½ c water
2 c potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 c sliced carrots
½ c sliced celery
¼ c chopped onion
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¼ c butter
¼ c flour
2 c milk
2 c cheddar cheese
16 oz frozen corn
1 ½ c cubed ham

Bring water, potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, salt, and pepper to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes or until veggies are tender. Set aside; do not drain. In second pan, melt butter; blend in flour. Add milk; cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Add cheese and stir until melted. Stir in other veggies (including broth); add corn and ham. Heat thoroughly, stirring occasionally.


Anything with that much cheese and potato has got to be good, right? Next: desserts...mmm...