Copycat Panara Chicken and Wild Rice

Photo and recipe courtesy of Chelsea at Gal on a Mission

http://www.galonamission.com/copycat-panera-chicken-and-wild-rice-soup/

Spring break is upon us! Even though I still have to work, that extra hour of sleep every morning is AMAZING. Especially since I don't have to make lunches or hustle kids out the door! I can be super lazy, drink my coffee in bed and drive myself to work... and I don't have to listen to Taylor Swift, or Twenty One Pilots, or the new Kelly Clarkson song that Colby is obsessed with!

Marty actually took a few days off so that he can Colby can go camping with his dad at the lake. Lots of fishing and bike riding and card playing. Colby was excited to spend time with his dad and his PopPop, but was not so keen on no internet.

Beth and I decided Friday night would be a good night to make a new soup, and then we could have leftovers for lunch on Saturday before going to the movies. I still had carrots and celery leftover from our last soup so really just looked for a recipe that would allow me to use up my vegetables.

Ok... this soup was the biggest hit. It was pretty easy, took a bit of time. But it is seriously delicious. Very flavorful, and filling. In fact, it was so good, I made another batch yesterday. I had planned to take some of yesterday's batch to my neighbor, but I got distracted folding laundry and some of the rice stuck to the pan. That is my only warning... once you put the rice in, you still have to stir it every couple of minutes. The first time I made it, I didn't use a non stick pot, and it tried to stick. Yesterday I used non stick but put too much faith in that, because it really stuck!

Scoring:

Marty: 8 - This is really good. Like REALLY good. The flavor reminds me of chicken and dumplins. Delicious.

Me: 9 - YUM. Very flavorful. This is now one of my favorite soups.

Elizabeth: 8 - I did not expect this soup to taste this good. I thought it was going to be really bland.

Colby: 7 - This soup is pretty good.