Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Cheddar Thyme Biscuits

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
This is a tried and true, made from scratch soup. I use a leftover whole chicken (or turkey that has been picked off) and boil it to made stock and to remove the meat more easily. So next time you roast chicken, roast two, one to eat and one to make this awesome soup out of!

1 roasted chicken
8 c water
2 tbs butter
1 onion, chopped
2 or 3 stalks celery, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1 1/2 c uncooked brown and wild rice mix
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/8 tsp crushed rosemary
1/2 c half and half
1/4 c flour
salt and pepper

Place whole, roasted chicken in a large soup pot. Pour water over. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Cook for about 2 hours, or until the chicken falls off the bone. Pull chicken out and set in a bowl. Allow to cool in the fridge. Put stock in the fridge, let sit for a couple hours or even over night (if you are planning on using it the same day, you can even stick it in the freezer if you have the space). Once chicken has cooled, pull the meat from the bones and shred. When you are ready to start the soup, pull out the stock and skim off the fat.

In a large pan, melt butter. Add vegetables and saute until the onion is translucent. Add to stock and then add rice, chicken, and herbs. Add 1 tsp of salt and a 1/2 tsp of pepper. Simmer on low for an hour. Taste for flavor and add more salt if needed.

Mix together half and half and flour. Add to soup and simmer for about 10 minutes until thickened.


Cheddar Thyme Biscuits
When I make this soup, I absolutely have to make these biscuits. They are perfect and easy.

2 1/2 c Bisquick
1/2 a stick of cold butter, chopped into pieces
3/4 c milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 c cheddar cheese
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried thyme leaves

Preheat oven to 400. In a mixing bowl, use a fork or pastry blender mix together Bisquick and butter until butter breaks up into pea size bits. Mix in milk, garlic, cheddar, and thyme until just blended. Drop onto a an ungreased cooking sheets in about 2 tbs portions. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops of biscuits have browned. If desired, brush cooked biscuits with 2 tbs melted butter mixed with 1/2 tsp garlic powder.

A couple of tips:
-You can always use a store bought roasted chicken, but if you do cook your own, you don't need to do anything special. Treat it as if you were cooking it to eat it whole, cooking two is just as easy as cooking one.
-You could throw in a whole, raw chicken and it will cook out just fine (it will take a longer, but it will be fine). I like roasting it first because it adds a little something extra to the flavor.
-And if all else fails, you can always use store bought stock and chicken breasts. Cook the breasts in the stock, as if it were a whole chicken, and then shred.
-One last quick cooking tip... if you want to save time, you can buy those Uncle Ben's microwave pouches. All you do is pour them in without cooking and let them simmer for about 15 minutes. Go easy on the salt and use reduced sodium broth, the pouches are pre-seasoned and salty as they are.