Wild Rice-Cranberry Soup

Happy Thursday everyone!

This past week has been a little busier than normal and I had no interest in blogging. I didn’t even open my laptop from Wednesday (of last week) through Monday afternoon.  I had a ridiculously long eye doctor appointment on Thursday. Friday morning was spent relaxing on the shores of Lake Michigan, followed by a trip to Chicago for some museum visiting and little bit of shopping, followed by more shopping on Saturday. I planned on driving back to MI on Sunday, but put it off because of some bad weather that never showed up (Thanks for the Weather Channel).

I finally got home Monday afternoon and haven’t done a whole lot since then. I made one of my favorite soups (recipe below), did a little bit of cleaning, did a lot of cursing at Jillian Michaels, and locked myself out of the house (thank goodness for neighbors with spare keys).

So, now that you know where I’ve been all week, I thought I would share this soup recipe. I know most people don’t eat soup when it is still fairly hot outside, but I’ve mentioned before that I’m not really big on seasonal eating. Soup in the Summer, popsicles in the Winter, whatever floats your boat. It isn’t the tastiest looking soup (it is actually kind of a really ugly color), but it is so good!

Wild Rice-Cranberry Soup

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 cups vegetable stock

1.5 cups cooked wild rice*

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 cup milk or half-and-half

2 tablespoons dry sherry (optional)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

*To cook wild rice: Bring 2 cups water, 1/2 cup rinsed wild rice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat ; cover and simmer for 45-55 minutes. Drain well.

1. Melt the butter in a dutch oven (I don't have a dutch oven, so I just melted mine in a deep pot) over medium heat. 
2. Add carrot, celery and onion, stirring occasionally, until carrot is tender. About 8 minutes. (I recommend adding the onion about half way through otherwise it tends to burn)
3. Add the flour and stir until smooth.
4. Gradually add the vegetable stock and stir until soup is thickened, about 5 minutes.
5. Stir in the rice and cranberries.
6. Reduce heat; cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries are softened and plumped, about 15 minutes.
7. Stir in all the remaining ingredients and stir occasionally until warmed through.

This soup will keep for 3 days in the fridge. It will get really chunky in the fridge, but it thins out again as soon as your heat it up. If you want it thinner just add a little more milk when you are reheating it.

Recipe taken & slightly adapted from "A Beautiful Bowl of Soup" by Paulette Mitchell

(That's the soup on the cover!)

If you make it, I'd love to know what you think of it!

xoxo