51. Broccoli Wild Rice Soup

This is a great, quick, satisfying soup. Very few ingredients. The seasonings are already in the rice mix, which makes this very quick to throw together.


This recipe was found in the Taste of Home's Fast Fixes with Mixes cook book. (ISBN 978-0-89821-556-4, www.booksarefun.com).



Broccoli Wild Rice Soup

1 package (6 oz) chicken and wild rice mix
5 cups water
1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
1 medium carrot, shredded
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1 can (10 ¾ oz) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed
¼ cup slivered almonds, optional

In a large saucepan, combine rice, contents of seasoning packet and water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring once. Stir in the carrot and onion. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in soup and cream cheese. Cook and stir until cheese is melted. Stir in almonds if desired. Yield: 8 servings (about 2 quarts)


Changes and shortcuts:
I forgot to pick up a box of frozen chopped broccoli when I was at the store, so I found some broccoli spears in the freezer, poured some out in a bowl this morning, and left them in the fridge to thaw today. While the rice and water were simmering tonight, I chopped the broccoli and shredded the carrot. I'm not a fan of dried onion flakes, so I also minced some fresh onion. I left the almonds out...didn't have any on hand and I'm not sure that we would like the crunch texture in this soup.


Result:
Good quick meal! For a vegetarian, I think this recipe would be good with cream of mushroom soup instead of cream of broccoli and a seasoned rice mix without chicken flavoring.


Keeper? Yes!