Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This has been voted as the soup of season at our house. It is even worthy enough for my hubby to take into work on the next "crock pot day". What I loved about it, besides the taste, was that the rice kept absorbing the liquid so each day I would add another can or two of chicken broth and we would have the same amount of soup as when we started. I felt like I was holy! It taste a lot like Panera, but not exactly. My kids loved it also and that's what matters! Enjoy.

1-2 boxes of Uncle Ben's Original Long Grain and Wild Rice (I used 2 boxes and it was a lot of

rice, I plan on just using 1 next time and eliminating the "Holy" issue)

3-4 carrots, sliced thinly
3-4 stalks of celery, sliced thinly

1 onion, diced

garlic powder

2 TBS butter

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped or shredded

6-8 cups chicken stock (this is different than chicken broth, it's darker and stronger)
(buy extra chicken stock/broth for leftovers, the rice will absorb the liquid)

1 pint whipping cream

Cook rice as directed, exept use 3 cups of water for 2 boxes and 2 cups of water for 1 box and cook for just 20 minutes. Meanwhile, melt butter in dutch oven or large sauce pan. Saute carrots, celery , garlic and onions until onions are translucent. Then add chicken stock, chicken, rice (with remaining liquid) and whipping cream to dutch oven. Simmer and add more stock/broth as needed to make as thin as you would like. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Will thicken as it cools.

For leftovers, add more stock/broth (I used chicken broth on leftovers, not stock) until as thin as you would like and heat it up. This soup fed my family for 3 different meals before I finally threw it out.