Chicken And Wild Rice Soup

FOUND IT: Nowhere in particular. I followed the instructions on the box of wild rice, but eyeballed the rest.

I tend to eyeball soups, so some of my measurements here are imprecise. I think they're pretty close, though.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked wild rice
• 3 cups water (probably could use chicken stock here)
•  1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Half of a red bell pepper, diced
• 1 or 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
• Four large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
• 3 cups shredded, cooked chicken (for me this was frozen leftovers from two rotisserie chickens)
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 tsp each cayenne pepper, dried thyme, sage and rosemary (I would've used parsley too, but I was out)
• 2 cups skim milk (or whatever milk you have on hand)

Bring the water, salt and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the rice, reduce heat and simmer for 55 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, saute the red ball pepper, zucchini, carrots, celery and onion with the olive oil in a large soup pot. When they're almost translucent, add the garlic. Cook the garlic for a few minutes with the vegetables, then add the chicken, stock, cayenne pepper, thyme, sage and rosemary. Stir to combine, then allow to cook over medium-low heat until the rice is done.

Drain the excess water off the rice after 55 minutes (there will be a fair amount of excess water, don't worry about it), and add the rice to the soup along with the milk. Continue to simmer for about 10 minutes or so, then serve with oyster crackers, a crusty bread and butter.