As I’ve mentioned before, I’m still not quite on board with the whole crock pot thing. I just cannot decide in the morning what I’m going to want for dinner that night. For instance, I thought this morning that I would definitely want soup for dinner but then I got home and wanted one of my favorite grilled cheese recipes. Now, would I have wanted soup if I’d gotten home to already-prepared soup? Maybe. Okay, probably. When am I not in the mood for soup?
Regardless of my hesitation when it comes to all-day meal slow cooking, I do still use my slow cooker pretty frequently. I’ve posted before about using it one weekend days when I’m running around doing lots of home projects. Or using it for fruit butters. But I don’t think I’ve mentioned how I like to use it for lunch prep. Last night I had about 150 lab reports to grade, so I knew I didn’t have time to pack lunch for the rest of the week. And it’s cold out so soup for lunch sounds just about perfect. I decided to go with a mushroom and wild rice soup. There are a lot of chicken and wild rice soup recipes out there, but as a vegetarian that’s not exactly going to work out. I’ll often just make recipes and leave out the meat without adding a new ingredient, but sometimes it’s nice to add mushrooms to add a little extra bite to the meal. You know, the one thing I think vegetarians miss out on the most is having something to chew. Nobody talks about it (except my mom), but it’s for real.
Guys, this soup turned out amazing. And sooooooo filling. This is definitely a recipe that feeds an entire family (so this single woman is thinking “what the heck do I do with all this soup?”). Anyway, here’s my recipe. You should make it!
Crock Pot Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup
- 1/2 stick of butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 8 cups vegetable broth (I used 4 cups Imagine No Chicken broth and 4 cups Sams Choice Vegetable broth)
- 1 chopped onion
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- Three carrots, diced
- 1 stalk of celery, diced
- 8 ounces chopped crimini mushrooms (Baby Bellas)
- 1/2 cup long grain white rice
- 1/2 cup wild rice
- salt to taste
- 2 cups whole milk (or something creamier if you’re feeling particularly indulgent)
Melt the butter. If you have something like a Cuisinart Multi-cooker or an Instant Pot then you can melt the butter on the brown/saute setting. Otherwise you can just quickly microwave it. With the butter in the slow-cooker, whisk in the flour to make a roux.
Now just stir in everything except the milk. Cook on high for four hours or on low for eight hours.
Stir in your milk. Season to taste.
Since the first picture features my favorite whisk, I figured I’d take the time to plug it. It’s the Kuhn Rikon heart spring whisk and it whips up a roux in like three seconds. I’ve bought other similar whisks and none of them are as amazing as this one. My mom and brother are both getting these for Christmas!
