Minnesota Wild Rice

I havent been keeping up my blog lately, things have gotten hectic with school, work and the kids. I am in my last 5 months of training (YAY!). Then we'll see what happens, may move if I cant find a job around here in my career choice. The weather here has been weird this year; one day were in the mid 70's the next the 50's. So I got into a soup-y kind of mood with all this crazy weather. When I think of Minnesota, I think wild rice. Now, I love some wild rice in any form really, but in soup its something special. Although the soup is very time consuming with all the chopping, its totally worth it! So I have decided to post my:
Minnesota Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients Needed:



2 cups uncooked wild rice
4 tablespoons butter
1 large leeks, diced (about 2-1/2 cups)
2-3 carrots, diced (1 cup)
3 celery stalks, diced (1 cup)
8 ounces mushrooms, diced (2 cups)
3 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, minced
2 teaspoons chives
1/2 cup flour
8 cups chicken broth
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and diced (1 1/2 cups)
1 cup cream
1/2 cup half-n-half
1/3 cup dry sherry
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
1. Cook the wild rice according to the directions on the package. Wild rice generally takes 55-60 minutes to cook.


(this is what it should look like when its done)

2. While thats cooking in a large soup pot, melt the butter and sauté the leeks, carrots, celery, mushrooms, garlic and thyme on medium high heat. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened, stirring occasionally.


(sauting)

3. Add the flour and stir until blended into the vegetables. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, turn the heat down to low, and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Add the wild rice, chives and chicken. Stir in the cream, half-n-half and sherry. Cook until thoroughly heated. Add salt and pepper to taste.

When done:


If you've never tried this before, you dont know what your missing! Enjoy.

Bacon Chipotle Gratin~ And the end of the Holiday!

Havent been able to blog much lately. Been busy with the holidays and our vacation to California. Which I must say was not what I expected! The drivers in California were far from what i'd call nice, and the traffic was terrible. The drive through the mountains was beautiful though. But overall the trip went well, although next time we'll fly. So lets talk about Au'Gratin Potatoes. We all love them right? Well, my family loves them, but I wanted something a little different with them. I sat and thought well bacon would be nice, and a little bit of chipotle to spice things up!


Mountains in Wyoming

So here's what I came up with:

Bacon Chipotle Gratin



Butter (for greasing baking dish)
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1-1/2 tbsp. pureed chipotle in adobo sauce
8 red potatoes
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
4 slices bacon, cooked and chopped into small peices
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter large, shallow baking dish or gratin pan. In medium bowl, whisk together cream and chipotle. Peel potatoes and slice very thinly, using mandolin if possible. Arrange one layer of overlapping potatoes in bottom of dish. Top with half of onion slices and cover evenly with one-third of cream mixture and one-third of cheese; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Repeat procedure for second layer, add half of bacon to second layer. For top layer, arrange potatoes and top with remaining cream and cheese, sprinkle reamining bacon on top; season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake 25 to 35 minutes, until bubbling and golden brown and potatoes are tender. Let cool before serving.