A blatant attempt at plagiarism

The Chief Taster will, whenever the opportunity presents itself, order the Chicken and Wild Rice Soup at Panera.  It's not a difficult pattern to discern, if you spend as much time in line behind her at Panera as I do.  When I found a Wild Rice Soup recipe in Betty Crocker's Culinary Compendium, I decided it couldn't be that hard to adapt it in an attempt to copy one of the Chief Taster's chief tastes.  Even if I hadn't actually had that particular soup in many years.

Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
1/4 C butter
3/4 lb (I don't remember exactly how much I used, but long after faking my through it, I saw a note in the cookbook to use "4 Cups" cooked chicken for the meaty version) chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
4 mediums stalks celery, sliced (2 C)
2 medium carrots, coarsely shredded (2 C.  When I see "coarsely shredded" applied to carrots, I peel them, then turn back to my ingredient bowl and keep using the peeler to whittle the carrot to nothing, eating the stumps when they get too small to hold without losing bits of my fingers to the peeler)
1 large onion, chopped (1 C)
1 C chopped green bell pepper
1/4 C plus 2 T flour
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
3 C cooked wild rice (be sure to cook it!)
2 C water
2 cans (10.5 oz each) condensed chicken broth
3 C half and half
2/3 C slivered almonds, toasted (optional)
1/2 C chopped fresh parsley

I added one or two of Dad's Mystery Peppers to this, too, but don't tell the Chief Taster.

• In 4-qt saucepan or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add chicken and cook until no longer pink.  Add veggies and cook about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender.
• Stir in flour, salt, and pepper.  Stir in wild rice, water, and broth (I couldn't find cans of condensed chicken broth, so I just made broth with bouillon and omitted the extra water).  Heat to boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Remember those slivered almonds?  If you want them toasted, toss them in a small, heavy skillet (I used a little cast iron skillet, but I'm partial to my Lodge cookware whenever applicable) over medium-high heat.  Give the pan a shake and flip frequently to prevent burning.  When the almonds are turning golden brown, remove from heat, but keep shaking the pan occasionally, because the skillet is still hot, and the almonds will continue to cook until the skillet cools.
• Stir in half and half, almonds, and parsley.  Heat just until hot, but do not boil.

Next time, I might try this in a bread bowl.

My notes recommend adding croutons, but toast or crackers would do just as well.  I like that crunch, but the soup was pretty good without it, too.