Chicken and Wild Rice Soup in a Crock Pot

From Cyndi's Kitchen Cupboard
(Serves 6)

This nourishing, brothy, slow cooked soup recipe tastes like something you'd get at a local deli or cafe.  It's filled with colorful, healthy veggies, bold herbs and seasonings, tender chicken, and plump wild rice.  Minnesota is known for its local wild rice because of the  indigenous population, so it's a favorite where I'm from!

It's great for freezing before you actually cook it, so it's super easy to throw it together when you don't have a lot of time.  Add all the ingredients except the broth into a Ziplock freezer bag then freeze flat.  Twenty-four hours before slow cooking, thaw the bag in the refrigerator then pour into the crock pot, add the broth, and away you go!  So easy!

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 small onion
2 carrots, chopped, about 1 cup
2 ribs of celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried ground sage
Small pinch of dried rosemary, crushed between your fingers
1 large bay leaf
2 tablespoons butter
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup Wild Rice Blend (Lundberg Farms is very good)

1. Add all ingredients into a 6-quart crock pot then cook on LOW for 4 hours or until chicken breasts are cooked through.  Rice should be done around the same time.
2. Shred chicken with two forks and then stir back into the soup and serve.  Soup will thicken slightly as it cools.