Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This was a hard recipe to type up since chicken soup os one of those things that you can use anything and everything. A few weeks ago, chicken breast halves were on sale at my local grocery store, so I bought a few pounds. I cooked a few breast right away, but removed the rib portions and froze them with the remaining breasts. I figured those little pieces could come in handy for something, like soup.

Last night I decided to make soup today, but I wanted to cook my chicken breast first. I rubbed them with a paste of olive oil, fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme and roasted them. Rather then throw the raw chicken into the soup, I roasted them ahead of time for 2 reasons: a) i'm still not quite there on the whole making soup 100% from scratch, and b) it gives the opportunity to add that extra flavor of the fresh herbs that cook into the chicken. It also makes the recipe easier to lend to using leftovers when they are available.

1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 parsnip, finely chopped
1/2 pound leftover chicken rib sections (removed from previously cooked chicken breasts)
cold water (about 2 cups)
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
1 Tbsp dried parsely
2 bay leaves
4 cups reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth
2 cups cooked chicken breast, chopped or shredded
3/4 cup wild rice
1/4 cup long grain white rice*

*Substitute 1/4 cup wild rice to make this recipe 100% WW core.

Add chopped vegetables and raw chicken pieces to a large stock pot. Add cold water to the pot, just enough to cover the vegetables and chicken. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, parsely, and bay leaves. Cover and bring to a boil. Boil for about 45 minutes.

Remove chicken pieces. Add chicken broth, chopped chicken, and rice. Cover tightly and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for about an hour. Add more broth to reach desired consistency (recipe as is will make a thick soup).

Yields 10 servings (about 1 cup each).

WW info:
core - included (if not using white rice)
flex - 3 points.