Chicken with Wild Rice & Portobello Mushrooms

• 2 TBS butter
• 3 celery ribs sliced thinly
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 8 oz pkg baby portobello mushrooms cleaned and sliced
• 3 tsp minced garlic
• 5 -14 oz cans chicken broth
• 2 chicken breast from cooked chicken (12 oz)
• 1 1/2 cups ( 12 oz) frozen whole corn thawed and drained
• 1- 7 oz can chopped green chilies
• 1 cup wild rice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 2 cups grated (or shredded) Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup toasted almonds
• 1- 5 oz can of sliced water chestnuts

DIRECTIONS:

• Saute onions & celery in butter.  Then add sliced mushrooms and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Put mushroom mixture into 5 QT crock and add the next  9 ingredients (to whipping cream) and turn crock pot setting to LOW and cook for 5-6 hrs or until the rice is soft and tender.  DO NOT continually open the lid and stir!!  Just let it be!!!
• When soup has thickened and rice is fluffy and tender add the 2 c whipping cream & parmesan cheese.  Stir and heat for another 10 minutes.
• Ladle out into soup bowls and garnish with toasted almonds

Now go gather ALL  the ingredients, put on counter and then open cans, slice vegetables, chop other ingredients that ask for chopping. Measure any other ingredient (except whipping cream & cheese) .  Have everything ready before you even turn on the crock pot!!!

Serve and listen to the requests for second helpings!!

By the way…it serves 10 people just fine!!!!!

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Spicy Sausage Lentil Soup

Here is a great and EASY soup that you can make in my new and “favorite” cooking device…the crock pot or now called “slow cooker”!!  Seriously, my friends, go rummaging through your garage or attic…or go make your rounds at some garage sales and get one!!!  It makes life just sooooo easy, especially when you have golf to play or shopping to do!!!!  We need not waste time in the kitchen!!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb smoked sausage, sliced (I used Louisiana Hot Sausage because we are tough there in AZ
• 3/4 lb dried lentils, rinsed and drained (that’s about 1 3/4 cups)
• 1 c diced ham (leftover or bought in the store…whatever!)
• 1 med onion, chopped
• 1 small red pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 med carrot, diced or i used 8-10 baby carrots diced
• 2 TBS minced garlic from the jar…unless, of course, you like to mince them fresh!  if so, you have wwaayyyyy too much time on your hands!!!
• 1/2 tsp thyme..fresh or dry…who cares…it’s just going into a pot!
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin (and if you have no idea what it is, go to the grocery store and get some…i use it ALOT in my recipes…it’s a mexican spice!)
• 2 14 oz cans of beef broth
• 2 14 oz cans of chicken broth
• 2 cups of coarsely chopped “fresh” spinach

The “EASY part:

1. Combine ALL ingredients, except spinach, in a 5-quart slow cooker
2. Cover and cook on “LOW” for 5 hours or until lentils are tender (that means soft!!)
3. Add spinach, cover and let stand for about 5 mins until spinach wilts!! Then grab the soup bowls and dish it out!!!

*** I made some Marie Calendar “all you do is add water” corn bread!!! I mean, could this be any easier?????????

P.S. every thing in italics are things you need from the grocery store…how easy???????