WILD RICE & MUSHROOM SOUP

2 teaspoons butter
½ cup chopped carrot (about 1 medium carrot)
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced (about ¾ cup)
1 (8-ounce) package sliced mushrooms*
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary
¼ teaspoon black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced

2 (14-ounce) cans fat free, less sodium chicken broth**
1 cup uncooked wild rice***
1/3 cup all purpose flour****
2 ¾ C. low fat or fat free milk
2 tablespoons dry white wine or sherry
¾ teaspoon of salt
for a heartier more 'main-dish' soup, add shredded or chopped, cooked chicken

1. melt butter in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. add carrot and next 6 ingredients (through garlic); saute 8 minutes or until tender.
Stir in broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.
Stir in rice; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour and 15 minutes or until rice is tender.

2. Combine flour and milk in a small bowl (I like to add a very little bit of milk at first and mix to make a paste... this keeps the flour from lumping up and makes it MUCH easier to incorporate into the milk!!)
add to soup – cook over medium heat 10 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently, stir in wine and salt... and chicken if desired

yield: 8 (1-cup) servings

* I use cremini mushrooms and I use WAY more than 8 ounces... probably at least twice that much – can't have too many mushrooms if ya ask me!!

** you can also use vegetable broth and make this totally vegetarian

*** I use a brown and wild rice mix I get in the bulk bins at the health food store... I also cook the rice separately and add it to the soup at the point where the broth is added – tis way the rice is cooking while the veggies cook and cuts the cooking time greatly!! - but either way make sure you use a rice that takes 45 minutes to an hour to cook NOT the quick cooking kind - the texture and flavor makes a HUGE difference =)

**** I use whole wheat or whole grain spelt flour (trying to drastically minimize the amount of white flour in my diet) it works just fine =)