Cream of Mushroom Chicken and Vegetables

Have you ever started cooking something with no idea what you were really planning.  Well I did, and this is where I ended up.  I did step one.  I sort of had a plan with what I was going to do with the cooked veggies after they were soft, but ended up making homemade cream of mushroom soup instead.  Who doesn't remember their mom making something like this when they were kids?  I am also really into wild rice blends and quinoa right now, so we'll see where that goes.

Cream of Mushroom Chicken and Vegetables
4-6 chicken thighs
2 cups carrots diced
2 cups celery diced
3 cups mini yellow potatoes halved
1 medium onion sliced
Any other vegetable you want to add (this is all I had in stock at the time)

Remove skin and excess fat from thighs.  Place sliced onions in bottom of slow cooker.  Even lay chicken over onions.  Add remaining vegetables over chicken and cook for 3 hours on high.  Make soup recipe as follows.

Mushroom Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cups chopped mushrooms
1 generous cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon butter
2 cups milk (your choice on %, I used 1/4 cup whipping cream and 1 1/2 cups 2%)

Heat oil in a large skillet over high then add mushrooms.  Saute until browned (5-7 minutes).  Add onion, saute for another 3 minutes until you can see onion start to turn translucent, then add garlic and butter.  When garlic becomes fragrant, add stock, thyme, rosemary, oregano and pepper.  Cook until stock reduces almost out (about 5 minutes) and add flour and mix to coat mushrooms.  Add milk and stir with a wooden spoon to combine, being sure to scrape up all the bits from the bottom of the pan.  Return to boil then reduce and heat to medium low stirring fairly frequently until thickens (about 3-4 minutes).

Remove vegetables from slow cooker (don't worry if you don't get then all) and add to mushroom soup.  Mix to coat veggies and pour back over chicken. Allow to cook about 2 more hours on low.  Serve with wild rice.

 

 

 

And comfort food strikes again.  Enjoy!

PS. This is even better the second night!