Chose Your Own Adventure

We've been having chose your own adventure since Thanksgiving. It's getting a little sketchy in the leftover department. Hey, as long as you are eating a leftover and finishing a container I don’t care what you are eating. I decided to advance the cause a little and make some soup with turkey and the left over stock we used to heat the turkey back up with. this was my base recipe. I used cooked turkey and turkey stock rather than chicken. Also at the end there I did not do the butter, flour, etc mix... I just added a cup of milk. Call me lazy maybe? We were find with something a little more simple. This was perfect on a very cold night after Monday back to work and school after being off for the holiday. We even ate some Sweet Potato Rolls (with Cinnamon Butter) with them - all those Thanksgiving flavors in a whole new way. Also - it was a crockpot meal - so we made it the day before so almost no work for anyone the day of. Better yet... new left overs for the fridge! Oh man... left overs are never going to end if we keep recreating them into something else.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup wild rice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 stalks celery, diced
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 pound cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
¼ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 cup half and half
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Place chicken into a 6-qt slow cooker.
Stir in chicken stock, wild rice, garlic, onion, carrots, celery, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours. Add mushrooms during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.
Remove chicken from the slow cooker and shred, using two forks.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Whisk in milk and half and half, and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 4-5 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Stir chicken and milk mixture into the slow cooker. If the soup is too thick, add more half and half as needed until desired consistency is reached.
Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.