A Busy Saturday and a Soup Recipe

I usually love a puttering-around-the-house kind of Saturday.  

Today was not that kind of Saturday.  But I loved it anyway!

First thing on the agenda: a breakfast date with my sweetheart.  Nothing wrong with that!  After breakfast, we ran a few errands and did some birthday shopping for our youngest who turns twelve next week.  

Back home for some lick-and-a-promise housecleaning, and then out of town to an 80th birthday celebration for Ron's Uncle Phil.  In the photo below, Uncle Phil is in the front row, holding one of his great-grandchildren.   Everyone else is a family member, and this is only a fraction.  (There are 300+ members of this family, branching from Uncle Phil's parents--who would be Ron's grandparents--down to the current generation.)  It was a celebration of love and honor, as family and friends paid tribute.  One of the highlights was a moving vocal duet by Uncle Phil and his friend who sang "Just a Closer Walk With Thee."  

On quite a different note...

Tonight as we were driving along, we heard Ron say, "Oh. My. Lands."

We all turned to see what had impressed him.  

It was this.  A car in the middle of an empty field.  Down to the axle in mud.  This could not have been a "run off the road" incident.  No, this car was way off the road.  The driver had obviously driven into the (very) muddy field.  And had gotten hopelessly stuck.  

The question is, Why?  Or maybe, What was he thinking?  

Changing gears again...

I promised to share the recipe for the soup I made last week for our ladies' game night.  I found this recipe for Wild Rice Soup at Sisters Playing House.  The first time I made it, I had no ham, so I substituted chicken.  We loved it, so it became Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup.

Ingredients: 4 tablespoons butter  1 cup chopped onion 1 cup diced carrots 2/3 cup diced celery 1  1/2 cups cooked chicken  1/4 cup flour 6 cups chicken broth 1 cup heavy cream (or half-and-half)  1 package Uncle Ben's Original Wild Rice 1 teaspoon thyme Directions: Prepare rice according to package directions.   In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat.  Add onion, carrots, and celery and sauté until soft. Add cooked chicken; cook until warmed through.  Stir in flour until it coats the pieces evenly; cook for 3-5 minutes.   Pour in chicken broth.  Add thyme.  Simmer for at least 30 minutes.   Add prepared rice. Pour in heavy cream (or half-and-half) and stir.   Let simmer until you're ready to serve. *** Note: I doubled this recipe for my gathering, but I had scads of it left!  That was okay with us, as we had it leftover on Sunday evening; just be aware that it makes aplenty.