Will Shovel for Soup

Kansas City's blizzard of 2011 aka Snowmageddon aka SnOMG aka Snowpocalypse aka Snowtorious B.I.G. gave me the unwanted opportunity to do something I've never done before ... shovel the sidewalk. J's back was hurting from shoveling on blizzard day one, so I decided to have a go. Mostly because I felt awful for the mailman, not because we were going anywhere. I didn't do a very good job, but I did a job, darnit.

Pretty clear, though not completely straight. Apparently I was SUI ... shoveling under influence.

Hahahaha, my attempt at clearing a path for the mailman from the neighbor's yard. Not good.

To reward my meh-worthy efforts, I made some delicious soup. Recipe courtesy of Epicurious (passed on by my stepmom), this Wild Rice and Sausage Soup is definitely making its way on a recipe card. It was delish! (I halved the recipe and had 2 or 3 bowls of leftovers. The full would be great to freeze or for company ... or I guess for a family. Cooking for 2 is hard!)

The stuffs to make it

12.5 cups (whoa) of chicken broth, low-salt if you don't want to get puffy

1 1/4 cups (girls gone) wild rice

6 1/4 cups frozen corn kernals, thawed

2 tbs veggie oil

10 oz fully cooked smoked sausage, cubed

3 carrots, peeled and diced

2 medium onions, chopped

1 1/2 cups half and half

Chopped fresh chives or parsley (I used chives)

Make the stuffs into soup

Bring 5 cups broth to simmer in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add wild rice and simmer until all liquid evaporates and rice is almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 40 minutes. (Note: J did the grocery shopping for this recipe and came back with Rice a Roni wild rice. Don't make this mistake, as a) it's not enough rice 2) it adds some major salt that I didn't account for when seasoning. Oops. I also "skipped" this step and used a rice cooker. Holla!)

Meanwhile, blend 3 3/4 cup corn and 1 1/2 cups chicken broth in processor 'til thick, a smooth puree forms. Heat veggie oil in heavy large Dutch oven (ha) over medium-high heat. Add sausage and saute until browning starts, about 5 minutes. Add carrots and onions and stir 3 minutes. Add remaining 6 cups chicken broth and bring soup to simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer soup 15 minutes.

Add cooked rice, corn puree and remaining 2 1/2 cups corn kernels to soup. Cook until wild rice is very tender, about 15 minutes more. Mix in half and half. Thin soup with more broth if you wanna. Season soup with salt and pepper.

Garnish with chives/parsley. (This really adds something nice!)

What's your favorite soup recipe? (Please share ... I do love me some soup.)