Hearty Chicken Noodle Soup

This soup is the cure for what ails you!  Just in time for cold & flu season too.  It's thick, creamy, and comforting; perfect for cold winter nights!  If you like you soup a little thinner, you can simply add more broth while cooking.  I use store bought noodles, one of the only things that I prefer to buy than make these days.  They help the soup come together easily without compromising any of it's homemade goodness!  Trust me, one spoonful of this soup & you'll never settle for the canned stuff again. 

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts

1 med/ large Yellow Onion, chopped

1-2 Carrots, sliced

1-2 stalk of Celery, sliced

1-2 Garlic Cloves, minced

1 stick of Butter

2- 32 oz containers of Chicken Broth (plus more for thinner soup)

2 Chicken Flavored Bouillon Cubes

1/4 tsp Ground Turmeric

1/4 cup Flour

3/4 tsp dried Parsley

24 oz bag of Homestyle Egg Noodles (frozen)

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place the chicken breast on a baking sheet.  You can use what ever you have, it can be bone in & skin on or not.  Drizzle with olive oil & season with salt & pepper.  Roast at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.

 While the chicken is roasting, start the soup.  Melt the butter in a large pot over low- medium heat.  I used a 5.5 quart dutch oven.

 Add in the chopped onion, carrots, & celery to the melted butter.  Season with salt & pepper & cook until tender.  Add in the minced garlic & cook another 1-2 minutes. 

 Add in the flour.

 Stirring frequently cook the flour for 2-3 minutes.  

 Add in the ground turmeric & stir.  Turmeric is what gives the soup it's beautiful yellow color as well as it's wonderful flavor! 

 Add in the chicken broth, bouillon cubes & parsley.  Stir to incorporate, cover & simmer while the chicken finishes cooking & cools.

When the chicken is cool enough to touch, shred with your fingers & add to the soup. 

 This is the brand of noodles that I use.  I love these!  Seriously, one of the best time savers in the grocery store!!

 Follow the directions on the bag of noodles for adding them to the soup.   

 This brand tells you to crank the heat to a boil & then add the noodles.

 Cook 20-30 minutes or until the noodles are done, stirring occasionally. 

 Check your seasoning, add more broth, salt or pepper to taste.

Serve in a large soup bowl & enjoy!

 Ummmmmmmm.  Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.  There's nothing like it!

 This recipe serves 6-8 people. 

New Years Day Black Eyed Peas

 Every year on New Years Day we eat Black Eyed Peas & Collard Greens.  Usually along side of a baked Ham & Corn Bread.  The black eyed peas are said to bring you good luck, the collards greens bring you money & the corn bread brings you gold. It's also said to be good luck to eat pork (hence the ham) because birds & cows walk with the feet pushing back but pigs root their snouts upward.  I'm not sure I believe all the superstition but it's a fun (& yummy) tradition that my family loves.  Happy 2011 everyone! 

Ingredients:

1 lb dried Black Eyed Peas

1/2 Ham Hock, about 6-7 oz

6 cups of Water

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Soak the black eyed Peas in water over night.   

Drain & rinse the peas. 

I bought a 14 oz ham hock & cut it in half.  I froze the other half for another time but you could use the whole thing for a stronger flavor. 

 Add the water (about 6 cups) & the ham hock to a large pot. 

Bring to a boil & cook the ham hock, uncovered, for about an hour; until it is starting to fall apart.

Then add the drained & rinsed peas.

  Cook over medium heat for 2-3 hours, until they are soft & to your desired consistency.

 We like them thick, like a stew so I cook them with the lid slightly on for 2 hours, then remove the lid & cook 1 more hour. 

Some ham hocks render more salt than others.  To avoid over salting, I add salt & pepper towards the end of cooking process.  Remove the hock from the pot before serving.   

 They say that you should eat 365 black eyed peas on New Years Day.  One for each day of the new year.

 Happy New Year- we hope 2011 brings you lots of good luck!!

Beef Stew

 This past Sunday marked the start of John's Week of Favorites.  His birthday was on Monday & I am a firm believer of celebrating your birthday to it's full potential, so in my house you get a week of favorites.  When I was younger I celebrated my birthday for an entire month.  So I guess I've matured...slightly.  ;)  For my hubby's first day of favorites, I made Beef Stew.  Warm & comforting, this hearty stew was perfect for a chilly Sunday dinner!  I slowly cooked it for a good portion of the day while we finished up our Christmas decorating & got ready to start the work week after the long Thanksgiving weekend.  I cook my stew in the oven but you could use a crock pot if you'd prefer.  It takes some time to make it but it's so worth it.  The slow cooking renders meat is so tender it falls apart!  I love that my hubby's birthday falls in between Thanksgiving & Christmas.  It's such a special time of year- which makes perfect sense that my guy was born then!

Ingredients:

1.5- 2 lbs Beef Roast

2 medium Yellow Onions, cut in 1/2 then sliced

2 (big) hand fulls of Baby Carrots

6 small-medium Red Potatoes, halved or cut into quarters

1/2-1 lb Frozen Green Beans

4 cups Beef Broth

6  oz can Tomato Paste

2-3 cups of water

1/2-1 cup Flour

3-4 tbsp Olive Oil

2 Beef Bouillon Cubes

Garlic Powder

Salt & Pepper

Cooked Egg Noodles to serve (optional)

Directions:

If cooking in the oven, preheat to 300 degrees.

 Generously season the roast on all sides with Garlic Powder, Salt & Pepper. 

 Then coat with flour. 

 In a large skillet or dutch oven, heat up about 2 tbsp of olive oil to medium/ high heat.  Sear all the sides of the roast. 

 When the meat is seared, remove from the pot & reduce the heat to medium.  Add the onions & carrots to the pot.  Saute for a couple of minutes, scraping up the flour & bits from the roast.  (You may need to add a little bit more olive oil to the pan for this.)

 (If you are using a crock pot, transfer all the onions & carrots to the bowl of the crock pot.)  Add in the tomato paste & 1/2 of the beef broth.  Stir to incorporate. 

 Then add the meat & all it's juices.  Pour in the rest of the beef broth on top.  Cover & place in the oven.  Cook for 3-4 hours in the oven at 300 degrees.  In a crock pot, cook at high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.

 After 3-4 hours (or 6-8 hours, depending on your cooking method) check on the roast.  I use a wooden spoon to help break it up.  If your meat is falling apart easily, then it's ready for the rest of the veggies.  If it's still tough, then you need to cover & continue to cook it.  At this point, you should also check the liquid level.  You may or may not need to add more water or more broth to cook the potatoes.  I needed more so I added 2-3 cups of water & 2 beef bouillon cubes.  Then I covered & continued to cook it for another hour.  When your roast is starting to falling apart, add the potatoes & frozen green beans.  You can add any veggies that you'd like.  Add in some corn, peas- anything you want!  Turn the heat up to 350 degrees in the oven (high for your crock pot).  Adjust your seasonings, then cover & continue to cook for an hour, or until the potatoes are tender. 

This time I served with wide egg noodles but some times I just served with some crusty bread. 

 The hubs was very happy with his first evening of favorites!  So much so that he took it for lunch again the next day! 

 This recipe will served 6-8 people. 

Mini Pecan Pie Muffins

Oh my gosh!  Run to your pantry, I'm sure you have everything that you need to make these.  There are only 5 ingredients and trust me...you do need to make these!!  They are SO good!  It's rare that I get so excited about a sweet like this.  I'm definitely a more savory type of person.  But really, these are that good.  I stumbled upon them while I was looking for a recipe to make for my husband's pot luck Thanksgiving at work.  You know, one of those things where everyone in the office brings something & you feast all day long.  When I worked, we used to refer to this day as, "Fat Day" and we didn't just do it for major holidays!  (I know fun, right!?!)  The only issue with all day feasts at the office is finding something that can sit out most of the day.  Something that doesn't need to stay warm or cold.  These little treats are PERFECT!  And just in time for Thanksgiving, when everyone else in the world (or maybe just in the south) is making Pecan Pie.  These are great with coffee in the morning, as a sweet snack, or as a perfectly portioned dessert on Fat Day!

Ingredients:

1 cup Light Brown Sugar

1 cup Pecans, chopped

1/2 cup All Purpose Flour

2/3 cup Butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Melt the butter in a small sauce pan oven low heat.

 In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, nuts & melted butter.

 Beat the eggs & add them to the batter. 

 Spray a mini muffin tin with non- stick cooking spray then spoon the batter evenly into the cups.  I topped mine with an extra pecan half.

 Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. 

 Let cool completely before removing them from the tin.  I ran a butter knife around the sides to help get them out of the pan. 

 YUM! 

 Gobble them up!  (That's my Thanksgiving pun.)

 See that crispy pecan pie edge? 

This recipe makes 24 mini muffins.  Here is where I found it.