Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Oh, how my life has changed... I used to love snow days so I could sleep in, watch movies and then order take out.

Now on a snow day, I somehow end up getting up earlier than on a normal work day (how do kids know?!?) and getting all jazzed about trying those recipes that I've pinned on Pinterest or dog eared in one of my favorite cookbooks. Most of them are exactly what I expected, but this was a big surprise. It was super easy, I only had to buy one ingredient (!), smelled great and tasted as good.  I also had plenty left to freeze, which is also a plus.

I made tons of adjustments to the original recipe, so I'm just posting my version.

Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

2 lbs chicken (I used 2 freezer packs of breast cutlets from Costco-since it was all white, I added about 1/2 tbsp of butter, but you could leave that out)

1 1/2 cups carrots chopped

2 1/2 stalks celery chopped

1 onion sliced

2 squirts of ginger from a tube (the recipe called for 2 peeled 1/4 inch slices-who has time for that?)

1 tsp freeze dried oregano (recipe called for 3 stalks rosemary-but I subbed oregano in)

6 cups chicken broth (Recipe called for 4, but my soup got really thick so i added 2 more cups broth + 2 cups water the last hour. I used bullion cubes so I can quick make some more if I need to)

1 cup white wine (TJ box special!!!)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups egg noodles (plus an extra handful or 2 if you want more noodles)

Instructions

Put everything except the noodles into the crock pot. Cook on low 8 hours.

Shred chicken and return to crock pot.

Add egg noodles and more water/broth if needed and continue cooking on high 20-30 minutes or until noodles are done.

I served it with biscuits and it was a huge hit! My husband said it was the best chicken soup he'd ever had. My 14 month old son ate 2 bowls and sad, "mmm mmm mmm!" and my 3 year old voluntarily tasted it. That's a pretty big success in our house. Enjoy!

Cold Weather Comfort Food

Just about the only thing I like about cold weather is that most evenings, I can serve a hearty soup or stew for supper.  My absolute favorite is 15 Bean Soup.  I made this the first time using a dried bean mix.  Now I usually purchase all fifteen of the beans. ( Technically though, one or two aren't really beans.) One cup of each and you are good for a year since it takes three cups of the dried beans to make a batch.  You can freely sub a different bean if one on this list isn't available at the grocery.

Fifteen beans (more or less)

Northern, Pinto, Large Lima, Black-eyed Peas, Garbanzo beans, Small white, Baby Lima, Split Green Peas, Pearl Barley, Kidney Beans, White Kidney Beans, Dark Red Kidney Beans, Pink Kidney Beans, Small Red beans, Black Beans, Yellow split peas, Lentils, Navy beans.  You could also add Quinoa if you like.

Or you can buy  the beans pre-mixed called HamBeen's. Just skip their  smoke seasoning. It is full of salt you don't need and the flavor is decidedly artificial. 

To start the dry beans, 

Rinse 3 cups beans in colander and discard any debris. Also throw away broken beans.

Place the dry beans in a large pot and cover with water. Soak over night.  Rinse, cover with water and soak for an additional several hours. Or  skip the over night step and put the beans and about 5 to 6 cups of water in your slow cooker and set the timer for four hours. Now your beans are ready to cook in the soup.

Place the beans in a large stock pot and add one large onion, coarsely chopped, three stalks celery, sliced, one large carrot peeled and chopped. Add about1 1/2 tablespoons chopped garlic and several real ham hocks if you can find them. I always save the bone from spiral cut hams to use, one bone per batch  Also add one can diced tomatoes or if you like spicier soup, use a can of Rotel tomatoes with chilies. I like to add about 1cup of diced ham but this is optional as the stew is already full of flavor and protein. Increase the heat to boiling and add about 2 quarts water.  Simmer for an hour or two until the beans are cooked and serve.  I like a splash of vinegar in mine but the Grillmaster prefers Tabasco in his. This is a complete meal so just add some bread or crackers if you like.

My Favorite Things

(Kathleen's older daughter, Elissa, here)

I love The Sound of Music and enjoyed watching the remake last night.  As a musician, I am friends with a lot of people who had critical reviews of it.  I enjoyed it, I though it was entertaining and refreshing that NBC dedicated an entire prime time to a special without profanity, sex or violence that isn't an athletic event!  Without completely meaning to, I ended up cooking a dinner that is inspired by The Sound of Music, hence the title "My Favorite Things."

I really love Mexican food, so taco night is a common occurrence in the V casa. I also really love to repurpose leftovers.  It is a great source of pride to me how little food my family wastes.  And today was a snow day-who doesn't love those?!?!  And nothing says "snow day" like taco night... Right?

Tonight's taco night was a classic leftover creation.  I used homemade tortillas and hot sauce leftover from our Thanksgiving trip to my husband's hometown of Lamesa, TX.  I had a sweet and spicy pork roast left over from earlier this week (that recipe is in an earlier blog post).  I broiled the veggie portion of the "fajitas two ways" recipe (also featured in an earlier post).  I decided to do that because I had a baggie of sliced bell peppers that I would have packed for lunch... But it was a snow day, and I don't want to waste that either, so I sliced an onion and voila!  I had a delicious side dish.  

I even grated some Monterey jack sandwich cheese that I let sit too close to a warm dish and it melted too much to put on sandwiches.  Yep, I could've tossed it, but by now I'm sure you're starting to understand the extent to which I hate to throw away food.  Plus, it was a slightly creamier cheese thn what I normally serve, so it was a nice treat for my kids.

Add some guacamole (a staple in our house) and you're good to go!

The only part of my meal I actually made new tonight was the seasoned black beans-So at my Mom's encouragement I'm sharing that simple recipe tonight.

I've got a recipe for nearly every variety of beans you could want... but until recently my husband swore that he did not like black beans.  Then I came across this recipe for seasoning black beans.  It is actually a small component of another recipe I found on Pinterest, but the beans are hands down the best part of that recipe.

Seasoned Black Beans

Ingredients

2 cans black beans

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cloves minced garlic

1 seeded and minced jalapeño (I use Trappy's jarred jalapeños)

1/2 teaspoon cumin

Instructions

Sauté vegetable oil, garlic and jalapeño in a medium pot for one minute. Add cumin and sauté one minute more.

Add the black beans, stir and heat through.  Depending on the texture you like, you can cook it with the juices from the can, or rinse and drain the beans.

It's that easy!!!  Seriously, they are so good.  Take my freshly seasoned beans, plus my repurposed leftovers, and you're all set.  The only thing missing is a delicious local brew and a family to eat with :-).

Look at all those delicious leftovers...

The Grillmaster's French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup is a real treat.  There are many "easy" or quick recipes but they do to yield the rich flavor of this recipe.  You may wonder why this is the Grillmaster's recipe and not mine.  Well that's simple, he loves to spend the time to prepare more complicated recipes.  I guarantee that this one is worth the time.

French Onion Soup

6 yellow onions, sliced

1tablespoon olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup sherry (or brandy)

8 cups beef stock

2 tablespoons dried or fresh parsley, chopped

1bay leaf

5 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 tablespoons dried

Salt and black pepper to taste (the Grillmaster doesn't add salt)

Slice the onions and add to a large pot or Dutch oven along with the olive oil. Cook over medium heat until the onions are caramelized.  Stir frequently. The onions will be dark brown.  This is the most importent part of the recipe because this is what gives the soup it's rich flavor.  It also takes about one hour.

Once the onions are cooked, add the minced garlic and the wine and sherry.  Cook until the liquid is reduced by half.

Tie the parsley, thyme and bay leaf into a bouquet garni so that it can be removed before serving.

Add the beef stock and herbs.  Simmer an additional hour. Remove the herbs.  Season to taste with pepper and salt.

Toast some bread rounds, and top with Swiss cheese or gruyere cheese.  Ladle the soup into heat resistant bowls and put a cheese round on top. (We actually skip this step because I don't like soggy bread.). Toast  until the cheese is melted and bubbly.  Serve immediately.  I like the toasted cheese toast served on the side.

This soup freezes well should you decide to make a double batch.

Sugar and Salt

Often times, I will complain that restaurant food is too salt for my palate while many other people complain that it is too bland.  There are tremendous amounts of hidden salt and sugars in pre prepared and processed foods which is why I started reading labels and cooking from scratch many years ago.  My Dad was a diabetic with high blood pressure from the time I started cooking as a teenager.  I started altering recipes at about age 20 when I could see the toll it was taking.

So often, what we perceive as moisture or richness is just fat.  Now I don't think we need to remove fat from our diets.  Quite the contrary, good fat is very beneficial.  I cook mostly with olive oil.  I like the flavor and it is beneficial.  However, there are things that just taste better in butter.  I say then, use butter.  Do not make it a daily habit.  It is a well deserved treat.  When I was younger, I would make pies with my Grandma Utesch, using lard.  They were delicious but not so healthy.  Substitute the latest version of Crisco which virtually eliminates partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and you can replicate the texture if not the taste of lard.

Salt is insidious though.  I mostly cook with coarse textured Kosher salt.  However, salt is an ingredient in most prepare armed foods.  You have to be careful.  If you use canned tomatoes, you probably do not need to add salt.  If you fix a box of macaroni and cheese, definitely skip the salt.  It is already included in abundance.  Worcestershire Sauce, fish sauce and soy sauce are naturally salty.  Think about it before you add any additional salt.

If you think your cooking is bland, consider adding basil, oregano, paprika, Cheyenne pepper, Tabasco sauce, then think about salt.  If our sweet things are bland, consider vanilla, lemons and almonds first. Then add more sugar.

Have a clean palate before you taste.  Keep an open mind.  The best flavors in this world are not sugar or salt.

Love the food you eat. 

It is time to think about Christmas Cookies

Although Christmas is still several weeks away, it is never too early to think about Christmas cookies.  I am neither a big baker or sweet eater, but these cookies are a guilty pleasure for me.  I got this recipe almost forty years ago from a friend who got it from her grandmother.  These are more of a pastry that a cookie but delicious and worth the effort. 

These cookies go by many names but we call them Christmas Snowballs

Preheat oven to 325 before baking.

Dough should be chilled for at least 1 hour before baking.

1 cup butter, slightly softened but colder than room temp.

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons water

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup chopped pecans

Cream butter and sugar, (I usually process in my food processor.) add water and vanilla and mix well. Blend in flour and nuts.

Form the dough into a ball.  It will be both stiff and sticky.  Wrap in plastic wrap. Chill. After chilling, Shape into tablespoon sized balls.  (I use a rounded tablespoon measuring spoon to get the right amount of dough and roll into balls. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 20 minutes.

Cool to room temp on a cooling rack and then roll in confectioners( powdered) sugar.

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.

Yes, that is the entire ingredient list and there are no leavening agents.  You can place them very close together on the cookie sheet because they will not rise or expand. If you roll them in confectioner's sugar when they are too warm, the sugar will "melt", just let them cool a little longer and try again.

Greek salad is wonderfully versatile not to mention delicious.

There are many recipes for Greek Salads and I confess that I have never tried one that I didn't love.  There are versions of this salad made from cucumbers and tomatoes from all around the Mediterranean and although they are similar, this one is my favorite because with a piece of warm bread, this is a hearty lunch and add a piece of grilled chicken and you have a satisfying dinner that even the Grillmaster approves of.  Another plus for this recipe is that the dressing which is super easy, works well on a whole variety of salads. This particular salad, in Greek is called Horiatiki Salata

Dressing

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil,( Greek if possible although I like Spanish olive oil as well.)

2 tablespoons dried Greek oregano.  ( I like the wide leafed oregano that I grow and fresh makes it really great.)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 dashes Tabasco  (I know, not authentic but I prefer it anyway.  You can use 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.)

Put in a liquid tight container and shake well to mix.  If you use dried oregano, let this sit at least 30 minutes before you pour over the salad. An hour or more is better.

Salad

4 medium Roma tomatoes. Cut into wedges ( I will substitute 15 to 20 grape tomatoes. Cut in half)

1 Persian/English cucumbers cut in half length-wise and cut into thin slices

1 red bell pepper, cut length-wise, seeded and then sliced into narrow slices

1 green  bell pepper, cut same as the red

1 medium red onion quartered and then sliced paper-thin

20 Kalamata olives. ( I always cut them in half so no one is surprised by a hidden pit)

1/2 pound feta, coarsely crumbled

Combine all the salad ingredients in a very large mixing bowl.  Add the feta cheese and dressing just before serving.

This makes 6 to 8 meal sized portions.  It is also a great salad for potlucks and buffet meals.