"Easy" Chicken Noodle Soup

We're having some respiratory issues over this way so I'm making chicken noodle. It's not a hard thing to do, really.



This is how I do it:

Chunk 1 or 2 stalks of celery (leaves included)
Slice into 'silver dollars' 2 carrots
Heat dutch oven with a splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Toss in carrots & celery for a minute
Add Water (up to about an inch from the top of the pan)
Add Chicken (Whatever is in the freezer, today I used a bnlss/sknlss breast and a package that had 2 thighs and 2 wings). I put them in frozen.
Cook for several hours (or all day) on medium heat.
Add more water as it cooks down

About an hour before dinner:

Strain out chicken bones and skin, return meat to broth.
Add in noodles. (I like to use kluski noodles)
Add in a chicken bullion cube and a sprinkle of onion powder, salt, and pepper.

Cook for about 45 min, turn off.

Viola!

Why turn it off 15 min prior to eating? So you don't burn your tongue off, of course!




A few options:

*Add potatoes instead of noodles, use the "dumpling" recipe on the side of the Bisquick box for easy-peasy chicken and dumplings.

*Use only bnlss/sknlss breasts and then you don't have to pick out the bones/skin if that part grosses you out.

*Add 1 c. of uncooked rice instead of noodles or potatoes for chicken and rice soup.

*Add other veggies if you like them. I do not like them. That is why I leave the celery and carrot chunks big enough to pick out.

*Add peas, potatoes, and some roue (2 T. Flour in 1/4 water) to thicken, pour into prepared pastry and cover with a pastry to make pot pie.

*if you don't have all day at home to do it, put it in the crock pot on low for all day, add the dumplings or noodles when you get home from work, enjoy as soon as they are cooked.


Oh... the possibilities are endless. Let me know how easy YOU thought it was!

Pampered Chef Bar Pan

So, in June, I had a Pampered Chef Party. The talk of the town was the "stoneware" and especially the "bar pan."

I hadn't used mine yet. So today I decided to give it a whirl. Supposedly, when you bake brownies in a Pampered Chef bar pan, you don't get those hard edges because the stone cooks at the same speed/temperature the whole way through. You know, when you use a glass dish, the outside heats up much faster and you end up with dry/overcooked corners & edges. So anyway, "Great! No dry edges!" and decided to let this bar pan work its magic.

And, well... I haven't EATEN the brownies yet, so I'm not sure if they're ACTUALLY dry, but........










Do you have a bar pan from PC? does it do what it promises? Am I doing something wrong?

Strawberry Shortcake

Today we had a nice "summer" dinner. New York Strip Steak and Salmon Steak grilled, corn on the cob, foccacia bread, baked potatoes, and ... Strawberry Shortcake for dessert. I know that I mention it a lot, but practically the whole dinner came from McGinnis Sister's Market. But anyway, here's the Strawberry Shortcake- homemade, of course.



oh yeah, that's real whipped cream. (With Heavy Cream from Schneider's Dairy)












And of course, it was so good we were all licking the bowls. (This is Roger & my Mom)

Souvlaki

Some call them kebabs, but I used a Greek recipe, so I call them souvlaki. I liked them quite well, and, judging by the fact that 7 people ate like 25 skewers, I'd say they were well-received.

I don't have the "after" picture, because I forgot to take it... we were pretty hungry.

Souvlaki Recipe - Greek Meat and Vegetable Kebabs

Ingredients – makes 6 – 8 kebabs
Marinade

* 1kg cubed meat lamb, beef, chicken, pork, or shrimp
* ½ cup olive oil
* 2 lemons - about 4 tablespoons juice
* 1/8 cup red wine vinegar + 1/8 cup water (to make 1/4 cup liquid)
* 2 tsp dried oregano
* 1 tsp dried thyme
* 1 tsp garlic powder
* 1 tsp garlic powder
* Salt and pepper

Vegetables for the kebabs

* Onions – cut into quarters
* Peppers – chopped into chunks
* Cherry tomatoes – used whole

Method

1. Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice and wine together then add the herbs, garlic and onion and put the mixture into a gallon size ziploc bag. Putting some marinade aside to coat the cooked kebabs if desired. Add the meat cubes to the marinade and mix together well, ensuring the meat is well and evenly covered.
2. The meat needs marinating for at least two hours, but it is best if left overnight
3. Either metal or wooden skewers can be used, but the wooden ones need soaking for at least half an hour before they are used. This prevents them from burning.
4. Remove the meat from the marinade, the remaining marinade may be kept for basting during cooking but it must then be thrown away.
5. Make up the kebabs with an alternate piece of meat and vegetable. Making them all up the same makes them look more attractive on the serving dish.
6. The kebabs may be baked in the oven or grilled.
7. Cook thoroughly and evenly turning them over regularly throughout the cooking time.
8. Brush with the reserved marinade that hasn't been in contact with the raw meat.

Peach Cobbler

I decided that since I don't use this space for anything else, I'll post my culinary adventures here. I will start taking pictures with the Canon instead of with my phone, too.

Here's the first two pictures of the peach cobbler- the teaser, if you will. I'll post the after shots, well, after.

The peaches came from Chambersburg, PA. I bought them at McGinnis Sisters' food market in Monroeville. (Where I buy probably 90% of the fresh fruits and veggies we eat in this house.)

The cobbler recipe is the Miller Family's recipe from "the cookbook."


The Peaches, Peeled & Sliced, ready to be spiced


Everything's all ready to go in the oven!


All done baking, I can't wait to eat it! YUM!

I started this blog

for 2 reasons:

1. Sometimes I haves omething to say that doesn't pertain to the kids.

2. I wanted to claim the url.