Chicken Noodle Soup

I grew up with my mom making this soup for us.  It isn't anything fancy...but the noodles, oh the noodles...they are what make this soup so awesome.  I made this soup for Nathan and I on the day we were stuck at home because of the blizzard.  I had more chicken so I decided to make another batch, with a few little changes. 

What you'll need:

4 large Chicken breasts

3/4 C diced onions

1 tsp celery salt

3 Tbs minced garlic

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

2 C sliced carrots

2 C sliced celery

4 eggs

4 - 1/2 egg shell full of water

1 tsp salt

2 C Flour

What you'll do:

Put the chicken in a large stock pot and add onions, celery salt, oregano, garlic and Old Bay Seasoning.  Cover with water and boil until chicken is cooked.

Wait, you've never heard of Old Bay Seasoning??  You should get some.  It goes in everything.

Pull chicken out, put veggies in the broth.  While the veggies cook, shred the chicken.   You can shred the chicken with your fingers, but I use two forks and just pull the chicken apart.

Put the chicken back in the pot.  Bring to a boil.

Prepare the noodles.  Crack 4 eggs, save one 1/2 shell.  Add salt and four 1/2 shell fulls of water.

Slowly add flour until dough forms a ball.  Roll out dough, cut noodles.  Let noodles sit for 5 minutes.

Drop noodles into boiling soup.  Let noodles cook about 5 minutes.

Serves 6.

Spicy Cheeseburger Soup

I first found this recipe in one of my Taste of Home cookbooks.  I made it a few times and slowly made a few changes.  It is one of my favorite soups to have on a snowy day.  

What you'll need:

2 C water

3 C cubed potatoes

1 1/2 C sliced carrots

1/2 C chopped green onions

1 large chopped green pepper

1 1/2 Tbs beef bouillon granules

2 tsp minced garlic

1 1/2 lb ground turkey

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 1/2 C milk, divided

3 Tbs flour

1 C shredded mozzarella cheese

1 lb bacon, sliced into 1/2" pieces and cooked

What you'll do:

Cook the bacon

Brown ground turkey, garlic and cayenne pepper.

In a large pot combine water, veggies and bouillon; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  

Stir in turkey and bacon and 2 cups of milk, heat through

Combine flour and remaining milk until smooth, gradually stir into soup.  

Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly.  

Reduce heat, stir in cheese until melted.  

Serve.  Garnish with additional cheese and/or crumbled cooked bacon if desired.  

Makes 2 Quarts or about 8 servings.

Shrimp Wontons

What you'll need:

8 oz of shrimp, peeled, deveined, coarsely chopped

2 green onions, washed, trimmed, diced

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 Tbs minced garlic

1/2 C water chestnuts, small diced

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce

1 Tbs red pepper flakes

1 1/2 tsp sesame oil

20-25 wonton wrappers

Water for sealing wrappers

Canola oil for frying

What you'll do:

Mix shrimp, green onions, ginger, garlic, and water chestnuts in a bowl.  Add salt, red pepper flakes, soy sauce and seasame oil.  Mix well. 

Place a tablespoon of the mix on a wonton wrapper.  

Wet the edges on one half, fold to seal.  You can do a simple half fold (on the left) or a prettier purse fold (on the right). They both cook the same...it just depends on how much effort you want to put in. 

Fry the wontons.  We use our handy deep fryer, you can also put some oil in a fry pan and do it that way.  Fry until golden brown, usually about 5-7 minutes.  Turn over if necessary to make sure both sides are cooked. 

We made these two nights in a row...we had to, this recipe makes a lot.  The second day I took the remaining half of the mix and added 6 Tbs of cream cheese...and it was awesome.

Stuffed Pasta Shells

What you'll need:

1 box large pasta shells

1 jar spaghetti sauce (or make your own...I like the Prego garlic one)

4 C shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

1 large container of ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 Tbs Oregano

1 Tbs Basil

Minced garlic (amount is up to you...I use 2-3 heaping spoonfuls)

1 1/2 C shredded Parmesan Reggiano blend cheese, divided

1 red pepper, sliced

1 yellow pepper, sliced

1 large yellow onion, sliced

Shitake mushrooms, sliced

What you'll do:

Preheat oven to 350.
Boil pasta shells and drain.  Don't overcook them or they'll get soggy when baked.  

Saute peppers, onions and mushrooms in olive oil and a pinch of garlic until just barely not crisp.

Mix 3 1/2 C mozzarella, ricotta, egg, garlic, oregano, basil and 1 C Parmesan-Reggiano cheese in a bowl.

Spread a small amount of sauce on the bottom of a 13x9 pan (this keeps the shells from sticking)

Fill shells with cheese mixture and place in pan.  This is the tricky part.  You want to allow the shells to cool for a minute or two because handling hot pasta can burn you.  I usually use a larger table spoon and hold the shell in my left hand with the spoon in my right.  I will fill the spoon with cheese mixture, slide it into the shell opening, then slide it out, holding the shell closed with my left hand.  It sounds trickier than it is...after one or two you'll get the hang of it.  Your hands will get messy...just warning ya. 

Once all the shells are filled and lined in the pan cover with sauteed peppers, onions and mushrooms.  

Cover with remainder of sauce.  Top with remainder of shredded cheese

Bake until cheese melts and sauce is bubbling (usually about 25 minutes)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These will likely be the easiest cookies you'll ever make.  Seriously.  Should you feel like a little more effort, you can top these beauties with Cream Cheese Frosting. 

What you'll need:

1 box Spice Cake Mix (I like Duncan Hines)

1 can of pure pumpkin

1 bag of chocolate chips (milk, dark...doesn't matter...it's your choice)

Make sure you get pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.  And it's not the huge can, but the one just slightly larger than a soup can. 

What you'll do:

Mix cake mix and pumpkin until all the lumps are out.  Add chocolate chips. 

Scoop onto a cookie sheet.  I used my medium sized handy dandy scoop.  

Bake at 325 degrees for 14 minutes.  

Makes 3 dozen.