Hearty Chicken and Vegetable Soup

This is my first ever ‘guest recipe’ post!  Today’s recipe comes from a good friend of mine that always makes sure to go above and beyond for her children and family. One of her little ones needed some extra special care earlier this week and she went so far above-and-beyond, that she surprised even herself and made her best ever soup! She has been kind enough to share the recipe with us too, so with no further ado…..Here’s Jessica K.’s Hearty Chicken and Vegetable Soup!

Jessica K. writes:
I don’t know about you, but I have always had a hard time making an awesome broth-based chicken soup. I always find that it turns out bland– especially the chicken part. So, when my youngest had surgery this past Monday, I decided to play around with some ideas I had on how to make my chicken soup more like the ones you can get at a restaurant. What I ended up with was so flavorful, I had to stop eating and write down exactly what I did so I wouldn’t forget. 😉

Ingredients:
1 box (32 oz) Chicken Broth (I use reduced-sodium)
2-3 cups Water
2 Chicken Bouillon cubes
2 boneless, skinless Chicken Creasts
½ a medium Onion, chopped
Veggies you have on hand (I used a handful or so of baby carrots chopped, two stalks of celery chopped and roughly a cup of broccoli pulled apart)
1/8 tsp of oregano (increase or decrease depending on how you want it seasoned)
Garlic powder
Salt/Pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp oil (I use EVOO)
1/3 cup of pasta (I used gluten-free small shells)- optional

Directions:
1. Sprinkle two chicken breasts with garlic powder (both sides).  Put oil in a pan on medium heat and brown the chicken breasts on both sides. Once the chicken is on its second side and close to being done, add the chopped onion to the pan. When both side of the chicken are browned remove them from the pan. (This is how I made sure the chicken had favor. If you just put chopped up, raw chicken, in broth I find it comes out bland.)
2. Put the chicken on a plate and cut into pieces. Don’t worry about any pink areas in the middle of the chicken because it will continue cooking in the broth. Use a bit of chicken broth to deglaze the pan.
3. Add the chopped veggies, chopped chicken, and oregano to the deglazed pan. Add more broth to the pan until the ingredients are just covered. Place a lid on the pan and reduce the heat. Let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
4. Once everything has been able to mingle and soak up all that wonderful flavor, transfer it to a soup pot (a large pot). Add the remaining chicken stock, the water, and two bouillon cubes. You can also add a little salt and pepper for additional flavor. I find that you don’t need salt because of the bouillon cubes, but I did add a little pepper. Cover and keep it on a low to medium heat for at least an hour. You can leave it on a low heat, simmering away until you are close to when you want to eat.
*At this point, instead of simmering in a pot on the stove, you could also transfer it to a crock pot and leave it on low for about an hour or two and then switch it to warm.*
5. Got noddles? When you are about 20-30 minutes before you want to serve, add the pasta. If you are making this ahead and not eating it right away, I would NOT put the pasta in until the day you are eating it. Just heat the soup on the stove, bring to a boil, and add the pasta. That way your pasta is fresh and not super mushy.
*Though I have not tried this yet, I would imagine this would make a good freezer meal soup as well. Just don’t add the pasta if you intend on freezing and add it once you’ve defrosted and heated it up.*

FYI– My 3-year-old little patient LOVED it. =)

 

Chicken Puffs

I pulled this recipe out of my old stash I have of recipes from my college days. I hadn’t made it in years and I’ve never made it for my kids. I fixed it up for dinner – making enough for two adults and three young kids – expecting it to just be another average dinner but at least it was a new recipe to re-introduce to our regular routine.

Would you believe those three kids at the entire thing!? All of it. Hubby and I didn’t get any at all. The littlest one almost immedietly went back for seconds, then thirds, and before I knew it I was hearing, “More??”! Fourths! From a two year old! Unheard of! The three year old started singing a song about it while eating. “Chicken, bread, corn and yum. Yum makes yum. Till I’m all done.” She sang it throughout the entire meal.

I had no idea this would be such a big hit. Looks like I’ll have to be making it again soon….

Ingredients:
1 small package of Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
8 oz Cream Cheese
5 TBSP Milk
1 cup frozen Corn, warmed per instructions (or any veggie you prefer)
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Paprika
3 TBSP butter
2 packages of Crescent Rolls
1/4 cup Bread Crumbs
Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Season and cook the chicken breasts and chop into small pieces. Preheat your oven 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix the milk into the cream cheese and stir together until creamy.
3. Add the cooked chicken pieces, heated veggies, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. Mix to combine.
4. Take out your crescent rolls and open them up. Pinch together two triangles to make a rectangle – do your best to mush together the perforated seams so the dough stays together. On one half of the rectangle, spoon some of your chicken mixture on and fold over the empty half on top. Start pinching together the edges of the dough to enclose the chicken mixture into a pocket. Do this for the rest of the crescents and chicken.
5. Melt the butter and brush the top of each closed chicken puff with it. Sprinkle the buttery tops with some bread crumbs.
6. Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes until the puffs are flaky and golden brown.
7. Enjoy!

 

Easy Peasy Slow Cooker Pork Chops

I’m a stay-at-home-mom. My days are filled with toddlers running around screaming, crying, laughing, and playing. While this is absolutely the single best job in the world, it is also often overwhelming – I mean, these kids – they EAT! You have to feed them several times a day, every single day! And it better be tasty – but you get extra credit bonus points if it’s also (at least mostly) nutritious as well. In case you didn’t already know this, the job of being a mom can greatly conflict with the job of needing to provide good food that kids are willing to eat.

SO.

Here’s an easy meal that I turn to often. Maybe it can help you too.
You pretty much just dump four or five items into a crock pot during a spare moment in the morning, and at dinner time you have a meal. Pretty nice huh!

Easy Peasy Crock Pot Pork Chops
Ingredients:
Pork Chops  (I used a package of 5 chops on the bone, but any type of pork chop will do
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup (any “cream of” soup will work – celery, chicken, etc)
1/4 cup Ketchup
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
– – – – there is room to improvise here too. I sliced a few mushrooms and added them to the pot, feel free to experiment with whatever you have on hand.

Directions:
1. Put your pork chops into the crock pot.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the cream soup, ketchup, and Worcestershire (and any extra ingredient you might want to add). Mix them all together and then pour the mixture over the chops in the crock.
3. Cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours.
4. Enjoy!  I like to serve mine on a bed of mashed potatoes or rice and use the resulting juices in the crock as a gravy.

 

Homemade Lemonade

I don’t know how it was for all of you when you were growing up, but for me, lemonade was a yellow kool-aid packet. Sometimes it might be a powder that came out of a jar of Countrytime, or maybe just maybe it was a frozen can of condensed slush out of the freezer section of the grocery store. Basically it was an ultra sugary, slightly sour drink that didn’t have much actual flavor.

We decided to try making our own lemonade and after buying a half dozen lemons at the market we realized we didn’t really know what we were doing – so I turned to the experts over at What’s Cooking America for some advice. We tried their Perfect Lemonade Recipe and they were right! It really WAS perfect!

The trick is to make a simple syrup. Now, when I was looking at different recipes, I’ll admit that this sounded like a silly extra step to take and I wanted something more convenient. But I realized, how lazy am I to not even want to boil water for 5 minutes!? I tried it. It was worth it. Trust me on this.

Ingredients:
roughly 6 medium sized lemons, juiced
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Water
Plenty of Ice Cubes
Cold Water

Directions:
1. The first step is to make a simple syrup. In a deep sauce pan, pour in your cup of sugar and cup of water and bring to a boil. Once it boils, turn the heat to a low simmer and stir pretty consistently for five minutes. Let the syrup cool to room temperature and then store in the fridge in an air tight container (like a mason jar or tupperware). For this recipe, you want it to cool down for your lemonade, for future needs though, you can store it for up to 6mos at a time in the fridge. So if you want to make lemonade regularly this summer, make a large batch ahead of time and just take what you need when you need it.
2. Now that your simple syrup’s made, (and you’ve squeezed your lemons, right?), all you have to do is get a large pitcher, approx 2 quarts works great, pour in your simple syrup and your freshly squeezed lemon juice, plop a bunch of ice cubes in there (we went with an even dozen large ice cubes), and then fill the container up with cold water. Give it a really good stir and then toss it in the fridge for an hour so all the flavors can mix together.
3. Then, simply, drink it! You will never go back to that nasty powder stuff again! Enjoy!

 

Mini Corn Dog Bites

For some unknown reason, I have been wanting a mini muffin pan. I had these visions of making all sorts of breakfast muffin type things that I could pop out of the freezer and heat up for my kids for breakfast, or healthier snack type muffins that I could make in bulk and take with us on summer picnics and the like.

Well, I finally got my muffin pan, and what was the first thing I made in it??
Mini corn dog bites!!!

I had seen a sign up at a fast food place for mini corn dogs a few days ago and it’s been in the back of my head ever since. This was super easy to make, and it proved a huge hit with the kids. I plan to make this for all sorts of kid playdates, birthday parties, just about any occasion that calls for a gathering of kids! The best part is, we ate about half of what I made, and I tossed the rest in a freezer bag and froze them, so I can pop them out and heat them back up a few at a time when needed!

Mini Corn Dog Bites
Ingredients:
Hot dogs (1 hot dog 5 bites)
1 cup Corn Meal
1 cup Flour
3 Tbsp Sugar
4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Milk
1 egg + 1 egg white
1/4 cup Vegetable oil

Directions:
Boil hotdogs and cook them fully and preheat your oven to 400. When the hotdogs are cooked, slice into bit sized pieces. I only had 3 hotdogs on hand, so I made 15 corn dog muffins and made the rest plain corn bread bites.

While that is going on, make up your corn bread batter. Combine the corn meal, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add in your milk, egg, egg white, and oil then mix well until smooth.
Grease your mini muffin pan VERY liberally. I like to use a Pam Spray and really get in there with it – you’ll appreciate it when it’s time to get those muffins out, trust me!

I poured in roughly 1 TBSP of the muffin mix into each cup, and then dunked a hot dog chunk in, giving it a little push to get it all the way in there.

Bake for 17-18 minutes.

Yum! If you greased your pan well enough, you can just flip your tray over and your muffins will slide nicely out for you. Serve up with some ketchup or mustard for dipping and enjoy!

 

Peanut Butter Bars

It’s Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S.
This is a holiday that is meant to memorialize all those who have served in our military and given their lives and time for the protection of our nation. Somehow this traditionally translates into back yard barbeques and family parties. I happen to be attending such a party this weekend and I wanted to bring a dish to share but I wasn’t sure what to make. I went and dug into that fantastic new (old) recipe box from my Great-Great-Aunt Tonie and pulled out this delicious recipe for Peanut Butter Bars!

I am not typically a sweets person, but let me tell you, this dish is beyond addictive! This couldn’t be an easier snack to make. You use one large bowl to both melt and mix the ingredients together, pour it into a dish and refrigerate. Simple simple simple. I guess that makes it a no-bake recipe too! I don’t know how old this recipe is, but truely some of the oldies are the goodies!!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup Graham Crackers, crushed
3 cups + 2 TBSP Powdered Sugar
1 cup Butter
1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
12 oz Chocolate Chips

Directions:1. In a large bowl, melt your butter and then mix in crushed graham crackers, powdered sugar, and peanut butter.
2. Grease a large 13 x 9 casserole pan and pour your mixture into it. Use the back of a spoon and even the mixture out over the entire bottom of the pan.
3. Back in that original bowl, melt your chocolate chips and then pour them over the top of your peanut butter mixture in the casserole dish. Spread it out so that it is evenly covering the peanut butter. Cover the dish with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate overnight.
4. The next morning let the dish set out at room temperature for a little while before cutting the bars into the dish. This recipe makes approximately 40 bars.

 

Connecticut Chews

This is a family favorite on my mother’s side of the family. Outside of this tight-nit bunch though, I’ve been really hard pressed to find anyone who’s even heard of a Connecticut Chew. It’s not a common treat here in the midwest USA, people I’ve talked to that live in Connecticut have no idea what I’m talking about, and if you try to Google the dish you end up with alot of search results on chewing tobacco!

I found this recipe in an old recipe box I recently inherited from my Great-Great-Aunt. I’m told this specific dish was actually my Great-Great-Grandmother, Elnora Andrews’, recipe. I’m not sure if it’s something she made up and just named Connecticut Chew, or if it used to be a popular dish that has faded out of popularity. All that aside, it’s a very easy crowd-pleaser and is over due for a come back!

Ingredients:
8 oz Chocolate Chips
1 cup Graham Crackers, crushed
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 cup Chopped Pecans

Approx 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325
2. In a large bowl, mix together the chocolate chips, crushed graham crackers, sweetened condensed milk, baking powder, and chopped pecans.
3. Pour the mixture into a half sized casserole dish (8 x 8) and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool fully in the pan.
4. When the Chews have completely cooled, cut into small bite sized squares. Pour out your powdered sugar on a plate and roll each bite sized piece in the sugar one at a time so they are evenly coated.5. Enjoy! Try and make sure you share at least a few of them with your friends or family!

 

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

I’m a mother of two young toddlers, and I babysit regularly for other little toddlers. Needless to say, we are always looking for kid-friendly foods that are a little healthier than the typical boxes, bags, and cans of foods that you can purchase at the supermarket.

Chicken nuggets seem to be an across-the-board hit with kids of all ages. Even the kids that don’t typically like much meat will dig into a nugget. The problem is, how many articles have you read lately about how disgusting the meat is that goes into those frozen store-bought nuggets! It seems like every other week there’s another interview with a chicken factory employee telling us about pink slime, or about how they have to dump the nugget mixture in a vat of bleach to kill off the bacteria. Most recently there was an article from an employee of Purdue Chicken discussing the ins and outs of his factory. (See article HERE) He goes on to give a pretty positive view of the factory, the conditions, and even the quality of the food they process – with the exception of one single food product. He says to avoid the chicken nuggets! They are basically just made out of “skin, a few bones, fat, and whatever meat is attached to the skin.”  Gross!!!

So here’s my recipe. You can make your own chicken nuggets at home. You can do it easily. And you can guarantee that you’re not eating a nugget full of skin and bones! I took a ton of pictures and will break it down step-by-step. The recipe I give will be for one pound of ground chicken, but the pictures are actually from a very large batch that I made. I made 6.5lbs of ground chicken into nuggets, then separated it into several bags and tossed them into the freezer to be taken out and used as needed, just like you would do if you bought one of those freezer bags of nuggets from the store.

Nugget Ingredients:
1 lb Ground Chicken
1 Egg, beaten
1/2 cup Bread Crumbs (We used unseasoned)
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp. Onion Powder
1 cup (approx) Vegetable Oil

Breading Ingredients:
1/2 cup Flour
1/2 cup Bread Crumbs
1 Egg, beaten

Directions:

In a large bowl, pour in the bread crumbs, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Mix them together well.

Add in your beaten egg and then your ground chicken and mix to combine. Get right in there with your hands and really mix it together well, you don’t want any clumps of bread crumbs in the middle of your nugget or they will fall apart when you cook them.

Your next step is to start scooping out small portions of your nugget mix and forming them into the actual nuggets. We actually placed a sheet of plastic wrap over our table and formed up the nuggets and left them right on the the plastic wrap while we finished off the rest of the batch – this method really worked out well! Try to keep your nuggets pretty small so they cook up well.

You then need to dredge each nugget in flour. I like to pour a good amount of flour onto a plate and bring that plate right up next to where I’ve laid out my nuggets and dredge them in the flour right there and put them right back where onto the table to wait for the next step.

Ok, now that the nuggets have been floured, they need to take a quick dip in an egg bath and then get coated up in bread crumbs. Again, I like to beat my egg and bring it right up to my laid out nuggets and get a plate full of bread crumbs and keep it right there too. Simply pick up each nugget one at a time, dip in the egg wash, roll in the bread crumbs, and then you can put it back on the table or set them onto some plates to get ready to head over to the stove to be cooked.

At this point, we’re done making up the actual nugget itself and can move on to getting them cooked. In a large frying pan or a large skillet with a good sized lip on the sides, pour in some vegetable oil. You want the oil to be about half as deep as the nuggets you made, typically about one finger width’s depth. Allow the oil a few minutes to heat up and then place some nuggets in to get them cooking. You can cook in batches, you don’t need to crowd the pan to get it all done at once.

Pan fry your nuggets for about 4 minutes on medium to medium-high heat.

Flip them over and let them cook for about 4 minutes on the other side and then remove them from the pan. I like to place them on a paper towel lined plate for a minute to help catch any extra oil.

That’s it! Your nuggets are ready to eat! Dig in and call the kids into the kitchen!
….OR…
You can make up a large batch of nuggets all at one time like I did in these pictures. We made 6.5lbs of ground chicken and actually got a nice even 65 nuggets out of it (No, we didn’t portion them out that way on purpose, it just happened to work out nicely like that!) After cooking all 65 nuggets and letting them cool down fully on cooling racks, I put them into a few freezer bags and tossed them into the freezer. Now when my kids want nuggets for lunch, all I have to do is reach into my freezer, pull a handfull out, and reheat them. They have homemade all-meat nuggets on the table within minutes and I don’t have to stress about making a mess in the kitchen to get them fed – – and I also don’t have to worry that I fed my kids a poor quality nugget from the supermarket either!

 

Cheesy Chicken Macaroni

I loved baked macaronis. My children love baked macaronis. (Ok, they like pretty much any kind of noodle dish.) My husband on the other hand, likes macaroni (or any pasta dish) as a nice SIDE dish, because he says it’s not filling enough to satisfy him.  He’s very much a meat kinda guy, and a meal without meat just doesn’t make much sense to him.

Yeah, him and his manly appetite I guess….

Anyways, I thought that I would try to add some chicken into a baked macaroni and see if that would make the dish hearty enough for him. We almost always have some cooked chicken on hand from when I regularly cook roasting chickens in the crock pot to maintain my supply of homemade chicken stock, so adding in the chicken was a really easy change.  (You can find the recipes to Crockpotting a Whole Roasting Chicken and making Homemade Chicken Stock here.)

Cheesy Chicken Macaroni (adapted from an old Betty Crocker Recipe!)

Ingredients:
1 box of Macaroni (1 pound)
3 cups Chicken, cooked (Don’t have any cooked chicken? You can quickly cook up some chicken breasts on the stove top. Cut the raw chicken into small bites and toss in a skillet with some olive oil. Cook all the way through.
1 bag Frozen Vegetables (I used corn, but just about any veggie would work just fine here.
2 TBSP Butter
2 TBSP Flour
3 cups Milk
4 cups Grated Cheddar – Divided    (Fresh grated will melt better, but store grated can be used. Also, feel free to improvise a little with the cheeses! Monterrey Jack would work well, so would a sharp, white cheddar.)
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup ~~~>Or you can make your own Cream of Chicken Soup!
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Mustard Powder
Salt/Pepper to taste
4 TBSP Butter
1 cup Bread Crumbs
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt

Directions:
1. Cook your pasta according to al dente. Strain it and pour it into the bottom of a large casserole dish.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Spread your cooked chicken over the top of the cooked noodles.
4. Sprinkle your frozen vegetables over the layer of cooked chicken.
5. In a skillet on the stove, melt your butter and add the flour, whisking it together to make a roux. Slowly add in your milk, whisking as you go. Then add in three cups of the grated cheese. Stir until completely melted.
6. Add in the Cream of Chicken Soup, garlic powder, onion powder, and mustard powder. Stir to combine. When your sauce mix is good and creamy and well combined, pour it slowly over the top of your layers in the casserole dish. Try to pour it evenly over the entire dish so there aren’t any dry areas.
7. Top this layer with your leftover cup of grated cheese.
8. Melt your four tablespoons of butter in a small microwave safe bowl and then add the bread crumbs to it. Add 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp seasoned salt and mush the mixture together with your fingers until the crumbs have evenly absorbed the butter and the seasonings are well mixed in.
9. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the top of your casserole and toss it in the oven for 30 minutes or until your bread crumbs are nicely browned.
10. Let set for 5-10 minutes and then dig in! Enjoy!

 

Banana Bread

Banana bread is such an easy bread to make. It’s basically just a wet mix that you bake right up – there’s none of that kneading, or rising, or other cumbersome steps you go through on a typical bread. Plus it’s a great way to use up some old bananas – – – not to mention you get the benefit of making your house smell amazing and making all of your neighbors jealous when they realize where the smell is coming from!

This is another recipe I use on my bread machine. I’m not sure how to convert it if you don’t have a bread machine, and I’m sure you could easily make this in your oven with a quick mix of the ingredients and then a bake in the oven, I just don’t know the actual times and temperature. I got this recipe almost exactly from the Cuisinart Recipe Booklet that came with my bread machine – this isn’t one of my own inventions, but I wanted to share the recipe with you in case you didn’t have the luxury of having such a handy book come with your bread machine.

The ingredient quantities for this loaf will make a Medium sized loaf, or a 1.5 pounder. I actually like to pull this particular bread out of the machine a few minutes before the timer goes off because I find that it burns very easily and I don’t care for a crispy crust on my banana breads.

Banana Bread
Ingredients:
(Place ingredients into bread machine in this order:)
1/3 cup + 1 TBSP Buttermilk, 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit  (forget to get buttermilk? simply pour add 1 TBSP vinegar to milk and let it set for 10 minutes!)
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, 1/2 inch pieces at room temp
2 Eggs, large, at room temp
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/4 cup Mashed Bananas (approx 3 medium bananas)
3/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Granulated Sugar
2 cups All Purpose Flour
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda

Directions:
1. Spray your bread pan and kneading paddle with Pam Spray or similar.
2. Place ingredients, in order listed, in greased bread pan.
3. Place in bread machine and select Quick Bread/Cake option and Medium loaf or 1/5lb loaf for size. I like to cook my banana bread on the ‘light’ crust cycle and take it out a few minutes early like I said above, but you can cook to taste.