Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Chicken Noodle Soup

This recipe is so very "ish" it's not even funny. I will try hard to give amounts but please realize it's different every time I make it. I just add things til it tastes amazing and then I quit. I am laughing because my recipe literally says "add desired amount of water and boullion" and "saute some onion".... amounts? HA!

Ingredients:

1/2-1 onion, chopped (I probably do a small onion worth)
2 T oil or butter (I always like butter better)
2 chicken breasts, cubed
4-6 cups Water
4-6 bouillon cubes (1 per cup of water)
poultry seasoning
thyme
sage
rosemary
spaghetti, alfredo, egg noodles or other desired noodle
1-2 cans cream of chicken soup

Saute the onion in butter of 1-2 minutes. Add chicken and 2 bouillon cubes cook until mostly done. Here you can either add 4 cups water and 2 more bouillon and a sprinkling of each of the other spices, bring to a boil, then add desired amount of noodles. Or you can take the chicken out and boil the noodles in the water with 2 more bouillon, and a sprinkling of each spice. Either way is fine. Once the noodles are "al dente" (cooked but firm to the bite) (add back in chicken if you removed it), add 1-2 cans of cream of chicken soup. This totally depends on how creamy you want it. If it is too water add more soup, too creamy or not soupy enough, add more water.

You really can't ruin this recipe. (Unless your lid comes off one of the seasonings. I mean, I can't imagine that tasting good.) Also, if you don't have the seasonings the soup will still be great. If you can at least add some rosemary or thyme... Come to think of it, if you can, just add them all. They really do make it taste totally home made!!!

If you want to be really cool you could always make homemade noodles to. Oh my goodness they are good. I do it occasionally (when I want extra work, extra clean up, but amazing soup.) (Which actually is less often than occasionally.)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

*Hash*

Lately we've been having roast, carrots, and potatoes for dinner on my Monday night cooking club night...then Hash for Tuesday night. It's just an EASY meal for me when it's such a crazy night. And my family loves it. So... everyone in my cooking clubs- and a lot of other people keep wondering, "What the heck is Hash?" Well, I didn't know either, til I married Luke. Basically it's just leftover roast with a twist.

So, first you have to make a roast. The way I do it is turn my crockpot to high (if the roast is frozen, low if it's thawed) and put in a 2-3lb roast (or 2!). I pour about a cup of water over the top, then sprinkle it generously with garlic salt, onion salt, salt and pepper. (No, it is NOT too salty.) Then I chop an onion into 8 wedges and throw them in. I leave it on that setting from about 1pm to 3pm. At 3pm I add as many potatoes (halved) and carrots (halved...or baby carrots) as I can cram into my crockpot (and always wish for a bigger pot) and turn the setting to high. I sprinkle those with the same 4 spices. I leave it on high for about an hour then turn it to low again until it's time to eat. (if you can't be around all day, like I am, then just stick it all in (with a thawed roast) and turn it on low for about 4 hours) So, night 1 I serve that meal...

The next day, I chop the potatoes and carrots into bite size pieces and fry them in a layer of oil (preferrably, actually, bacon grease. Say, 2 Tablespoons...) When they seem almost fried I add chopped (bitesize) roast pieces and continue frying it all until the first piece burns. (Try not to let a bunch of first pieces burn all at once. Or you could just keep frying them until they are hot!) Now, one tip is to get the pan and oil heated up on medium heat until you can flick water into it and it sizzles. THEN and ONLY then do you add the potatoes and carrots. This is what makes them crispy. While it's all frying I like to add more garlic salt, onion salt and pepper to the pieces. Oh my goodness...until I had hash I hated roast. Now I tolerate roast to get to the hash. I've even considered making a roast and saving it for hash. But I don't think Luke would love that.

This meal is seriously SO easy. Quick clean up. And even in the summer it's do-able since it won't heat your house to blazes. Before you judge it, TRY it. At least the hash part.