Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

perfect for a snowy day!

make 22 cups of soup (I like to freeze it to eat in single servings)

Homemade Chicken Stock

(the base for this soup)

makes 22 cups of stock

Ingredients You Will Need:

1 whole roasting chicken (about 6 lbs)

17 cups cold water

1 tbsp sea salt

1 package carrots, peeled, cut into chunks

1 small bunch of celery, 1/2 inch trimmed off of end, cut into chunks, include leaves

1 package fresh thyme

3 medium cooking onions, halved, skins left on

2  12 oz. packages of mirepoix

4 bay leaves

1 tbsp black peppercorns

3 cups chicken stock

large stockpot or dutch oven

Place chicken in large pot (I prefer to take out the giblets and bag inside of the cavity, you may leave in there for more flavor if you prefer), breast side down; add 17 cups cold water and 3 cups chicken stock; season with sea salt.

Simmer 60 minutes, skim top every 15 minutes and baste chicken with cooking liquids. Be careful not to boil!

*Rachael Ray makes an all-natural chicken stock that has a TON of flavor, the reason I use 3 cups of this stock to make my own chicken stock is to infuse the juices from the chicken and give it more flavor*

Add carrots, celery (include celery leaves), thyme, onions (leave the peels on the onions), mirepoix, bay leaves and peppercorns to stockpot.

Return to a simmer on MEDIUM heat. Simmer 2 hours, reduce heat to medium-low if stock starts to boil.

*What is mirepoix? It is chopped up, portioned celery, carrots and onions that is used as a starter for any soup or stew. Most stores will sell this either fresh or frozen, I prefer fresh if I am making my soup the same day I am buying it. Otherwise, buy a few bags and freeze them for when you need it. They are inexpensive and save you a TON of time! Again, I buy organic so I know my veggies weren't sprayed with any harmful chemicals*

Transfer chicken to a cutting board; let it cool. Remove the meat from the bones. The meat should be very tender and fall right off of the bones. Remove skin from the meat, discard. If you are not using right away for a soup, store the chicken in your freezer to use for another day.

Discard bay leaves and stems of thyme. Refridgerate stock until ready to use or continue to next step to continue making your chicken noodle soup!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

makes 22 cups of soup

Ingredients You Will Need:

22 cups of homemade chicken stock (recipe is shown above)

3 cups cooked chicken (used to make chicken stock), shredded-I like to add the whole chicken

1/2 cup chopped italian flat leaf parsley

1 cup soup pasta such as ditalini, stellini or pastine (teeny tiny star shaped pasta), or elbow macaroni-you could also use rice

salt and pepper to taste

large stockpot or dutch oven

Add chicken stock to large stockpot on MEDIUM heat; heat for 10 minutes. Your veggies will be very tender and will hold all the flavor of the stock. Add chicken and parsley, cook through a simmer for 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Want to really "kick it up a notch"? (as Emeril always says!) Sprinkle some freshly grated parmesan cheese on top! Yummm!

Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

For my Mom-Mom's birthday I thought I would surprise her with some "pretty in pink" cupcakes complete with delicious, decadent frosting. Sure enough, they put a huge smile on her face:o)

Double Chocolate Cupcakes with

 Cream Cheese Frosting

yields 12 cupcakes & 4  1/4 cups frosting

Ingredients You Will Need:

one box of Paula Deen's double chocolate cupcake mix

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup water

2 eggs

1  8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1/2 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened to room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup half and half

In an electric mixer, combine the box of Paula Deen's cupcake mix, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup oil and 1/2 cup water. Mix together on low speed while you add each ingredient into the mixer, then mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until the mixture becomes thick and smooth. Pour into cupcake liners and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

To make the cream cheese frosting, beat 1  8 ounce package of softened cream cheese, 1/2 stick of softened butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until blended. When mixture becomes thick, add 1/4 cup of half and half at high speed for 1 minute until it becomes smooth and slightly thinner.

When cupcakes are finished baking, allow them to cool on a cooling rack.

Add the cream cheese frosting into a piping bag and frost the cupcakes. Immediately sprinkle with clear crystallized sugars.

Enjoy! This frosting is DIVINE and guaranteed to wow your crowd:o)

Baked Flounder with Garlic and Lemon

This recipe comes from Paula Deen's sons cookbook called "Y'all Come Eat!" and it was super easy to make!

We were lucky enough to have this flounder given to us by Nick's dad who always gives us fish when he goes fishing! Yummmo!

Baked Flounder with Garlic and Lemon

serves 4



Ingredients You Will Need:

4  6-8 ounce flounder fillets (the original recipe calls for tilapia but any white fish will do)

1 tsp garlic salt

fresh ground black pepper

1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon (or lime)

Preheat oven to 375. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Set aside.

Rinse fish and pat dry; place on the prepared baking sheet. Season each fillet with 1/4 tsp garlic salt and pepper to taste. Divide the butter pieces, lemon zest, and juice evenly among the tops of the fillets. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until the fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Serve with broccoli and brown rice or fingerling potatoes.

Enjoy!

Seared Scallops with Soy-Ginger Sauce

This is an easy and fast meal to make, not to mention absolutely delicious.

I found this recipe in a Weight Watchers 5 ingredient, 15 minute recipes cookbook that was given to me by my grandmother. She recommended it because all of the recipes in this book are quick enough to make on any night that you don't have a lot of time to cook, which for most of you, is every night.

By the way, the cookbook gives you the Weight Watchers points values for each recipe. So if you are following WW, the PointsPlus value is 4.

Seared Scallops with Soy-Ginger Sauce

Serves 4 people

Ingredients you will need:

3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons chopped green onions

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon chopped peeled fresh ginger root

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper

1  1/2 pounds large sea scallops, about 12 scallops (I made this for just Nick and I so I used 8 scallops-4 for each of us)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

cooking spray (I used a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil)

green onions as a garnish (optional, I really just garnished this for the picture but if you're having company it's a nice touch)

Combine soy sauce and next 4 ingredients in a bowl.

Pat scallops dry with paper towels (this gets rid of excess moisture and allows them to brown when searing), sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray (or olive oil in my case). Add scallops to pan, and cook 3 minutes on each side until browned. Transfer scallops to a platter. Drizzle with soy sauce mixture. Garnish with green onions, if you'd like.

I recommend a white wine with this recipe, such as sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio.

Serve with carrots and brown rice.

Julia Child's Famous Boeuf Bourguignon

Boeuf Bourguignon

Boeuf a la Bourguignonne

{Beef stew in red wine, with bacon, onions and mushrooms}

Page 315 of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"

Serves 6 people

*Allow yourself 3-4 hours to make this recipe in its entirety*
Serve with boiled potatoes and peas (I used green beans instead) and red wine

Ingredients you will need:

• a 6 ounce chunk of bacon      
• a 9-10 inch fireproof casserole 3 inches deep (I used my Le Creuset cast iron dutch oven)
• 1 + 1  1/2 + 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 pounds of lean stewing beef cubes
• 1 sliced carrot
• 1 sliced onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp flour
• 3 cups of full-bodied red wine (I used Cabernet Sauvignon, you could also use Chianti)
• 2-3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon (I used organic beef stock)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cloves mashed garlic
• 1 +  1/2 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 crumbled bay leaf + 1/2 bay leaf
• 18-24 small white onions (I used Birds Eye White Pearl Onions which you can find in the frozen food section of your grocery store)
• 1 pound quartered fresh mushrooms
• 1  1/2+ 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp minced green onions
• 4 parsley sprigs

To begin, remove rind from chunk of bacon and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch thick and 1  1/2 inches long).
 *I used regular sliced bacon from the grocery store so I opted not to make the lardons but instead cut the strips of bacon into thirds*

Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1  1/2 quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Saute the bacon in olive oil over moderate heat for 2-3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole (or dutch oven in my case) aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you saute the beef.

Dry the beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp.
Saute it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sauteing fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with salt and pepper.
Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour.
Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes.
Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more.
(This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust)
Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

 

Stir in wine and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered.

Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of the stove.

Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2.5-3 hours.

The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

 

While beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.

 

To prepare the onions (recipe is on page 483 of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"):

Add 1  1/2 tbsp butter and 1  1/2 tbsp olive oil to a 9-10 inch skillet. Allow them to bubble over medium heat. Add the onions and saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes, rolling the onions about so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins.

Pour in 1/2 cup brown beef stock, season to taste and add 4 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf and 1/4 thyme (Julia calls for the herbs to be tied in a bundle in a cheesecloth, however; I do not mind eating the fresh herbs so I add them directly to the onion mixture. After cooking, I pull out the bay leaf.) Cover and simmer slowly for 40-50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but retain their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet if you chose to tie them into a cheesecloth. Set aside.

To prepare the mushrooms (recipe is on page 513 of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"):

Place a 10 inch skillet over high heat with 2 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil. As soon as you see that the butter foam has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add the mushrooms. Toss and shake the pan for 4-5 minutes. During their saute, the mushrooms will at first absorb the fat. In 2-3 minutes the fat will reappear on their surface, and the mushrooms will begin to brown. As soon as they brown lightly, remove from heat. Toss 2 tbsp minced green onions with the mushrooms. Saute over moderate heat for 2 minutes.

Set aside.

 When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a strainer over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it.

Stir in the cooked onions and mushrooms.

Skim fat off of sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2  1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If it's too thin, boil it down rapidly. If it's too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of beef stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat mixture. Stir to incorporate completely.

For immediate serving:

Cover the casserole and simmer for 2-3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve with potatoes and decorated with parsley.

For later serving:

When cold, cover and refridgerate.

About 15-20 minutes before serving, bring to a simmer, cover and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce. Serve with potatoes and decorated with parsley.

I really hope that I have not scared you off with this recipe.

I will be upfront and honest with you, it is a lot of work.

But it is worth every single minute, and it is certainly all that it's hyped up to be.

Take your time with this recipe, cook with love and enjoy:o)

I suggest listening to the Julie and Julia soundtrack as you eat this delicious meal.