Guest Blogger: Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

2 onions, chopped

3 carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

dash dried leaf thyme

3 tablespoons dried parsley flakes

1 package frozen peas (10 oz.), about 1 1/2 cups

1 2-1/2 to 3 lb. whole fryer

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup noodles (we used egg noodles)

Place all ingredients in slow cooker, except noodles, in order given. Cover and cook on LOW 8 to 10 hours, or HIGH 4 to 6 hours. One hour before serving, remove chicken and cool slightly. Remove meat from bones and return meat to slow cooker. Add noodles. Turn to HIGH. Cover and cook 1 hour.

*D: Just to be clear here, did you read the title of this recipe? Crock. Pot. Chicken. Noodle. Soup. Sounds good, huh?


You have no idea.


This recipe...let me just say that we've had leftovers for 3 days now and I wish they weren't almost gone. The chicken comes out moist and tender. The whole soup has a strong savory flavor that makes you wish you were a slow eater. Luckily I am. Often when you cook something with carrots and celery together, the flavors fight for the spotlight. Not in this recipe. And with all that parsley, it turns out to be a beautiful dish. Sounds strange, but it's so true.


This is technically a guest blogger recipe because I didn't make it. I was sick a few days ago and my husband whipped this up for me. He said he followed the recipe except for two things. We did not add peas (ew). And instead of adding one cup of egg noodles, he added about two and a half or three. The good thing is there was a lot more meal to go around - which is probably why we have had it for 3 days so far. The down side is the noodles soaked up all the moisture, making this more like chicken noodle stew than soup.


So, if you want to add more noodles, go for it. Just add a little more moisture - maybe a cup of water per extra cup of noodles?


Try this. You will love it, I promise. Especially on chilly winter days or when you're not feeling fantastic.

Pair it with some corn bread or homemade wheat bread and boy howdy, you've got heaven on your table.

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Abby's Party Salsa

Abby's Party Salsa
1 can diced tomatoes, drained (or 2 cups fresh)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
8 oz (1/2 bottle) of Zesty Italian Dressing
2 avocados, diced

Mix, chill, and  serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy! (That's not a suggestion, it's a premonition.)

*D: I recently had a baby. Truth be told, I had two babies, but my little Eli was stillborn. There were many complications with my pregnancy and I was put on bed rest for 3 months. The result? I missed my own baby shower! Luckily I have amazing friends who rescheduled the whole thing for 2 months later, a few weeks after Abigail was born.

One of the things served at my baby shower was this AMAZING salsa/dip. I stood by the bowl and ate as much as I could, and I even pilfered the leftovers without asking. I called my friend the next day and demanded the recipe. When she gave it to me, I made a batch that night. This stuff is so good.

I didn't know what to call it, but dubbed in Abby's Party Salsa in honor of my baby girl. If you share the recipe, do you mind keeping the name? That'd be awesome. Thanks. (And chances are you will want to share the recipe.)

I am not a big fan of black-eyed peas, so I don't like to put the whole can in. They add a good flavor base to the salsa, but if you get too much in there, it tastes a bit grainy and muddy (to me). Be careful of flavored diced tomatoes. I have a bunch of cans of diced tomatoes in my food storage, but not a single can is plain old tomatoes. They're all Italian seasoned or with sweet onion or with celery and jalapeno. They've all been good, but I think the plain has been the best.

The recipe makes a lot, which is good because I eat a lot of it. It's fairly healthy, so I feel pretty good about it when I eat it.

This might be fun to throw in some chunked chicken and couple with white rice in a tortilla for a new twist on burritos.Would that make it a twisted burrito...?  Pin It

Spaghetti Sauce (canning recipe)

9 quarts “mashed” tomatoes (36 cups)
4 green peppers
1 ½ TB oregano
1/3 cup salt
4 chopped onions
2 TB pepper
2 large cloves garlic
8 TBSP can sweet basil 
1 29 oz can tomato puree
2 cups brown sugar
3 TB Italian seasoning
2 TB chili powder

This makes about 19 pints. To prepare your tomatoes: blanch them, core them, skin them and then put them in a blender or food processor. Blend to your desired consistency (we like our spaghetti sauce with no chunks). Then pour into measuring container to measure out the 9 quarts. Use about half cup of tomatoes to puree the garlic. Since we don’t like real chunky spaghetti sauce, we also put the green peppers and onions in the blender. Cook all ingredients in a huge pot for about half an hour, longer if you want thicker sauce. The longer it cooks, the thicker it will be.

Pressure cook for 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts at 13 pounds.

*D: If you do not have a pressure cooker, you can try to divide this recipe into freezer containers. I'd estimate it will last about 6 months in the freezer. Maybe a little longer. Do not try to water bath this recipe. Your food will not be shelf stable and you can get very sick.

The best part about making this recipe is that your house will smell like yummy spaghetti sauce for the rest of the day! Yum yum. Pin It

Easy Cheesy Tuna Casserole

1 can Cream of Chicken soup
3 cups cooked pasta
1 can of tuna
1 cup shredded cheese

In a glass baking dish, mix pasta, soup, and tuna. Top with cheese and bake at 350* until cheese is melted.


*D: Easy, right? You know, I don't love tuna casserole, but I could eat this once a week. The tuna flavor was very subtle because there is only one can.

Variations: Use cream of mushroom instead, top with french fried onions or seasoned bread crumbs, add in half a bag of frozen peas, top with fresh tomatoes.

This is a small recipe - it only calls for 3 cups of cooked pasta. If you have more than 3 people in your family, I'd double it. I did not measure how much cheese I put on top. I just grated cheese and covered the top with a layer - that's my favorite part!

Yum. Pin It

Honey-Garlic Shrimp/Chicken Stir Fry

4 - 6 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 TBSP honey
1 garlic clove, minced OR 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 TBSP oil
4 cups veggies (broccoli, carrots, zucchini, squash, cauliflower, pea pods...etc)
1 lb shrimp (51 - 60) or chicken (diced and cooked)

Mix soy sauce, honey and garlic in a small bowl. Heat in microwave for 10 seconds to mix honey easier. Heat oil in fry pan; when hot, add veggies. Cook approximately 2 - 5 minutes until tender-crisp. If cooked too long they will be mushy after next steps are done. Add shrimp/chicken and sauce and cook until warmed through. Note: if you like sauce, you may want to double the sauce next time. Very good flavor!

*D: I use chicken because it's cheaper, frozen veggies because it's winter (for now) and they are already chopped. When I use frozen veggies I usually use a mix and then just add regular carrots or whatever else I have. You just have to make sure your veggies don't turn mushy from being heated too long. This is an easy delicious recipe! Pin It

Spicy Chicken and Rice Bake

2 1/2 to 3 pounds meaty chicken pieces (breast, thighs, and drumsticks)
1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP cooking oil
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup tomato juice
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
2/3 cup uncooked long grain rice (white rice)
1 tsp chili powder
1/8 to 1/4 tsp ground red pepper
Paprika

Skin chicken; set aside.

In a large saucepan cook onion, sweet pepper, and garlic in hot oil until vegetables are tender. Stir in black beans, undrained tomatoes, tomato juice, corn, uncooked rice, chili powder, red pepper and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to boiling. Transfer rice mixture to a 3-quart rectangular baking dish. Arrange chicken pieces on top of rice mixture. Sprinkle chicken with paprika

Bake, covered, in a 375 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink and rice is tender.

*D - I use bell pepper instead of sweet. It tastes the same to me. I am not a chunky onion fan. I like the flavor, but I'd rather not bite into one, so I chop my onion very small. Also, I made this without tomato juice, because I didn't have any, and just added a little water to make sure there was enough moisture for the rice. It tasted great. If you want to add the tomato juice, but don't have any, just use watered down tomato soup.


If you don't have frozen corn, use canned. I'm sure it's just fine.


Bottom line: this dish takes a little extra work, but it is so worth it! It's delicious flavor is great for leftovers. And if you run out of chicken and still have rice, try eating the rice on tortilla chips...SO good! Not to mention extremely healthy. Pin It

The World's Best Fish Recipe

If your house is like mine, your husband/father/brother/son likes to go out and bring home the bacon...or wild game of some sort. And then you're left scratching your head saying, "What do I do with a dead fish?" Or "how do I prepare elk meat?"

For years Tyler would bring home a fish and expect me to prepare it. And being the doting, loving, submissive wife I am (haha! *snort*), I always obliged. So for years we ate fish seasoned with butter, garlic and dill. Sounds good, right? No. Wrong. It's not good. Wild fish taste like what they eat. What do they eat in a lake or river? A lot of moss and bugs. Yeah. Ew. Butter and dill are great on a salmon or a halibut. But they don't go well with moss.

After that I dreaded Tyler going fishing because I didn't want to have to make whatever he caught. I think he dreaded it too because he didn't want to have to eat it. But then we found a couple of really good recipes, and now we LOVE when he brings home fresh fish!

This is his most recent spoil. Caught from Henry's Lake here in Idaho. Tyler was pretty proud of it. I always look at raw food suspiciously. If it still has scales and fins (or fur or feathers) it's not quite food yet. As soon as it's nicely packaged and sitting on the shelf at the grocery store, then I think of it as food. Anyway, here is the recipe that had no name, so I gave it one:)

The World's Best Fish Recipe

1 salmon fillet (we never catch salmon around here, so we use trout. I'm sure you could buy salmon and use this recipe. And when it says fillet, it's not talking a little chunk of fish, it's talking one half of the fish meat that has been cut away from the scales and bones to make a nice portion of fish.)
2 cups fresh lemon juice (we use concentrated lemon juice, so we only use about a fourth to a half of the called amount)
1 cube butter (yes, it pains me to say that Tyler uses real butter in this recipe. I didn't find this out until last night when he replied, "why do you think you like it so much?")
1 T Fish seasoning of choice (we use Old Bay, but you could use a designated fish seasoning, dill, garlic blend, thyme, a mixture of all kinds of seasonings...)
1/4 cup brown sugar (essential ingredient)
lemon zest (we do without)
black pepper

Preheat the over at 350*.
Make a tin foil bowl (on a cookie sheet) and place the fillet inside. Melt the butter and mix with lemon juice, seasoning, pepper, and brown sugar. Drizzle the butter mixture over the fish.
Once the oven is preheated, switch to broil. Put the fish on the upper rack. Check on the fish after 8 - 9 minutes. Pull the meat using a fork. If the meat is pink and flaky, the fish is done.
Once preheated, switch to broil.

Mmmmm. Look at all that butter! That's liquid gold in our house!


It really is very tasty. It's sweet and tangy and you can't even taste moss:) I hope you get to use this recipe sometime. Pin It

Marbled Chocolate - Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup egg substitute (2 eggs)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, egg substitute, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined.

Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

I made this last night. It was SO good!! Oh my gosh. I am not a banana bread fan, but I sure do love chocolate:) This is definitely a keeper recipe. It's pretty easy (hey, even I could make it!) and it'll impress your friends:) This recipe is for one loaf.


I did follow all the directions except I used milk chocolate chips (though I've had it with semi-sweet and it's delicious as well) and I didn't measure them. I just poured in a bowl until I thought I had enough:)



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Thai Chicken Wraps with Peanut Sauce

4 chicken breasts
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. pepper
1 t. salt
4 t. sugar

Combine ingredients and rub onto chicken breasts. Broil until done. Cut into thin strips.

1 red onion, cut into thin wedges (we used regular onion)
2 t. oil
1 c. shredded cabbage
1 c. shredded carrots
4 green onions, sliced (I didn't have these on hand, so I left them out)
1 T. grated ginger root (or 1/2-1 t. ginger powder)
2 cloves garlic, minced

Saute the veggies, garlic and ginger until tender.

1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 T. soy sauce
3 T. water
2 T. oil

Heat peanut butter and sugar until sugar is melted. Add garlic, soy sauce, water, and oil.

3 cups warm, cooked rice
6 large flour tortillas

Assemble wraps with rice, cooked veggies, chicken strips, and peanut sauce. Yummy!

This is a recipe from my brother and sister-in-law. The notes off to the side are theirs. I don't have anything to add except I don't broil my chicken, I bake it. Pin It

Pita Bread

1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) yeast
1 1/4 c luke warm water
3 c flour
2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 500*.

Dissolve yeast in luke warm water. Stir in flour and salt. Stir into a rough ball. Knead on floured surface until smooth, adding flour as necessary.

Divide into 6 balls and knead each until smooth and round.

With a rolling pin, flatten each until 1/4'' thick and 4-5'' diameter.

Arrange rounds upside down on baking sheets.

Bake in a very hot over (500*) for 5 min or until puffed in the center.

Once finished, cut pitas in half. This creates the pocket.

If they are starting to burn and are not puffing, just pull them out and cut a slit in the pita to make the pocket. We fill ours with chicken salad, but you can also use regular sandwich fixings and lettuce. Very easy. Company will be impressed that you made home-made pitas. If your pitas are not puffing, try using almost hot water to dissolve the yeast. It seams to help. Pin It

Easy Pizza Dough

1 TB yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 TB oil
1 c warm water
1/4 tsp salt
2 c flour

Mix the yeast with half the flour (1 cup), sugar and salt. Add really warm water and oil. Mix, adding flour, until velvety. Let raise (in a bowl covered with a towel) and punch down. Roll out onto pizza pan or cookie sheet.

This is definitely a family favorite! We cook our pizza on a cookie sheet, but if you have a pizza pan or if you want to do smaller pizzas for "personal pizzas" that's fine too. Once you roll out the dough, cover it with spaghetti, marinara, tomato, ranch or pizza sauce. Then top with cheese (we usually use cheddar because that's what we have on hand) and fixings. Our personal favorites are pepperoni, sausage, breakfast bacon, or chicken. We use ranch and chicken to make a yummy pizza. I'm not a veggie person, but if I were I would add peppers, olives, artichoke hearts, onions and the like.

Bake at 400* for ten minutes.

Enjoy! Pin It

Greek Chicken

Chicken in pieces
lemon juice from lemon
Basil
Oil
Lemon pepper seasoning
Oregano

Mix together juice from 1 lemon with enough oil to coat chicken pieces. Coat chicken and place on baking sheet.Sprinkle lemon pepper, basil and oregano to taste on one side. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Turn over and sprinkle spices on other side. Bake 30 minutes. Turn and bake 20 minutes more. Serve with rice or over salads.

This is my kind of recipe! No measurements whatsoever. Yeah! Ok. There is SO much I've changed about this. First of all, cut your chicken in pieces depending on what you want to do with it. Bigger chunks, or strips, if you're just eating it. Smaller chunks in you're eating it over rice. Even smaller chunks if you're tossing it in a salad.


The lemon juice I do NOT squeeze from a real lemon. Walmart has done the dirty work for me. I buy a huge bottle of lemon juice concentrate and use it religiously. Oil: use canola or olive. They're the healthiest for you. If I'm wrong, let me know. I use about half a cup or so of each (maybe more, maybe less, but that gives you an idea).


I am not adverse to doing things the easy way. When a recipe says "coat," unless I'm frying it, I don't coat it. I usually just pour the mixture over the top. It's a lot easier and you get pretty much the same results. However, with this recipe I do coat (just because). I drop all my chicken pieces in the lemon juice/oil mixture, then pull them out and arrange them in a glass baking dish. The recipe tells you to put the chicken pieces on a cookie sheet, but if you do they will tear your throat up as you swallow because they are so hard and dry. I now use a cake pan and it works great. I don't cover when I bake this chicken, but if you have a problem with dry chicken, cook it in a glass dish with tin foil over the top.


Then I sprinkle with lemon pepper (too much and you'll have lemon chicken instead of Greek), and then I generously pour over the basil and oregano. I LOVE basil!

I bake on one side for about 20 minutes, flip, sprinkle and bake for about 10 - 15 more minutes. This does not need to bake for an hour and a half! Just watch it.


This is one of my absolute all time favorite ways to eat chicken! Mmmm. Double the recipe if you want leftovers!:) You can make up some cucumber tomato salad to go with it, or fry up some potatoes, or boil some carrots (which is what we did). Oh, and a special thanks to Julie Hinck who provided us with a fresh loaf of homemade french bread to perfect our delicious dinner.


I'm not ashamed to admit that I ate half the loaf all in one sitting.

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Cucumber Tomato Salad

2 cucumbers, sliced
2 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 cup sliced red onion
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh dill weed
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a large bowl, mix the vinegar, sugar, salt, dill, pepper, and oil. Add cucumbers, onion, and tomatoes. Toss, and let stand at least 15 minutes before serving.

**This is a great way to use your extra tomatoes or cucumbers from the garden. Or an excuse to buy cucumbers:) This seriously is one of the best cucumber tomato salads we've ever tried. We didn't peel the cucumber, but you can if you'd like. It doesn't sit well in the fridge, the tomatoes tend to go mushy just a bit. So make sure you're going to eat it all or serve it at a picnic. And if it's going to be a while before you serve it, make the dressing ahead of time and then mix it with the veggies fifteen minutes before you serve. That way they won't go soggy before you eat them. Pin It

Cashew Chicken

Cashew Chicken

2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
1 cup hot water
1 lb skinned, boned chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup sliced green onions
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 (8 oz) package sliced fresh mushrooms
1 small green pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 8-oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1/2 cup cashews, toasted
3 cups hot cooked rice

Dissolve bouillon granules in hot water; set aside.Brown Chicken in hot oil in large skillet over medium heat. Remove chicken, reserving drippings in skillet; set chicken aside.Combine cornstarch and soy sauce; stir until smooth. Stir in bouillon mixture, green onions, brown sugar and ginger. Set aside.Cook mushrooms, green pepper and water chestnuts in drippings over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until tender.Add chicken and bouillon mixture to vegetable mixture; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 2 minutes or until thickened. Sitre in cashews, serve over rice.

Ok, we do not use the mushrooms and peppers. We do zucchini, but we've had it with the mushrooms and peppers and it's ok too. We also don't use ground ginger. We have chopped, the kind that comes in the little jar and you have to refridgerate after opening. I don't know what the conversion is, but I use the same amount of wet ginger as the recipe calls for for ground ginger. Personally, I think it could use a little more, but Tyler doesn't think so. I like ginger though. We also cut out the whole pull the chicken out and tender the veggies in the drippings. We just put the veggies in when the chicken is cooked, let them cook for a few minutes, then throw in the bouillon mixture. It has to simmer for a while to thicken anyway, and our veggies get too done if we cook them too much longer. We use the sliced chestnuts, but we chop them. We always double the recipe. And lastly, we leave the cashews off and let the individual dish their cashews. Mmmm. It's soo good. I hope you enjoy it! Pin It