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

Six-can Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 - 15 oz can of corn, drained
2  - 14.5 oz cans of chicken broth
1 - 10 oz can of chunk chicken (or 1 1/2 cups leftover cooked chicken)
1 - 14 oz can black beans
1 - 10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies (or whatever you have)

Pour all ingredients into a large pot. Cook on medium heat until warmed through. Serve with tortilla chips and cheese.

Cook's Note: This recipe requires an oath of secrecy from the cook. Get rid of all the cans and then don't tell a soul. Your family and guests will think you've been cooking all day to create such a perfectly delicious homemade soup.

*D: This is about the easiest recipe I've ever come across. Every single one of the ingredients I keep in my food storage! It was fast, fresh and delicious. Very, very good. Mmmmm.

One thing I particularly loved about this soup was that the "canned chicken" flavor was absent. A lot of recipes seem to accentuate the fact that your chicken comes from a can. In this soup, all chicken is created equal.

We used a can of diced tomatoes with lime and cilantro. Sounds yummy, right? Well...it was, but we couldn't really taste the lime and cilantro part. So I'm not sure it really matters what flavor tomatoes you use.

We did not put cheese on top. There is only one soup I will put cheese on, and this is not it. But that might be your thing, so go for it. When serving chips with soup, you can just alternate bites between chips and soup, or you can skip the spoon and use your chip. Either way, it's yummy.

Try this out and tell me what you think. 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

Garlic Balsamic Asparagus

1 lb. asparagus
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
1 tsp. minced or pressed garlic

If roasting in the oven, heat oven to 425. If grilling, prepare grill to medium heat. Wash asparagus and then remove the bottom couple of inches of each stalk. Just snap off the woody ends. It may seem wasteful, but you won't eat it, anyway--it's too tough and is one of the big reasons why lot of people don't like asparagus.

In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, and garlic. Drizzle over asparagus and toss to coat.

If roasting, place in a single layer on a broiling pan. If grilling, reduce heat to low, lightly oil grill, and place asparagus perpendicular to the grate of the grill. Drizzle any remaining oil/vinegar mix over the asparagus.


If using oven, roast for 10 minutes, turning once. If using grill, grill for 8-10 minutes or until asparagus is bright green and still slightly crisp, turning very frequently.
Serve immediately.

*D: Asparagus?! That's what I thought when I was faced with the dilemma of cooking this veggie. I don't love asparagus, but I remembered a time last year when my mom made me try bacon-wrapped asparagus while we were in Disneyland. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. But let's be honest for a moment...probably any vegetable wrapped in bacon and grilled to a crisp is going to be delicious. But I liked it then, so I thought I'd give it a try. And besides, don't you think of asparagus as kind of "high class?" I mean, it's not like you get served asparagus every day.


This recipe was delightfully easy and totally delicious! We did the oven method and it turned out great. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. I probably didn't let them cook long enough, and the flavor was still very strong, perhaps a teensy bit bitter, but very robust.


The recipe calls for a pound of asparagus, I don't know how much I had vs how much I used. I just knew Tyler and I were not going to eat a pound of asparagus, so I used about 15 stalks. There did seem to be a little excess sauce, but too much dressing is never a bad thing. I probably could have done 5 more without breaking a sweat. Any more than that and I think you might need to double the sauce recipe.


Next time you want to impress company, try some asparagus and let me know how it goes. ;)


Enjoy! (I know I did.)


I found this recipe here: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/06/garlic-basalmic-asparagus.html Pin It