Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

About a week ago, a hex hit my house.  As in, my nearly 2 year old daughter and my husband both came down with a bug that knocked them out of commission for nearly a week.  Somehow, miraculously, I was unscathed.  I think it was so that someone other than the dogs could keep them alive.  I don't think Maddy or Jazzy could cook food, go get gatorade, spoon mylanta, or attend to the myriad of other things that were going on in the house...so lucky me.  I did make a huge portion of Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, complete with homemade egg noodles to sustain my poor, sick babies...and it lasted a good week.  I just poured out the remaining 2-ish cups of it last night.

This recipe is fairly easy, just requires that you taste your stock to ensure it has enough flavor for you, and add to it as you see fit for your taste.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Here's what I used:

1 5 lb whole chicken fryer
1 bag baby carrots (or 4-5 peeled/chopped large carrots)
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
4 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves only
S&P
Chicken Bullion

Egg Noodles (recipe below or store bought)

Here's what I did:

Preparation for this recipe consists of chopping all vegetables, and feel free to add veggies that you like to this, and omit what you don't.  Also, rinse and pat dry the chicken, discarding innards.  At this point, I cut the chicken into 4 main pieces, breasts, and thigh/legs.  Alternately, you can buy a chicken already cut up, to save on time.

Then, in a large stockpot, place chicken and all vegetables.  Add cold water, until chicken pieces are fully covered.  Allow chicken and vegetables to boil on med/high for about 20-25 minutes.  Remove chicken at this point, and take off and discard skin and bone.  Chop chicken into bite-size pieces, and add back into stockpot.  Set eat to a low simmer.

At this point, take a taste of the stock.  Its probably pretty bland.  Add salt, pepper and chicken bullion cubes or powder until you reach desired flavor profile.  Add cajun seasoning if you want a little more kick.

Homemade Egg Noodles

Here's what I used:

2 cups AP Flour
3 large eggs, beaten

Here's what I did:

I used my Kitchen Aid mixer, and simply added the flour and eggs to the bowl, and used paddle attachment for 30 seconds.  I did not need to add any extra water or flour to get the right consistency.  Test dough with finger, if its too sticky/gooey, add flour by the tbsp until dough is tacky, but not gooey.  If its in small balls, add water by the tsp until dough begins to bind together.

Remove dough from mixer, and hand knead into a ball.  Wrap with saran wrap and let sit for 15 minutes to 2 hours (as time permits).  You can make dough ahead of time, and then begin the soup.  That way, as soup boils, you can be forming your noodles. 

At this point, I again used my Kitchen Aid mixer, and added pasta roller attachment to the front.  Divide dough into 6 even sections, and keep unused sections covered by saran wrap or dish towel until ready to use.  Generously flour the dough, and feed it through the roller, starting at the widest section, #1, and continuing twice per setting until #4.  Continue this for all sections of dough, laying flattened pieces down on a floured surface, and covering with a dish towel.

Once all sections have been flattened, I added my linguine pasta cutter attachment.  Feed each section of dough through the pasta cutter, and then hang the pasta groups to dry.  I have a pasta drying rack, but you can also drape the noodles over the side of a large mixing bowl until ready to add to the soup.

Now, by this point, the soup should be ready for the noodles.  I simply took each section of fresh noodles, and with kitchen shears, cut the noodles over the stockpot, and let them fall into the soup below.  I made each set of noodles about 2" long.  I did this with all groups of noodles, and then let simmer for 5 minutes.

Test your noodles to ensure they're fully cooked.  If you opt to make them by hand, make sure the dough is rolled out very thin, and then hand cut with a butter knife.  These may take longer to cook, as they will probably be thicker.

Again, check seasoning and adjust to your liking.

Sydney was requesting "nooo-ols" for days afterwards.  This keeps and microwaves beautifully, so it provided us with 4-5 days of soup for both Nick and Sydney.

My Own Bang-Up Chili with Sweet Cornbread Muffins

Everyone has their own version of chili, right? Throw some sort of meat in with some beans, spice it up...and voila. Chili. I realize there are also strict definitions of what are and are not "actual" chili recipes, so some might just call this "meat and beans"...but the basis for this recipe usually starts with a Beef and Bean Chili from my South Beach Cookbook, so you know its healthy. And then I often improvise with several types of canned beans. This time it was soooo good, that I wrote down exactly what I used. I even retrieved all the cans to get it right.

Here's what I used:

2 lbs 80/20 ground beef (leaner is great, too)
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can black beans
1 can mild pinto chili beans
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 can light kidney beans (dark is fine, too)
2 medium onions, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
3 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp olive oil

Here's what I did:

In an enamel dutch oven (or a medium stock pot) heat olive oil on medium heat, and add onions, cooking until translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add garlic for 1 minute, until fragrant. Add ground beef and let brown, until no pink remains. Add cumin, chili powder, and cayenne.

Meanwhile, rinse all canned beans/corn in a strainer, and let drain.

Once meat is fully cooked, add all canned ingredients, including canned tomatoes with juice. Allow chili to simmer for 10-15 minutes to incorporate and thicken. At this point, add salt and pepper to taste. If you like it spicier, you can add more cayenne - but I wanted this to be safe for Sydney, so I kept it a touch milder.

I like how the corn and black beans add color to the chili mixture. Once everything is combined, its nice to have some ingredients that "stand out in the crowd" and the pop of the corn is a nice unexpected sweetness that I don't usually add - but was glad that I did.

I served this with a small handful of mexican cheese mix (cheddar, jack, asadero and quesadilla cheeses) and a dollop of sour cream.

I accompanied my chili with corn bread muffins, recipe below...

Sweet Cornbread Muffins

Here's what I used:

1 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tsp baking powder
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup 2 % milk

Here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combined all dry ingredients, and then stirred with a whisk to remove any lumps and incorporate all ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, combined egg, oil and milk and mixed thoroughly. Add wet ingredients to large bowl with dry ingredients and quickly mix to incorporate, but do not overmix.

Meanwhile, I added cupcake liners to a cupcake pan and sprayed the inside of each cup with pam. I have found if I don't do this, I lose a good 1/4 of each muffin to the inside of the paper liners.

Using a measuring cup, I poured the batter into each liner, about 1/2 full, and was able to make 1 dozen nice sized muffins.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until just lightly golden brown on top. You can also test the muffins using a toothpick or wooden skewer. If the skewer comes out of the muffin clean, your muffins are done!

Sydney went nuts over this dinner. I haven't seen her this eager to eat in weeks...maybe longer. She kept on eating long after Nick and I were done. However, I should have draped her entire body with a table cloth...because Chili remnants were EVERYWHERE. Haha. The girl enjoyed her meal!

Meatloaf with Tomato Gravy

I think Meatloaf is an ultimate comfort food. Add a pile of mashed potatoes, and you'd satisfy most. This particular recipe is exceptional, as far as meatloaf goes. It ain't your mama's meatloaf. haha. I think what makes it more interesting is not only the layering of flavors in both the meat and the gravy, but the flavor of the gravy itself. Velvety, tangy, and just jumps off your tongue. Yet another Ina Garten recipe, this is another family favorite.

Here's what I used:

Meatloaf Ingredients:
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs (seasoned or not)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 lbs ground beef (or meatloaf mix)
1/3 cup grated parmesan (powdered works too)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 large eggs

~

Gravy Ingredients:
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 bay leaf
15 oz can crushed tomatoes
15 oz chicken broth
1/4 cup parmesan
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt
black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Toast the breadcrumbs for several minutes in a large skillet, and then transfer to large mixing bowl. Add olive oil to skillet, and then onion, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, and cook until onions are translucent, about 8 minutes. Transfer to same mixing bowl with bread crumbs. Also add in meat, Worchestershire and cheese. Incorporate ingredients together, add egg, and stir to coat. **This may seem unappealing, but here's where I use my hands. I don't think there's a better way to mix together the ingredients than freshly washed hands (sans any rings, etc.) and use your fingers!! haha.

Transfer meat mixture to a foil-lined cookie sheet and press into desired shape. I usually go for a small, short "loaf of bread" sort of shape. Rounded ends, straight sides and slightly rounded top. Bake for 45 minutes (internal temp of 160 F).

Meanwhile...

Cook onions, garlic and oregano in olive oil and butter until browned, about 6 minutes. Add tomato paste and bay leaf, about 3 minutes. Add chicken broth and crushed tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer until sauce begins to thicken, about 5-10 minutes. Whisk in parmesan cheese, vinegar, salt and pepper. Remove bay leaf and transfer sauce to a serving bowl.

Once meatloaf is done in the oven, tent with foil, remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Then slice, and serve with gravy and choice of sides.

I didn't have to ask my husband about this one because I've made it about 2 dozen times over the last few years. Its always a hit. Sydney liked it too!! I don't usually consider this a "summer" dish, but we had 80/20 ground beef in the fridge, and were all burgered out. So we decided on the "meatloaf recipe". We didn't have any sides w/ it, while its super yummy w/ potatoes, veggies, etc...its also heavy and can easily stand on its own. The husband unit followed his up with Peppridge Farm Chocolate Cake & Cool Whip...I went to sleep in a food coma.