Wow, It's Been Awhile ~ A Chicken Soup Recipe

It's been quite a while since I've posted a recipe. I find it kind of hard to do, since I am such a recipe follower myself. I'm not often coming up with my own "new" recipes. But I think I've come pretty close to
the best chicken soup recipe ever.

What you need:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 cartons of chicken broth (64 ounces, total)
• 8 to 10 carrots peeled and sliced (no need to peel if they're organic)
• 2 ribs of celery sliced
• 1 onion chopped (I only use half of a really small onion)
• salt & pepper to taste
• one ... leaf? stem? of kale (unless you're anti-kale)
• egg noodles (because my husband doesn't like kale)

What you do:

• Slice your chicken breasts into thin strips and place in a soup pot. Add the chicken broth, carrots, onion, and celery. Add some salt and pepper as you see fit. I tend to go light on these ingredients and allow each person to add them to their own taste.
• Heat the soup over high heat for about 25 minutes. At 25 minutes, check the "done-ness" of your chicken and veggies. The chicken is done when it's no longer pink inside and easily shredded with two forks.
• While the soup is cooking, chop your kale. I only use one stem because my husband doesn't like it and Kid can't yet chew it enough to swallow it. I also remove the main stem/rib of the kale and only use the leafy part. Anyway. Chop it into bite-sized pieces.
• If your husband protests kale, and you don't feel like making an entire pot of chicken noodle soup, boil water in another pot and cook your egg noodles according to the package directions. If you're going for chicken noodle soup, you can add the noodles straight to the soup and cook for 8-ish minutes.
• To serve, place some kale and/or egg noodles in a bowl and ladle the chicken soup over the top. Give it a stir and enjoy!

I threw in this old picture because .. well, soup weather also means shoveling weather... And, I keep forgetting to take pictures of the soup. I'll become a true picture-taking foodie someday!

Quick tips:

• Cook your noodles separately, even if nobody is having kale (or you want both!). I usually double this recipe to freeze and I do not care for the taste of cooked, frozen, and then reheated noodles. I'll freeze a hefty portion of soup and then am prepared to cook noodles the day I decide to reheat the soup.
• Don't be bummed if your husband doesn't like kale. I was. And then I got over it. Because, really? It takes 15 minutes to boil water and make noodles.
• Go light on the salt and pepper to start. Once the soup is boiling, you can taste the broth and add more as needed. People can also add their own once they've tasted the soup and broth.

::Dinner Plans #13::

Surprise, I'm running late again.

It's Monday night. Almost 9pm. I normally have dinner plans up on Sunday morning. I haven't even looked at the pictures from Kid's birthday party. I haven't even taken his 1 year pictures. Whoops.

But, here I am. Back at it, planning away. Getting ready to get those meals on the table.

My sister called me this weekend. She wanted a grocery shopping buddy. She is attempting to shop at my grocery store (Aldi - woo hoo!) for the first time. Oh, how I love my grocery store. And introducing my sister to the savings has been so fun! There was no way I was going to turn her down. We packed up the kiddos and headed out.

The only problem? I didn't have a shopping list. I had to fly by the seat of my pants. Which makes cooking a little more difficult (at least for me!).

Sunday: Little brother's birthday dinner (rescheduled from last week - he had just gotten home from India last week and was far too tired!).

Monday: Hamburger steaks with a mushroom sage sauce and sweet peas. This was the "fly by the seat of my pants" meal. I got home and realized that I had to babysit (and feed) my 2 year old nephew.

Tuesday: Happy Hour (and appetizers) at my aunt and uncles house. My dad's brother and his wife are in town this week, so we are gathering to see them.

Wednesday: Pepper and steak hash with scrambled eggs. This has become a go-to meal for our family - so easy, and always delicious. And, we always have eggs and peppers on hand.

Thursday: Crispy Italian Chicken Thighs. Trying something new this week. Kind of excited, but still deciding upon side dishes. Any ideas?

Friday: Tilapia lettuce wraps (aka. fish tacos with a lettuce leaf instead of a tortilla).

Saturday: Pheasant soup. We don't have a recipe for this. The hubs is going to search for some. Or, I'm going to make one up as we go (which is always a little nerve-wracking).

Ahh, I'm excited to finally go link up with Jessica Lynn Writes!

::Dinner Plans #12::

Were you afraid that I was skipping out on my ::Dinner Plans:: this week? Because right now, it's 9:01pm and I haven't posted my weekly meal plan. And I haven't been over to This Week's Eats yet, either.

But fear not! The plans are in the works.

I messed up a little bit last week. I had Kid's birthday party on the plans for Saturday.

His birthday party was not on Saturday. It was today.

We had crock pot chicken tacos, and crock pot shredded beef tacos. We also had crock pot refried beans. I don't eat refried beans, though. It was funny to see three crock pots across the counter, though! The tacos were delicious, though, and it was interesting to see how many folks went without a tortilla (a few of my friends, and most of my family, have started looking into the paleo "diet.")

But, oh man. Was the party fun! I didn't take as many pictures as I had hoped, but I will post what I have soon. I will also be working on Kid's monthly update, as he is now a big ONE YEAR OLD!

(the capital letters mean I'm yelling with excitement, and a little sadness...my baby is already getting so big!)

I can't handle it.

I'll plan my menu instead. That way I won't think about how big he's getting. And how, before I know it, I'll be planning a birthday party for a two year old.

Sunday: Tacos - if you're like me, you'll go sans tortilla.

Monday: Chicken, Mushroom & Green Bean Stir Fry (with homemade stir-fry sauce) served over broccoli slaw, and possibly eaten with chopsticks.

Tuesday: my little brother's birthday dinner

Wednesday: Roasted chicken & asparagus. I love asparagus. So much.

Thursday: Paleo Pot Roast

Friday: Fish tacos with tilapia. I'm going to try these tortillas, or just use a nice leaf of lettuce. Depends on if my mom has the coconut and tapioca flours. Is it bad that I sometimes use my mom as my paleo grocery store?

Saturday: Maple Chicken Thighs. Hopefully with our homemade, straight from our backyard (and my parents') maple syrup. We're boiling right now. And it looks like we may have at least a gallon of syrup. Which means we collected almost 40 gallons of sap.

What your your dinner plans for the week?

Check out the fabulous meal plans of those linked up at Jessica Lynn Writes.

P.S. It's now 10:55pm. I had to pause the blogging to help with the syruping. We just canned two and a half gallons of syrup. This year was, by far, our most productive year!