Friday, November 4, 2011

Chicken Soup

Sorry ya'll, but I'm about to get gross.
If you can't handle gross, then stop now.
But, if what I said got you curious,
then read on!!


I had to make chicken soup today
and this is why...
It has been a barf-fest at my house all week!!

Told ya I was gonna be gross :P
My 6 year old started on Sunday.
Got sick 7 or 8 times all day long.
I kept her home from school on Monday and
she was fine.  Sent her to school on Tuesday
and she threw up in her lunchbox!! 
Yuck
So, I had to go get her.  She stayed home
on Wednesday and was fine all day.
Then my 10 year old started getting sick
around 9:00 and it went on till 4am.
He got sick like 17 times.
ALL night long.
Then - the same night - the 6 year old
threw up again!!  UGH
So, I had them both home with me on Thursday.
I sent the little one to school today.
She probably failed all her tests because
she was home doing nothing on the couch
all week.  Oh well.  It's first grade.
So, then, wouldn't you know it,
I got a call to come get the 8 year old today
because she just threw up all over her desk!! 
Unbelievable.

And to make it better - my husband
left the country on Tuesday for 2 weeks. 
But, I'm glad he's not here for this.

You thought this was a cooking blog, right?
Well, I needed to vent a little frustration.

I'm done now.

I wish I had made soup earlier in the week.
But, I wasn't able to get out of the house and 
go to the store to get everything until today.


This is what I started with.

I boiled my 2 little chicken breasts
for about 20 minutes.
Then, took them out and let them 
cool and shredded it up.


I cut up my carrots and celery.


Then I put them in my hot pan with a little
olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.


Then, I added a can of cream of chicken.

Hey - I never claimed to cook everything
healthy and from scratch.  So, I'm sorry if you 
don't like this.  I think it adds good flavor.


Mmmmmm
Just look at that glob of soup.


Then I poured in a box of chicken broth
which was about 4 cups.


I also kept the broth from boiling my 2 
little chicken breasts.  But, it's not very
brothy because chicken breasts taste 
like nothing.  But, I kept in anyway.

I needed 2 more cups of liquid and I 
figured that chicken flavored water was
better than just water.
And, I did this because I had no more
broth in a box!!


But, I did have this.
It's sort of like boullion.
But, not.


It's kinda gooey and thick and weird.
And it has lots of flavor.

I use this if I don't have chicken broth.


I took my shredded chicken 
and added it back into the pot. 

 I mixed it all up and let it simmer
for about 30-40 minutes on low.


Then, I turned off the heat and threw 
in a big hand full of spinach.

All my kids like spinach.
Weird, huh?


So, it's basically done now.


In another pot, I was cooking some orzo.
It's kinda like rice pasta.
I don't like to put it in my soup because
it keeps cooking and then gets mushy.

So, I cook it on the side and then
add it in when I'm ready to eat.


Here's my cooked orzo.  I drizzled a 
little olive oil on it to keep it from sticking
together in one huge clump.


I like to add stuff to my soup.

So, for my bowl - I started with some orzo.


Then, added the soup.


And threw in a few jalepenos
because I like it spicy!!

If my avocados were ripe, I would 
have added some of that too.

For my kids - I might just serve the soup.
They may or may not want the orzo.

Some crusty bread or crackers would be good too.

So, if I get sick (I'm NOT gonna get sick),
but if I do - this will be ready for me :)


Chicken Soup

2-3 small chicken breasts or
about 1 1/2 cups shredded chicken
6 cups chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
carrots
celery
1 clove garlic - chopped
salt and pepper
orzo or another small pasta (optional)
spinach (optional)

Boil chicken until for about 20 minutes or until done.  Cool and shred.  Cut up a few carrots and celery.  Heat up a little olive oil in a pot and add the carrots and celery and garlic.  Add salt and pepper.  Turn heat to low.  Add can of soup and slowly add the broth.  Put the shredded chicken back into the pot.  Turn the heat up and simmer for about 30 minutes until vegetables are soft.  Turn the heat off and add a big hand full of spinach. Make pasta in another pot and add to soup bowl just before serving. 


Sunday, October 30, 2011

Applesauce

Yes, it's another apple recipe.
And another crock pot recipe.
But it's super fun and easy.

Homemade applesauce in the crock pot. 


So, on Friday, I went to the school 
to help make applesauce. 
I have never done this, so I 
had no idea what to expect.
I walked in, and the whole room smelled
like apple pie.  I was excited!
 There were 2 crock pots full of apples.
My job was to help the kids turn 
them into applesauce.
So, I did my job, and I couldn't
wait to get home so I could make 
my own applesauce for my family!!


I had bought some apples last week
and they didn't get eaten as fast as I 
would like.  So, I thought this would be 
the perfect thing to do with them.
I took all that I had and washed them 
and quartered them.
I had 3 different kinds here.
I don't think it matters.


I sprayed my pot with non stick spray.
And threw all the apples into the crock pot 
seeds, stems, peels and all!!
Set on high.

It wasn't until after I had rushed home
and quickly done all this that I thought - 
this would have been a really fun 
thing to do with the kids!!

So, I made sure they were home to 
help me with the rest of it.


This is after 2 hours.
Smelling good already.


2 more hours (4 total)
done


I borrowed this from Mo's teacher.
I think it's a food mill.
I think you could also use a potato ricer
or something like that if you have one.


Basically, you fill this thing up
and squish all the good stuff through
the little holes with the wooden thing.
And all the stuff you don't want stays inside.


You'll need a helper.
Mo was my helper.

This is the part that I helped the kids at school with.
They each got to come and turn the handle
around a few times to squish the apples out.


See it squishing out?


It didn't make a whole lot.
My crock was almost half full of 
apples when I started, and
I only got a small bowl of sauce.


This is what's left in the food mill.
Seeds, stems, peels and cores.
Let's just throw this in the trash.


Here's a tiny cup of applesauce.


Here's Kailey and Mo enjoying their applesauce.
It all disappeared in about 5 minutes!!

Remember - there's only apples in this!!
No water, sugar or juice added.

*

Here's the recipe:

Easy Crock Pot Applesauce

apples

Take whatever apples you have.  (They can 
be different varieties). Wash and 
quarter them and put them in your crock pot.
Set on high for 4-6 hours.  
Pass through a food mill.  
Let them cool and enjoy :)


 




Friday, October 21, 2011

Crock Pot Apple Dessert

It's the season for apples.
And apple pie,
and apple crumble,
and apple strudel,
and baked apples,
and apple brown betty,
and every other kind of yummy apple dessert :)

I found an apple dessert for the 
crock pot that I wanted to try.


Aren't these pretty?!?
 

Apples and butter and sugar.
You can't really go wrong.


First, I sliced up about 6 medium
granny smith apples.


Then I melted some butter and added flour,
brown sugar, cinnamon, regular sugar
and a little ground ginger and nutmeg.


I mixed it up good.
This seemed really thick.  I expected it to 
be a little runnier because the recipe said to 
pour this on top of the apples.


But, instead, I had to spoon it on.


I set it on low for about 4 1/2 hours.


And this is what I got.

The top was cooked and a little crusty.
And absolutely delicious!!

We put vanilla ice cream on top and 
ate a whole bunch.

The apples were a little too soft.  
Next time (there will be a next time for this one),
I will add 3 or 4 more apples and cut them
in bigger chunks so they won't be as mushy.

Here's the recipe:

Crock Pot Apple Crisp

  4-5 cups apples, sliced
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup regular sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger (optional)
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (optional)
3/4 cup butter 

Grease crock pot.  Line with apples.  Melt butter.
In medium bowl, combine melted butter with all remaining 
ingredients.  Pour over apples.  Cook on low 4-6 hours.




Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Chicken Curry

This is a recipe I got off of the Crock Pot Girls website.
My friend Kelly has made this 3 times and 
loves it, so I thought I would give it a try.

Here's what I learned about this recipe:
To make a dish with curry - you have to really like curry!
And I wasn't sure about it, but here you go...

 
I didn't have everything the recipe called for,
so I just made it with what I had.
But, I had to tweak it a bit at then end.
I'll see my friend Kelly tomorrow
and then I can ask her how she does it.

 
 This is what I started with.
Recipe said to use a ton of vegetables - 
whatever you have.  Well, this was
all I had.  If I had a green or red pepper,
and a zucchini, I would have used that too.


I had really big chicken breasts, 
so I cut them into big chunks and put
them in the crock pot.


Then I cut up the vegetables that I had.


I used some dried onion for flavor.
I don't like chunks of onions, but I love the flavor.
I dumped in the spices too.
Lots of cumin and curry.
The recipe called for tumeric, but I don't
know what that is and I didn't have any.
I saw it at the store, but I didn't want to pay 
$4 for it when I only needed like a teaspoon of it.


Then I poured a can of coconut milk in.
This really scared me!!! 
I have never used this before, and it
looked all milky and soupy and weird.


Then I added a cup of chicken broth
and a can of diced tomatoes.


Mixed it up and let it cook on low for 6 hours.


It smelled good.  It smelled like curry and milk.
It was very soupy.  I think I could have done
without the chicken broth.  I had to put 
a little cornstarch in to thicken it up.


I took the chicken out and shredded it.


Then put it back in the pot.
It was a little thicker now.


I served it with some jasmine rice.

*

So, Russell liked it.  He likes curry :)
I tried it and decided I don't like curry :(
The girls wouldn't touch it.
They had a frozen pizza.
Jacob had a small bowl and ate it and said it was good.
And then he asked for frozen pizza.

*

Here's the recipe as I found it on the 
Crock Pot Girls website:

Chicken Curry

about 4 chicken breasts, frozen or thawed
tons of whatever veggies you like (I use squash, 
zucchini, carrots, celery, etc)
about 3 chopped tomatoes (or you can just use a can of diced)
1 onion chopped
1 can coconut milk (light or regular, doesn’t matter)
1 cup chicken broth
salt to taste
1 or 2 Tbsp curry powder (your preference)
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
If you like you curry spicy, you can chop up 
a dried red chili or 2 and add.

*

There were no instructions with this recipe.
So, I just assumed you throw it in and mix it
up and cook on low for 6 hours or so.