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. 

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 :)

 

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.

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.