Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup

I love Chicken Noodle Soup. It's my favorite comfort food. This recipe is SOOOOO yummy!!! Once you've done it, you'll never be able to go back to the canned stuff again! :)

Water (and lots of it!)
Chicken with bones (I actually use the thigh/leg combo. The bones are the key to a fantastic flavor for your broth! You can use chicken breast on the bone, but white meat tends to get a little tougher with more cooking, while dark meat gets more tender!)
1 Bay Leaf
Seasoned Salt/a bit of chicken bouillon (to taste...I like to boil the chicken with salt as it tends to bring out more of the flavor. If you're trying to watch your salt intake, don't add salt at this point!)

*Boil for a few hours! I like to boil it until the meat basically falls right off the bones!

Remove chicken and set aside to cool and debone. Add to broth:

A few carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2-3 celery stalks (with leaves!) finely chopped
A few sprigs of fresh parsley (or 2-3 tsps dried)

While this is boiling, make your noodles!!! I like to make a LOT, so here's my recipe:

2 cups flour (I usually do 1 c white and 1 c wheat)
2 large eggs
1 'eggshell' worth of cold water

Knead together until it is a firm dough. If you have a pasta maker, you can make this into any size noodles you want. I usually do the spaghetti setting. If you don't have a pasta maker, you just roll it really flat with a rolling pin, then cut it to what size you want with either a VERY sharp knife, or a pizza cutter (much faster). Add to boiling water a little at a time to keep it from clumping together. Debone the chicken and add the meat to the soup. Add a little more salt if needed, and some black pepper.

Voila! It sounds like a LOT of work, but it's really not terrible and SOOOOOOOO worth it! :)

Fresh Pasta Sauce

I can NEVER go back to the bottled/canned pasta sauce. After starting to use this, I'm hooked and just can't look back!

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 lb hamburger
Garlic Salt (to taste)
8-10 fresh, ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
A handful each of Fresh basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, finely chopped (you CAN use dried, but fresh just tastes so much better!!!)
Fresh mushrooms, finely sliced (if all you have is canned or dehydrated, that works, too. Or, you can omit the mushrooms. Claire would be happy if I did.)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat Olive Oil in large sauce pan. Add onion, and saute for a few minutes. Add garlic and stir. Throw in the hamburger and garlic salt and 'scramble' until browned. Add the mushrooms. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Throw in the tomatoes and herbs and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. This sauce is pretty thin, and if you don't like that, use a slotted spoon to serve. You can put the tomatoes and herbs in the blender before adding to the hamburger if you don't like 'chunky' sauce. It is just SO good and flavorful! I've also done this using mini shrimp instead of hamburger and it's yummy, too! This is good over pasta of any kind.

Dairy Free Beef Stroganoff

This sounds gross, but it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good, that if you didn't know it was dairy free, you wouldn't guess it!

Hamburger OR steak cut into strips
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
garlic salt, to taste
1 cup finely sliced small white mushrooms (you can really use any mushrooms you want!)
1 cup beef broth
1 + cup tofu sour cream
a handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped

With hamburger:

Saute onion in olive oil just until transparent (a few minutes) then add garlic. Add hamburger and garlic salt. Brown hamburger. Add mushrooms. Stir until mushrooms are 'wilted'. Add beef broth and simmer until mixture is boiling. Add parsley, then add sour cream and serve! Serve over rice or noodles.

With beef:

First, saute mushrooms in butter and garlic salt. Oh so yummy!! While the mushrooms are cooking, Slice the beef into strips. Coat with flour. (I prepare a bowl with about 1/2 cup flour and about 1/2 tsp seasoned salt.) When the mushrooms are browned. Remove mushrooms, place in a bowl, and set aside. In the same pan, pour in a little olive oil and the onions. Saute for a few minutes. Add the garlic and stir constantly. Add the coated beef and stir until there is no liquid left (a few seconds). Begin adding the beef broth a little at a time. Once all the liquid is added, let simmer until the beef is cooked through. (If you simmer lightly for a longer period of time, the beef is more tender than if you cook on high!!!) Add the mushrooms and parsley and simmer a little longer together. Pour in the sour cream, turn off the heat, and stir until it's warmed through. Serve immediately over rice or noodles!

The BEST Banana Bread!!

I discovered this recipe in Cameroon, where we had banana trees in our backyard...and even with the overabundance and cheapness of bananas, I never got tired of this stuff!! Even Josh will eat it, and he hates bananas!!

3-4 Ripe Bananas, smashed with a wooden spoon
1/3 c. + (75 g) melted butter (yes, I sometimes add more than 1/3 cup... and remember, it MUST be butter!!!!!)
3/4 c Sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt (1/4 tsp, maybe??)
1 ½ c Wheat Flour
1 Tbsp Bean Flour
1 Tbsp Flaxmeal
1/2 c chocolate chips (optional)

With wooden spoon (yes, use a wooden spoon! It just tastes better that way!), mix butter into mashed bananas in a large white mixing bowl. Mix in sugar, egg and vanilla. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the mixture, then mix in. Add the Flour and chocolate chips last–mix just until it is all moist (about 25 stirs!). Pour mixture into a coated bread pan. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the top...it's SO yummy that way! Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Cool in the pan on the cooling rack for about 10 minutes to let set. Turn over to remove from pan. Let it cool completely, or eat it warm! :)

Ham and Bean Garden Soup

This started out as a bisque, but I changed my mind halfway through. It smelled so good near the end that I thought I was going to die if I didn't eat it soon! :) Josh even said it was his new most favorite soup ever! That's always nice to hear...along with Claire eating 2 whole bowls, AND Andrew even ate his whole bowl, which is really saying something!!

8 Cups Water 3/4 c dry Great Northern Beans
1 clove garlic, whole
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Salt

**Place these ingredients into large sauce pan and simmer on medium for about an hour, then add:
1 Potato, finely cubed
1 tsp Fresh Oregano
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced (include some leaves!! These add great flavor to soups, and look so pretty!)
1/2 large onion (or 1 small one)

**Simmer another 30 minutes or so, then add:
3 Tbsp Butter
2 large Carrots, match-sticked (ok, jullienned)
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 more tsp fresh Oregano
a few dashes White Pepper
1 Tbsp Chicken Bouillon (or more, to taste)
1 small zucchini, halved and chopped (smileys, as my kids call them)

**Simmer about 30 more minutes, then add:
1 + c cooked, cubed Ham

**Serve immediately, and garnish with:
2 ripe tomatoes, cubed (Let everyone sprinkle their soup with some. My kids also always request frozen peas and/or corn for every soup. I didn't put it in my soup, but everyone else did and seemed to like that.)

Eat with crackers or fresh crusty Italian garlic bread!

Lemon Herb Shishkabobs

We love these things! The kids love to help make them and they LOVE to eat them as it's so much fun to eat things off a stick! :)

4 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts, cubed (NOT cooked!)
6 giant white mushrooms, cut in thirds (or small button mushrooms, halved)
1 onion, cut in half then quartered
1 large zucchini, slice in 'circles', then either cut each circle in half, or quarter it
1 bell pepper, chopped (it's fun to use red or yellow or orange for some color)

OR

if you don't have zucchini or peppers (or don't like them), I've used carrots, cauliflower and broccoli! Tastes just as good. I think the kids like this way more anyway.

**Place all the veggies into a gallon size ziplock bag. The, add the marinade:

1 Tbsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 large cloves garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp each fresh basil, oregano, and parsley (can also add rosemary and thyme!)
the juice of one whole Lemon
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup water
1-2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar

Let sit in marinade at room temp for about an hour, then refrigerate and marinade for 6-8 hours.

Thread everything onto skewers. Place on cookie sheet



and Broil until done! (In our oven, it took about 6 minutes; 3 minutes, then turn, then 3 minutes longer.) I serve this with:



fried rice and salad.

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

This was, as always is the case for me, a spur of the moment experiment. I had a really soft apple sitting in the fridge, and no one was eating it because it was bruised. I really wanted some cinnamon rolls. I thought to myself, "Self, what if I cut up that little apple into little tiny pieces and put it in the middle of my cinnamon rolls? Thus, the Apple Cinnamon rolls were born. I also changed my glaze, and OH is it ever GOOOOOOOD!!! Just, um, don't eat all the frosting before you put it on the rolls.

Also, just to note, this is mostly the same as the cinnamon roll recipe. It's in a different format than usual because I typed this one up for Josh's class's recipe book.

Enjoy!

Ingredients for rolls (For Steps 1 and 2):

1 Egg PLUS enough warm water to equal 1 ½ c
1/3 c Oil
½ c Sugar
1 ½ tsp Salt
2 ½ c Wheat Flour
2 c White Pastry Flour
2 tsp Yeast
2/3 c Raisins

(*If you have a bread machine, this is an excellent bread machine recipe! Just add the ingredients in the order listed to your machine, then select the ‘dough’ option. After the machine has finished, proceed to step # 3.)

Other ingredients needed:

*For middle of rolls (step 3):

About 50 grams butter, softened (NOT margarine!)
Dark brown sugar
Cinnamon
1 soft, sweet apple, peeled and finely chopped

*For glaze (step 4):

About 50 grams melted Butter (again, NOT margarine!)
1+ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp almond extract
1 tsp water

Instructions:

Step 1:
Mix gently for 5 minutes until all the dough is in a ball. Let rest, covered, for 15 minutes.



Step 2:
Add 2/3 c Raisins, then mix for another 10 minutes--either by hand or using dough beaters on a mixer on low.
Cover and let rise for 30-45 minutes, or until double in size.

Step 3:
Take dough out and roll out into a rectangle shape on a floured surface. Spread soft butter all over the top. Sprinkle with brown sugar, then with cinnamon, to taste. Sprinkle the chopped apple over the top of the butter, cinnamon and sugar.





With a pizza cutter, cut the dough in half (up and down). Roll up one side jelly-roll style,



then use the pizza cutter to cut little rolls, about 1 inch thick. Put rolls on a greased cookie sheet. When all the rolls are on the tray, put a towel over them and let rise for about an hour. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 350F/180C.


(here they are in the oven. I love this picture. You can almost smell them....)

Step 4:
While the rolls are cooking, make glaze. Mix together the melted butter, powdered sugar and almond extract with a fork until smooth. If it appears lumpy, add the tsp of water. Spread over the rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.
(**I suggest making the glaze/frosting at the moment you plan to frost these. If it sits too long, the consistency changes.)

Enjoy these warm or cold, after dinner or for breakfast!