MiMi's Medicinal Home Made Chicken Soup... The Cure For Snowy Weather

When the weather turns cold the first thing I do is start making soup. Strangely enough, I always seem to have all the ingredients I need on hand. Actually, I've had the ingredients for a week as they were leftover ingredients I didn't need for Thanksgiving. I shopped at Sam's Wholesale Club so, as usual, I bought too much but, I'd rather have too much than not enough of something. So, I'm trying to finish off the onions, garlic, parsley, celery and carrots. All the perfect ingredients to go in my home made chicken soup. I've had a nice plump little chicken in the freezer just begging to be pulled out.


So, without further adieu, here's my recipe, which I learned from my grandmother (MiMi), who was of German descent. I wish I'd had more time to learn from her before she was gone, because she was one of the most wonderful cooks ever.


MiMi's Medicinal Homemade Chicken Soup:


Ingredients:



For The Broth:

3 to 4 stalks of celery (with the leaves), coarsely chopped

1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered

4 to 5 spring (green) onions

8-10 cloves of garlic, halved

1 whole bay leaf

1 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns

2 teaspoons of salt

1 whole chicken

8 cups of water


Directions:

1. In the morning, start your broth by filling the stock pot with water and adding all of the ingredients for the broth.

2. Bring the pot almost to a boil, but not quite. It needs to simmer very slowly all day and not boil. 3 to 4 hours is usually enough time, but I usually let it steep for a while.

3. When the stock is ready, remove all of the ingredients, setting aside the chicken to cool and add the veggies to your compost pile or your trash.

4. At this point I use a couple of layers of cheesecloth inside a colander, to drain the broth. Rinse the stock pot and and return the broth to the pot.

5. Bone the chicken and tear into bite size pieces. Now you're ready to make the actual soup.

Chicken soup:

Ingredients:

2 to 3 stalks of celery, diced

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped

1 package of baby carrots, sliced & chopped (or shredded carrots, chopped)

1 package of fresh mushrooms, cleaned and chopped

5 to 6 cloves of garlic, pressed

1 teaspoon of olive oil

2 teaspoons of butter

8 cups of the broth you previously made (or you can use 2 cartons of organic chicken broth)

2 teaspoons of chopped parsley

1 teaspoon of kosher or sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns, ground

1/2 of a package of egg noodles


Directions:

1. In the olive oil and butter, saute the onions, celery, carrots, mushrooms, and garlic in that order, until almost transparent.

2. Add the broth and allow the soup to simmer and cook the veggies for at least another 1-1/2 hours.

3. Add the chicken, chopped parsley, salt and pepper and allow to simmer a while longer.

4. Boil the egg noodles in another pan, drain and set aside. I've found that adding them to the soup soaks up all the liquid and then they fall apart.

5. Place noodles in bottom of bowl and pour soup over the top.

6. Serve with healthy crackers or sourdough bread. Enjoy!

7. I have to admit I forgot to add the parsley before taking the picture, so it's not nearly as attractive as it should be.

Quick & Easy Chicken (Or Turkey) Tetrazinni

Chicken Tetrazinni has been a favorite at our house for many years. Now that the children are gone, I get to make several casseroles from one batch, which allows me to have a few nights off from cooking now and then. For some reason, the flavors in this casserole are irresistible to me. Also, since the pet food contamination scare, I buy one roasted chicken per week to feed to my cat, which, along with her dry food, satisfies my finicky feline. Since she's not a huge eater, I can usually manage to get a meal or two out of the chicken before handing the rest of it over to her. It's all very economical, really!

At any rate, this is my favorite dish for leftover chicken (or turkey) aside from King Ranch Casserole:

Ingredients:

-->8 oz. spaghetti


1/4 stick (2 oz.) butter 


2 T. flour 


1 1/2 C chicken stock


2 T. dry sherry 


1 C. light cream or half and half 


1/2 C. Parmesan cheese, freshly grated if possible 


About a pound of cooked chicken 


1/2 lb. button mushrooms, sliced and lightly sautéed in a bit of butter


1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced or chopped


Salt and pepper to taste

 
1 can of sliced black olives 




Directions:


1.Cook the spaghetti al dente according to the package. Dice the chicken. 


2. In a sauté pan, melt the butter, add the flour and mix well. Add the stock gradually, while stirring. Cook over medium heat. Stir in sherry, cream and remove from heat. Add the chicken, cheese, olives and mushrooms. Add the spaghetti and mix well.


3. Check seasoning and salt and pepper to taste.











4. Pour in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle fresh grated parmesan over the top, and bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes until hot and golden brown.

King Ranch Chicken Casserole... A Texas Staple

In Texas, everyone knows of Bob Kleburg and his famous 15 million acre King Ranch located in South Texas. It grew from its early days as a Mexican hacienda to a South Texas Cattle Ranch and ultimately, an international corporate agribusiness. It all began with Richard King, who was a steamboat-captain-turned-South-Texas-cattle-rancher-landowner. This recipe is the perfect reflection of that easy-going ranch lifestyle, reflecting the Mexican influence as well. It is truly the best casserole I make and is served in most Texas homes at one time or another.



Since there are now just the two of us here at home, I usually split this recipe into two or three separate casserole dishes and freeze them for future use. It's such a treat some nights to just toss a casserole dish into the oven and have dinner ready an hour later. Enjoy!




King Ranch Chicken Casserole:




Ingredients:

 

1 whole baked chicken, boned & cut into bite size chunks

1 large green bell pepper, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 stick of butter

1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup

1 can of Cream of Chicken soup

1 10 oz. can of Rotel chiles & tomatoes

12 soft corn tortillas cut or torn into bite size pieces

1/4 cup of chicken broth

2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Place cut up corn tortillas in bottom of casserole dish.

2. Pour a little of the chicken broth over the tortillas.

3. In a large skillet, sauté the onion and bell peppers in the butter until almost transparent.

4. Set aside to cool.

5. In a separate bowl, combine the soups with the Rotel, mixing well.

6. Add the onion & bell pepper mixture, stirring well.

7. In 13 x 9" glass casserole dish, arrange alternate layers of tortillas, soup mixture, and grated cheese, until all ingredients are used.

8. Bake in 350 degree pre-heated oven for 50 minutes or until heated through & bubbly & cheese is browned.

9. May be frozen for future use before or after cooking.

Chicken Soup... The Real Thing, Baby!

I was scheduled to play golf with hubby this morning, but his tee time was for 9:00 a.m. and I decided I didn't want to drag my bootie out of bed that early. So, I called one of the wives I normally play with every Wednesday & Friday, to see if anyone was playing. When she answered the phone, I could tell she was sick. Turns out she has walking pneumonia, so, as is my M.O., I offered to bring some of my medicinal chicken soup, made from scratch. She didn't decline, which showed me just how sick she is. Normally, she'd protest.

Lucky for me that I had all the ingredients, or she might not be getting it today, when she needs it, because I really don't like going to the store. Sick friend or not.

So, I thawed out a nice, plump little chicken from H.E.B. that I'd had in the freezer. I filled the dutch oven with water, added the chicken, yellow onions, spring onions, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaf, 3 cubes of chicken bullion & black peppercorns. Just before the water came to a boil, I turned the fire down to simmer and will let it simmer for 3 hours.

Once it has cooked for the 3 hours my Grandmother always adhered to, I'll let it cool for approximately 20 minutes, then pour all the broth through a colander lined with cheesecloth, for a nice, clear soup.

 Allow the chicken to cool for a bit longer, while tossing the stewed veggies, bay leaf, and black peppercorns into a bowl (that will later be taken out to the compost pile in my veggie garden) and I prepare fresh veggies. Chopped celery, carrots, yellow onions, garlic, and spring onions.When this task is accomplished, I begin picking the meat off the chicken bones, then chop it into bite sizes.

Put 1 Tbs. of butter & 1 Tbs. of olive oil in the bottom of the pan and saute the onions, adding the celery, carrots & garlic (but not the spring onions) after a couple of minutes & cooking a minute or so longer. I also add 2 Tbs. of dried parsley (since I don't have any fresh available).

At this point, I add the chicken and it's broth to the pan and bring it to a simmer, allowing it to simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Just before serving, I add the thinly sliced spring onions.

Since egg noodles tend to soak up all the good broth, I cook the noodles separately in another pan, to be added to the individual bowl, upon serving. I usually serve it with garlic toast or, if I'm lucky, the HU makes his kick-ass cornbread that he does in a cast iron skillet in the oven. Or sometimes we just have saltines with it. Mmmmmm! Talk about comfort food, baby... this is it.

Okay, by now some of you may have noticed that I forgot to add the parsley and the spring onions before I took the picture. You would be right. However, since I didn't feel like setting up for the picture again, you'll just have to use your vivid imaginations, because I'm not doing it again, thank you very much.

Bon Appetit!