Monday, January 19, 2009

Chicken Noodle Soup

Hello!

After brunch with some of my best friends, I felt a bit bad that Derek was at home all alone with no food in his belly... So I went and bought 2 chickens and decided to make some chicken noodle soup from scratch for the poor boy.

It was my first time making chicken soup and it actually turned out great! Derek loved the soup and said that it was the best chicken noodle soup he has ever had!


Here is what you will need:

1 chicken, about 3 lbs, deconstructed
2 cup of carrots, diced and divided
2 cup of celery, diced and divided
1 cup of mushrooms, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
1 apple, diced
3 slices of ginger
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp thyme
1tsp parsley flake
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
A few sprigs of cilantro

  1. Place mushrooms, onion, ginger, garlic, apple, 1 cup of carrots and 1 cup of celery into a large, bottom heavy pot.
  2. Place deconstructed chicken pieces into pot and fill the pot with water until everything is covered
  3. On high heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Lower heat, and skim the top if necessary. Add in thyme, parsley and cilantro
  4. Cover and simmer for 2-3 hours
  5. Remove chicken pieces from the soup, and let it cool. Remove meat from bones and set aside
  6. Strain the soup to remove and discard all solids
  7. At this point, I packed up most of the chicken stock in separate containers, and put them in the freezer, leaving only about 4 cups of stock in the pot
  8. Pour in 4 cups of water to lighten up the stock
  9. Slowly bring the broth up to a boil, add in the rest of the carrots and celery, as well as 2 cups of whole wheat pasta (we used bowties)
  10. After pasta is almost cooked cooked and the veggies have softened, stir in some chicken pieces and season soup with salt and pepper
  11. Once the pasta is completely cooked, remove soup from heat and serve!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Slow cooked beef stew with red wine

Hi all!

So for my birthday, my amazing friend Jared got me a fabulous slow cooker. This was the first dish that I cooked with this fantastic machine, it was super easy! Just put it in and turn it on. Beautiful!


Here is what you will need:

2 lbs stewing beef cubes,
OR, if you are stingy like me, I bought a cheap roast and cut it into cubes myself
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
1 tbsp flour
3/4 cup red wine
1.5 cup chicken broth
1 cup of tomatoes, diced
few sprigs of fresh thyme
salt and pepper


  1. Place the potatoes, celery and carrots in the slow cooker. Set aside.
  2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the meat in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Place in the slow cooker. Leave oil in pan.
  3. In the same skillet over medium heat, brown the onions and garlic. Dust with flour and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and bring to a boil while stirring. Transfer the mixture to the slow cooker.
  4. Add the broth, tomatoes. Cover and cook until the meat is easily cut with a fork, about 6 hours with the cooker set to high or 8 hours with the cooker set to low.
  5. With about 2 hours left of cooking time, add thyme into stew.
  6. Remove the thyme when serving. Adjust the seasoning and enjoy!!


Happy cooking!
Annie

Lime-licious Chicken Nuggets

Hi everyone!

Happy New year! My apologies for not blogging for so long! It's been a hectic (but wonderful) 2 month for Derek and I. I have now 4 more posts that will go up in the next week, so I hope that will make up for the lack of postings last month.

First up, chicken nuggets with a twist! This dish was simple but delicious, and pretty quick to whip up. Enjoy!


What you will need:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1 cup cornflake crumbs
1.5 tbsp grated lime zest
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup lime juice
Cooking spray

  1. Preheat over to 425F. Cut chicken into nugget sizes
  2. Combine cornflake crumbs, lime zest, sugar, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl or plate
  3. Measure lime juice into another shallow bowl
  4. Dip chicken pieces into lime juice, then roll in crumb mixture, place on a greased baking sheet
  5. spray rolled chicken with small amounts of cooking spray
  6. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked and no longer pink inside
  7. Cool nuggets on paper towel and enjoy!