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!
    

White Wine Clam Fettuccini

Hi all,

A family friend of mine owns a very popular Italian restaurant in Calgary and he used to make this dish all the time for me. It was one of the first dishes that I have ever tried to make, and it is still one of my "go to dishes" when VERY important guests arrive for a visit.

Last week, Derek's dad came for a lovely visit, and this was the dish that I whipped up for dinner.

awful picture....this was the day after I made it

What you will need:

4 servings of Fettuccini
plenty of water
1.5 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

3 bacon Slices, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 can of whole baby clams, with juice (142g)
1/2 cup Dry white wine, or alcohol free white wine
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil, add salt and pasta. Once Pasta is cooked, drain and toss pasta with olive oil
2. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large frying pan on medium heat until crisp.
3. Add gaelic and onions. Cook until onions appear translucent and soft, about 2 minutes.
4. Add in the can of clams, white wine and peper. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil on medium heat.
   
5. Add in 2 tsp of the chopped parsley, Cook for another 2 minutes for the flavors to blend, then remove from heat.
   
6. Add in pasta and toss.
7. Sprinkle with the rest of the parsley, basil and Parmesan cheese.
8. Serve with some dark greens or Greek salad. Delicious!