Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

Roger loves the whole roasted cooked chickens that you can buy for 5 bucks at Sam's Club, Costco, and Kroger.  There is always a lot of small pieces of chicken left over on the carcass after we slice off large pieces for our dinner.  So rather than throw it in the trash, I throw the small pieces of chicken into a pot along with whatever else I have in the fridge.

The recipe changes from batch to batch but generally this is the recipe.

Leftover chicken pieces. Pull apart larger pieces so they are spoon size.

2 cartons of chicken broth (I prefer low sodium but you use what you like best)

2 chicken bouillon cubes to pump up the chicken flavor

celery stalks, cut lengthwise and then diced

carrots fresh, cut in diagonal thin slices or use frozen or small can (drain before using)

small can whole kernel corn (drained)

1/2 C frozen peas not can peas. Can peas are too soft

1/2 C frozen lima beans

small can of mushrooms (Roger likes this)

2 cups or 3 handfuls of large size (dumpling) egg noodles

Season to taste.  I also add just before serving, a shake or two of dill weed.  Also had salt and pepper to taste.

In a large pot pour 1 1/2 cartons of broth (save the 1/2 carton for adding to bowls of soup when you re warm the soup because the noodles will soak up a lot of broth while in the fridge). Add the 2 bouillon cubes and heat at med high.

While the broth comes up to temp add your chicken pieces, carrots, corn, lima beans, peas, celery, even green beans.  Once it comes to a boil, turn down the heat to low medium and cover.

Cook your noodles in a large sauce pan.  Once they are cooked, drain, and add to the soup.  Never add uncooked noodles to your soup because the noodles will absorb all the broth.  At this point I add the mushrooms, cover, and turn the heat down to low for 1 hour.

You can adjust this recipe depending on what your family likes and how much soup you are making.

We prefer the large dumpling size noodles but you can also use the smaller egg noodles.

When reheating the soup in individual bowls, add some of the leftover chicken broth if the broth has absorbed into the noodles.

Store in fridge in a covered container so that the noodles do not dry out.

Enjoy

and 

always remember

to 

Reuse Repurpose Recycle

Easy Potato Soup Recipe + Bonus Recipe

This is the easiest and most inexpensive potato soup recipe.  I can't remember where I found it but when I run across that info I will add it to this post.

 Ingredients

5 medium size yellow potatoes (Yukon Gold)

1 lg can of creamed corn

1 lg can of evaporated milk

1/2 lb of bacon (try to get thick sliced and smoked for added flavor)

1/4 to 1/2 of a sweet onion diced into 1/2 inch cubes

Save 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease

Pre cut your bacon before you fry it.  It is much easier and you will get a more uniform size of bacon bits.  When the bacon is almost cooked, remove the bits and place on folded paper towel to remove excess grease.  Do NOT compress the paper towel to remove all the grease.  The grease has flavor.  Save 2 tablespoons of the grease.

Peel and wash your potatoes.  Cut each potato into 4 pieces to speed up the cooking process.

Add enough cold water to cover your potatoes pieces by 2 inches.  Use the pot that you are going to cook your soup in.  Cook your potatoes (med to med high) until a fork can easily go into the potato.  Do not over cook or your potatoes will fall apart. Drain the water and remove the potatoes to cool so that you can dice them.  Cut the potatoes into 3/4 inch cubes once the potatoes have cooled slightly.  If you try to cut too soon the potatoes will fall apart. 

Into the EMPTY pot that you just used to cook the potatoes, add the evaporated milk, 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease, diced bacon, can of creamed corn, diced onions, and the cubed potatoes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Remember that the bacon will already have salt.  Better to go lightly with pepper.  You can always add more later.  Cook for at least 1 hr on low to low medium heat in a COVERED pot.

Tips

I made this without the bacon grease the first time.  The first time I really compressed my paper towel to remove all the grease.  This caused the soup to hardly have any bacon flavor.  The second time that I made the soup I did not compress the paper towel and just let any excess grease to be collected in the paper towel.  I also added the 2 tablespoons of bacon grease when I made it the second time.  It didn't make the soup greasy but did add a lot of flavor.

Try to use a Vidalia onion if you can find one, if not make sure it is a sweet onion or the onion taste will overpower the potatoes.  

I like to dice my ingredients so I could theoretically get a piece of potato, bacon, and onion onto a soup spoon at the same time.  

I find that soups always taste better the next day.  So either make the soup early in the morning and then put in the fridge until time to rewarm or make it a day ahead of time.

The next time I make it I might add a small can of whole corn to get more of a corn taste. 

My husband really liked this soup and I liked how easy it was to make.

We added garlic and herb croutons just before eating.  

Enjoy

Below is my sister's potato soup recipe and basically everything that she cooks is good, no wait....really good.  She uses apple smoked, thick sliced bacon and oh my goodness is it good.  You can see by the recipe that this might have more calories....LOL  She also cooks her soup in a crock pot so there is no need to precook your potatoes. My recipe could also work in a crock pot.

My Grandmother's Tuna Salad Recipe

My paternal grandmother made the best tuna salad and she always served it in a hobnail moonstone bowl.  Reminder to self....search the Internet for 'The Bowl'.  For years we have been trying to crack the recipe and I think I have finally done it.  

My daughter in law came very close in the winter of 2018.  But I think that it was just one ingredient off and that one ingredient was Miracle Whip instead of mayo.  I always felt like the tuna salads we were making looked too yellow.

  My grandmother's philosophy was that there was nothing that couldn't taste better with a little sour cream added.  AND if it was something sweet she was of the mind that peanut butter could make it better.  Her peanut butter Rice Krispies  treats were very tasty.

But back to sour cream, Miracle Whip, and tuna salad.  We are a Hellman's household and there isn't a jar of Miracle Whip in the house but one day it dawned on me that Miracle Whip was the cat's meow in the 50-60's. AND Miracle Whip is WHITER than mayo.  So last week I tried the recipe again with Miracle Whip and it looks and taste like my grandmother's.

Grandma Brunette's Tuna Salad Recipe

2 cans of chunk tuna in oil NOT water. Must be chunk and in oil, drained (do not rinse). 

shell pasta approximately 1 1/2 cups uncooked (the photo shows shell and elbow because I ran out of shell) 

celery 2 or 3 stalks sliced lengthwise and then diced into 1/2 inch pieces.  Any bigger and you start getting those celery strings caught in your teeth.  

1/4 to 1/2 white sweet onion diced into 1/2 inch pieces, must be sweet onion or the onion taste will over power the other ingredients

frozen peas 1/2 to 3/4 cup

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt, we always salt lightly

Miracle Whip

sour cream

OPTIONAL dill weed just a dash or two.

Garnish with paprika.  She ALWAYS garnished everything with paprika.

Cook the pasta until al dente.   Drain and rinse with cold water.  If you do not rinse the shells they will stack inside each other (been there, done that). Drain and place in a large covered bowl,  and put in fridge to get cold.

While cooking the pasta you can dice your celery, onion, and thaw out your peas.  

Don't mix together any of the ingredients until everything is cold.  Add the drained tuna to the pasta and break apart the chucks into flakes and mix into the pasta.  Now add the rest of the ingredients and look for any shells that might be sticking together and separate them.

In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup Miracle Whip, 1/4 cup sour cream, and salt.  If you are adding dill weed this is the time to add it to the dressing mix. 

Now comes the most important part.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 12 hrs.  I have found that if you don't wait, the tuna flavor will  be too strong.  I don't know why, but it is.  Oh and while I am talking about tuna, do not buy tuna in water or tuna pieces.  It is tasteless and the pieces are so small that it is more like tuna slime and not tuna flakes. 

ENJOY