Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Has it really been since last June that I posted?!  How can that be?  

Since then I've managed to lose a decent amount of weight, so maybe it was all the treats I made (and ate) to post on this little blog (that and having little to no control!)  If you need a place to start losing weight, I fully recommend My Fitness Pal.  Be my friend on there if you want to.

Back to the recipe.  A friend of mine from church who has nine children (six the regular way and three adopted from China as almost teenagers) showed us how to make these noodles for chicken noodle soup one night at a meeting.  I tried it out a week or two ago, but didn't take pictures.  Today was my oldest daughter's tenth birthday and she requested this for her birthday dinner (told you it was good!) and asked if she could help me make it.  Um, yes you can help make your own dinner on your own day!

Doesn't the finished product look delicious?  Yummy chicken, carrots, and noodles.

I started out with three chicken breasts cut into cubes.

 My daughter helped them cook up in my nonstick soup pan.  She's an awesome helper!

 Elizabeth cutting the carrots with a crinkle cutter.  They were bigger than the ones I normally cut, but they were great and no one chopped off any fingers.

 I threw a handful of white onions in with the chicken so they'd disappear in the soup, but flavor it nicely.

 I put in pepper and a tiny bit of salt and then a lot more pepper.

Before Elizabeth tossed the carrots in the soup, we added two cans of Swanson Fat Free Chicken Broth.  Then we refilled those two cans with hot water and added three chicken bouillon cubes.
We let the carrots cook while we made the pasta.

The pasta dough my friend made just on a cutting board and she said it's easier for her to do it that way instead of using a bowl.  I think next time I'll use a bowl, although it worked well for me last time to just do it this way.  It wasn't easy for Elizabeth and she didn't like getting her hands so messy either.

 

Ingredients for the homemade pasta dough:
1 cup Flour
1 beaten Egg
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Milk
Mix these ingredients together until you have a ball of dough.  It will take several minutes (or maybe less if you are awesome! Let me know!)

I started rolling the dough out and Elizabeth quickly took over.  She liked this job.

I made sure it was all thin enough.  You want your pasta rolled thin or it won't cook all the way in the middle.  It does take some muscle to get it thin, but just keep flipping the dough and rolling more until it is spread out a lot.
Elizabeth used my special rolling wavy cutter for the noodles, but a pizza cutter would work just as good or even a sharp knife like my friend uses.  She just stacks the noodles up and cuts them.  We like fancy looking noodles here though because we have a fun tool to use. (Thanks, MOM!)  I know it looks like she's going to chop off her fingers, but I promise that NO blood was shed making this dinner.  It's all the angle.

 Nice little rows of wavy lines of pasta.

We sliced the pasta shorter so they'd cook better, but you could make any kind of noodles you like.

Toss the pasta in the extra flour and make sure they are separated so they'll cook.

Making the noodles looks like it takes a long time and it's hard, but it really isn't.  Give it a try!
Elizabeth was my hand model to drop the noodles in the soup.

Here's what it looked like right after the pasta went in and before it was cooked.  It floats to the top when it's done.

Cook for ten minutes or until noodles are soft and floating.
The flour in the pasta makes the broth whiter and I added 1/4 cup of milk at the end to make it creamy as well.
End product is so good and worth the hour or so of time.

We saved some soup for my mother in law who came over to take Elizabeth birthday shopping and she thought it was great too!

Let me know if you try it and what you add to it.  

Last time I added some finely chopped celery with the onions, but I was out of it today.

General Tso's Chicken

I can't take credit for this recipe, but I did make it and I substituted a little, so here's what I did and it was a success. This is a recipe that is great to make because who doesn't like General Tso's Chicken, but this is even better than the stuff at buffets because you eat it as soon as it's made and it hasn't been under heat lamps. Andy said to me several weeks ago that General Tso's chicken is his favorite and that I should make it, so I found a recipe and gathered all the ingredients (it was hard to find Hoisin sauce-WINCO!) and made it for our family.
I should warn you that this meal used several bowls and pans to make. This is a little time consuming, but so worth it and you'll feel awesome knowing you can do this. And if you clean up while it fries up, you'll be ahead of the game.

The things that you might not have in your stocked kitchen are:
*Red chili (or pepper) flakes
*Chinese rice wine (or rice vinegar)
*Hoisin Sauce (I finally found this at Winco for $3. A little pricey, but I plan on making this a lot with that $3 bottle.)
*Chili paste (This is in the aisle with the other Asian food. It's red and usually has garlic with it. It's SPICY!)
*Sesame oil (also in the Asian aisle.)

You just need a little of each of these things, so if you know someone who likes to cook with them, see if you can borrow a little before you invest in them. However, if you do buy them, you can use them often.
I bought some Oyster Sauce for a trial dinner once and it was DISGUSTING (to us....we don't like seafood and I could hardly even taste it after smelling Oyster Sauce.) I gave all the sauces I bought for that meal and the recipe to my friend and borrowed back the rice vinegar and sesame oil from her to make this.

Serves 4 adults as part of a multi-course meal, 2 to 3 adults as a main entree.
It served our family with two adults and three kids (maybe 2 1/2 is more like it) for TWO MEALS! I think next time I will double the sauce that goes on the fried chicken so it would flavor the rice a little more.

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used 3 slightly defrosted large chicken breasts), sliced into 1-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups vegetable oil for frying, plus 1 tablespoon for stir-frying
8 dried whole red chilis, or substitute 1/4 teaspoon dried red chili flakes (I used red pepper flakes)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I like the little bottle of it you can buy in the produce section for a buck and it's ready anytime.)
1 teaspoon white sesame seeds, for garnish
Scallions, green parts thinly sliced, for garnish

Marinade:
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (I used rice vinegar)
2 egg whites

Sauce:
1/4 cup chicken stock, or substitute water (I used water and it was YUMMY!)
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon chili paste
1 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Instructions:
1. Prepare the marinade: In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce, rice wine, and egg whites (save the yolks to make fried rice with the leftover rice later). Coat the chicken in the marinade mixture and let sit for 10 minutes (or longer).

2. Prepare the sauce: In a small bowl, combine the chicken stock, tomato paste, sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, hoisin sauce, chili paste, sesame oil, sugar, and the 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. Stir until the sugar and cornstarch are dissolved. Set the sauce aside.

3. In a large bowl or deep plate, toss the 1 1/2 cups cornstarch with the salt and pepper. Coat the marinated chicken in the cornstarch and shake off any excess before frying.

4. Heat the 3 cups of peanut or vegetable oil in your wok (or large frying pan) until it registers 350°F on an instant-read oil thermometer (or just set the temperature to medium-high and wait a minute or two). Working in 2 or 3 batches, add the first batch of chicken cubes and fry until golden brown on the outside and cooked through, about 5-6 minutes. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.

5. Drain the oil into a heatproof container and save for discarding. Wipe the wok with a paper towel to remove any brown bits, but don’t wash. Make sure to wipe the outside edge of the pan so it doesn't cause a fire.

6. Reheat the wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add another 1 tablespoon of oil and swirl to coat the base and sides. Add the dried chilis and garlic to the wok and stir-fry until just fragrant (such a great smell!), about 20 seconds. Pour in the sauce mixture and stir until thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes.

7. Return the chicken to the wok and stir well to coat with sauce. (Again the next time I make this, I'm doubling the sauce.) Transfer the chicken to a serving dish. Garnish with white sesame seeds and scallions. Serve with white rice and vegetables. I add the sesame seeds at the table because Andy doesn't like them and I didn't have scallions. It was still delicious and our 8 1/2 and 6 year old daughters gave it many thumbs up.

Let me know if you try this.

Chicken Sauce

This is for Hawaiian Haystacks (which are rice with chicken gravy and all the toppings you like). You could use cream of chicken soup with milk added to it, but this tastes better, we think. Again I found this on a Mel's Kitchen Cafe Blog I like to read to get great ideas from for delicious food. They were trying to figure out a good way to replace the cream of chicken soup to make it healthier. Personally, I don't really have a problem with cream of chicken soup. I love it, but this was great!
And once again, we ate way too fast to take a picture. If you want to see what it looks like follow the link above.

Chicken Sauce for Hawaiian Haystacks
*Makes about 4 cups chicken sauce (enough to serve 4-6 for Hawaiian Haystacks. I should have doubled this because if I did, I wouldn't have to make dinner tomorrow.)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size chunks (or leftover cooked chicken, cubed)
3 Tablespoons Butter
½ Onion (about ½ cup), finely chopped (I just used 1 teaspoon or less of onion powder because some people in my household don't like the texture of onions, but do like the flavor.)
3 cloves Garlic, finely minced (I used 1 teaspoon of the crushed garlic that is all ready to use that you buy at the store.)
1 teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Pepper
¼ cup Flour
2 cups Milk
1 cup Chicken Broth

In a large skillet (really use a big skillet. I used a small saucepan first and had to switch over.) melt the butter over medium heat and add the onion and raw chicken (if using leftover cooked chicken, don’t add it to the skillet now, you’ll add it later). Saute the onion and chicken, if using, until the onions are soft and translucent and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for about one minute, stirring, until fragrant.

Sprinkle the flour over the onions and chicken and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat for one minute – this helps get rid of the starchy, flour taste. Slowly whisk in the milk and chicken broth. Cook, stirring constantly with a whisk, and bring the sauce to a simmer over medium to medium-high heat. Add the salt and pepper. If you are using leftover cooked chicken, add it now. Continue simmering, stirring the sauce frequently, until the sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes. It took mine a long time to thicken, so I ended up adding a Tablespoon of Cornstarch to help it along for maybe 10 minutes or so instead of 5.

Serve the chicken sauce over rice with your toppings of choice. I asked some friends what they like on their Hawaiian Haystacks and here is what they added to the basics.
Basics: Cheddar Cheese, Green Onions, Sliced Olives, Chow Mien Noodles
Extras: Olives, Tomatoes, Green Onions, Mandarin Oranges, coconut, pineapple, raisins, peas, sliced steamed Carrots, Broccoli or Cauliflower, Sunflower Seeds, Celery, Cut up Boiled Eggs, Bean Sprouts, and someone even said Mustard.

What do you like on yours? I love almost everything, so my plate piles very high!

Sesame Chicken

I read this on a food blog I LOVE and tried it back in February or March. I made it again Monday night and fed it to my husband, my own three kids, and a friend's three kids. They all loved it (except for the two youngest boys who didn't even try the chicken and just ate rice and chow mien noodles.)
I didn't get a good picture of it because we ate it too fast and because when I fry things it kind of all falls apart and doesn't look great like their picture did. Just believe me that the sauce was delicious. One of the kids visiting had two pieces of the chicken.

Ingredients:

Chicken of your choice (breast, drumstick, thigh, etc.)

1 Egg, beaten

2 Tablespoons Water

1 cup Flour

1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper

2 Tablespoons Corn Starch, divided

2 Tablespoons Butter or Margarine

2 Tablespoons Honey

1/2 teaspoon Garlic Chili Paste (find this in the Asian section by the soy sauce)

1 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

1 1/2 cups Chicken Stalk

2 Tablespoons Sesame Seed, toasted

Instructions:

First beat the egg and add in the water in a shallow bowl.
Roll chicken pieces in the egg and water mixture.
In a quart size ziplock bag mix the flour, salt and pepper, and 1 Tablespoon of the corn starch. Put the wet chicken into the bag and shake until chicken is coated.
In a large skillet on med-high heat, melt the butter, and fry the chicken on each side until golden brown. Place chicken off to the side if you want to use the same pan for the next step.
To the pan (or start a small saucepan) add the chicken stalk, chili paste, soy sauce, honey and remaining 1 Tablespoon corn starch. (Hint: in order to prevent clumping of the corn starch, mix it in the stalk cold, before adding to heat). Stir often until begins to thicken.
Reduce heat and add the chicken back in. Cook until the sauce is about the consistency of the honey and begins to coat the chicken. Sprinkle in the sesame seeds over the chicken.
We served this with plain old white rice and chow mien noodles. The next time I make it, I'm going to try to just bake the chicken breasts in the sauce in the oven and save on time and frying.

Serve, and enjoy. Goes well with fried rice, chow mein, or just plain. Key is to enjoy!

Baked Chimichangas

My husband's cousin passed on this recipe to me last week and I was dying to try it out. We love Mexican food, and especially the kind that is easy to put together, uses ingredients we already have all the time, and is DELICIOUS!This plate includes Spanish Rice and Tortilla chips as well. The chimichanga is under the sour cream, salsa, and cheese in the middle. You can see the gooey goodness on the middle right side.

This recipe makes 6 chimichangas, so if you are feeding a large family, double or triple it.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Cooked Chicken (I boiled three chicken breasts in water with garlic and onion powder and then tore them up after they cooled.)
1/2 cup Salsa (whatever your favorite kind is)
1 cup. Shredded Cheese (I used Cheddar, but I think just about any cheese would be delicious.)
1 teaspoon Cumin (I wouldn't think that missing this one ingredient would matter that much.)
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Dried Oregano

6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
2 Tablespoons Butter, melted
Salsa, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, etc....for garnishing

Combine chicken, salsa, cheese, and spices in a bowl. (I did this step during naptime so I could pull it out right when my husband got home from work.) Divide mixture evenly among center of tortillas or about 3/4 cup for each tortilla. Fold opposite sides of tortillas over filling, then roll up from the bottom and place, seam side down, onto a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter.

Bake at 400 until golden, approximately 25 minutes. Garnish as you wish.
I would expect these to freeze well, so if you wanted to have an easy freezer meal later, you could make a big batch and then freeze them in a ziplock bag to pull out on one of those exceptionally busy nights when no one eats at the same time and you don't have much time.
Recipes for Black Beans and Spanish Rice to come soon. As soon as I've perfected it.

Kung Pao Chicken

I got this recipe from Shape magazine. I found a free subscription someplace and am trying a few ideas out. I bought all the ingredients at WalMart, so they should be available anywhere. They did cost about $10 to buy the four bottles, but hopefully we really want to make this recipe many more times.I baked my chicken. I wasn't sure about the sauce, so I didn't pour it all over the chicken. Grilled Chicken with Kung Pao Sauce
Ingredients:
6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, thawed
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Black or Red Rice Vinegar (or Red Wine Vinegar)
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Water, divided
1/4 teaspoon Sugar
1/4 cup Oyster Sauce (this part sounds gross to me, but I'll give it a try. I'm not a seafood lover.)
1/8 teaspoon Sesame Oil
1/2 teaspoon Cornstarch
1/4 cup Unsalted Peanuts, optional
1 Scallion, Slivered

Instructions:
Grill Chicken (you can use a BBQ or a 10 inch grill pan) over medium heat for about 7 minutes on one side and 3 on the other or until cooked through.
In a medium saucepan, mix soy sauce, vinegar, 1 Tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon water, sugar, oyster sauce, and oil. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and remaining water (1/2 teaspoon). Drizzle the cornstarch/water mixture into the sauce. Return sauce to a boil and simmer for about 1 minute or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and set aside.
Using a pastry brush, coat each chicken breast with sauce (or dump it on). Garnish with peanuts and scallions and serve immediately.
Tastes great served with rice (regular, brown, or wild) and a side of broccoli or other vegetables.
Shape includes the nutrition score per serving (1 Chicken Breast with 2 Tablespoons Sauce):
173 calories
5 grams fat <1>
29 grams protein
1 gram fiber
24 mg calcium
1 mg iron
971 mg sodium
It also added that a normal take out serving of this dish would be 510 calories and 36 grams of fat instead of their 173 calories and 5 grams of fat for a 4 ounce serving.

One of my husband's favorite Chinese dishes is Kung Pao Chicken. His top choice is still General Tso's Chicken or Beef followed by Beef and Broccoli, but Kung Pao may overtake that if this recipe turns out.

Result:
I really disliked it. My husband thought it was pretty good. I only had one bite. He cleaned his plate and dumped the sauce all over the rice too. I could only taste the nasty oyster sauce. If you like seafood, this is for you.

Anyone want a freshly opened jar of oyster sauce?

Red Sauce Chicken Enchiladas

This is NOT from scratch. At least not the sauce. I use the cans of red enchilada sauce. It is very yummy though and it has made it to Andy's top five meals that I make. He likes everything I make (because I know what he doesn't like and don't add those things).
You could make this ahead of time or even the night before. It throws together fairly quickly. I made mine this morning and then put it in the fridge until we got back from after-school activities. Otherwise, dinnertime would be harder and I'd want to break my goal of only going out to eat once a month. Now dinner's in the oven.

Ingredients:
2-3 Chicken Breasts
1 large or 2 small cans Red Enchilada Sauce (brand doesn't really matter. We actually tried the more expensive one when I had a coupon and liked the WinCo brand Hytop more.)
13-15 Corn Tortillas (works with regular flour tortillas too in a pinch. Guess why I know?)
2 cups Shredded Cheese (Mexican is good. Cheddar works fine)

Instructions:
I just boiled two chicken breasts (with the spices I like-garlic, parsley, red pepper, and chili pepper, use what you like) and cut them up.
Spray 9x13 pan. If you want to, you could pour half a can of sauce in. Heat up 6 tortillas at a time with a paper towel around them, then put some chicken across tortilla with some cheese and roll it up. Place it in a 9x13 pan and repeat until the pan is full. Dump sauce on top and some cheese. Cover with tin foil and let it soak in all the juices from the sauce. You can cook it right away too. Cook for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. If your pan is coming straight from the fridge, you can put it in before the oven is heated.
Either way, this is a great filling meal. The kids like it too. It's so good!
You could serve it with sour cream or guacamole if you want to. We like it just the way it comes out. It also works to tear up the tortillas if you don't have time to fill each one and make an enchilada casserole. Make some Spanish rice to go with it or some corn if you want.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts
12-18 Corn Tortillas
1 can Red Enchilada Sauce
2 cups Frozen Corn (a drained can of corn would work fine too), Optional
1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese for top

Instructions:
Boil chicken with garlic, red pepper, parsley-or however you like to flavor your chicken. That is the mixture I like. Boil for 20 minutes or until no longer pink. Let soak in the boiled water with lid on for 15 minutes or so. Place chicken breasts on cutting board to cut up into little pieces.
Spray casserole pan or 9X13 pan.
Tear up corn tortillas into dish. Put cut up chicken on top of tortillas. Mix. Add can of enchilada sauce. Mix. Add corn. Mix. Spread cheese on top and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or so.
I made mine at lunchtime and then put it in the fridge until 45 minutes before Andy gets home, so it will have time to cook and time to set up with the lid on while we get ready for dinner. Serve by itself or with Spanish rice.

Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry

I am thinking about dinner today and I'm going to make Stir Fry. I don't add a lot to it. We love it like this:

Ingredients:
1/2 bottle of Stir Fry sauce (we like Kikkoman's Sauce, but you can use whatever sauce you'd like.)
1 Chicken Breast, cut into whatever size pieces you want, about 1/2 cubes works well)
2 cups sliced Baby Carrots
3 cups Frozen Broccoli
1/2 cup Peppers (I got a bag of frozen Bird's Eye Sliced Peppers that has every color)

Rice
Chow Mien Noodles

Instructions:
Cut cup Chicken breast (or beef if you want to) and add to large frying pan or wok (if you have it). Add in Stir Fry sauce and let chicken cook until done. Add in carrots, broccoli, and peppers. Add a little water (about 1 cup) to sauce, if needed to help cook vegetables. You can add more vegetable too if you want to (onions, baby corn, celery, pea pods, water chestnuts, etc). Let simmer until carrots are soft. Cook rice. Serve. Eat.

Chicken Alfredo

I made this again tonight for dinner and added sliced carrots to it. I boiled the carrots in a pan for 10-15 minutes and then added the dry noodles to them to cook. It was even better. YUM!
I decided to make an Alfredo sauce from scratch. I didn't have the little pocket of mix and didn't want to go to the store. I made my OWN! From SCRATCH!
I was even missing the heavy cream that all the recipes called for, so I looked up a substitute for that. Beware: This is NOT a diet recipe. Chicken Alfredo just sounded so yummy to me:

Here's what I did:
Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients:
-1/4 cup Butter
-1 cup Heavy Cream
(substitute-melt 1/3 cup butter in microwave, add 3/4 cup milk, 1 Tablespoon Flour to thicken.)
-1 clove Garlic (I actually used about 1/2 teaspoon of Garlic Powder)
-1/2 cups Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese (I actually used the powdered Kraft kind)
-1/4 cup Chopped Fresh Parsley (I actually used about 2 Tablespoons of dry parsley)
Instructions:
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through. Stir in parsley and serve.

I cut up two chicken breasts and browned them in a frying pan with 1/4 teaspoon garlic and 1 Tablespoon Parsley and then combined the sauce with the chicken. I boiled Vermicelli noodles (Size between spaghetti and angel hair) and put the sauce on the noodles on the plates.

Elizabeth practically licked her plate and had two helpings. Andy had two helpings (Elizabeth's were smaller) and Olivia liked it a lot too. Elizabeth said it was the best ever and said it over and over. I guess it was a hit! Vincent had some all cut up too and he ate it, but spilled most of it. Elizabeth said I should make it all the time, so I asked her if she wanted it for lunch tomorrow. She said she does. Then, I asked her if she wanted it for breakfast too. She says she does, (but she won't get it.) I think I'll be making this one again. I love being able to search online for recipes and substitutions. It makes everything so much easier!

Chicken Pot Pie

It really is better than these pictures make it look, I promise. (Mine has a few more "spices" from the bottom of the pot when I left it on medium heat too long, but it still tasted very good.)
Chicken Pot Pie
My sister-in-law made Chicken Pot Pie for my brother's birthday dinner this week and I've been thinking about it since then. It is just SO yummy!
Ingredients:
2 Large Chicken Breasts
2 cups Water
1 teaspoon Parsley
2 teaspoons Dry Chopped Onion (or 1/2 cup regular onion)
1 teaspoon Oregano
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
1 teaspoon Garlic (or Garlic Salt-either way)
1 Family size Cream of Chicken Soup
1 cup Milk
2-3 cups Sliced Baby Carrots
5 Medium Diced Potatoes
1/2 cup Frozen Peas
1 can Cream Corn (I was out of the Regular kind, but it still tastes really good in it.)
Instructions:
Defrost Chicken if needed. Cut up chicken into small chunks. Put chicken in large pot. Dump water and spices on top. Let cook on Medium for 15 minutes. Add Cream of Chicken Soup and Milk and stir. Add in carrots, potatoes, peas, and corn. Stir and let heat until it is boiling. Turn heat down to low and let it simmer until the crust is made or longer to help it thicken.

Crust my Mom uses that is SO good:
Celery Seed Pastry Crust for Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients:
2/3 cup + 2 Tablespoons Shortening
2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Celery Seed (find this in the spice aisle or Poppy Seeds, Fennel might work too)
1 teaspoon Salt
4-5 Tablespoons Water
Instructions:
Cut shortening into flour, celery seeds, and salt (use a fork or a rubber spatula if you don't have a pastry cutter) until particles are the size of small peas.
Sprinkle in water 1 Tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans the side of the bowl (I only needed 4 Tablespoons). Add in 1-2 Tablespoons extra, if needed.
Gather pastry in a ball and divide into four parts. (top and bottom crust of two pies). Roll out each piece separately on a lightly floured surface.

Place into greased pie pan and then fill with Chicken soup (there will be some left over probably. Good for a lunch or to freeze for another day or if you wanted to, you could make more crust and make some more pies). Add top crust and use a knife to make several holes in the top.
When cooking, use a cookie sheet underneath to catch any possible spills (just in case).
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Then, let it sit for five minutes to thicken (if you can stand it) and then enjoy with cheddar cheese on top. YUM!
Let me know if you try it out.