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.

Homemade Filled Pasta

Tonight I used my new Ravioli maker that Abby gave me for Christmas (obviously it was something I bought for myself-it was filler to get the super saver discount on Amazon...;) to make homemade pasta. It was easier than I expected. I had hardly ever thought about making my own noodles until Halloween when a friend invited a bunch of people to come by her house for homemade chicken noodle soup that was actually homemade! Amazing gal. Then I saw this ravioli maker and a few blogs that I follow posted about homemade pasta and it was done. I was doing it! I had everything except for the semolina flour already in my kitchen and I found that in the bulk section at our local Winco and it's cheap!

Recipe from here. She has a great tutorial on how to make the dough if my directions are confusing. Elizabeth (my almost nine year old) took most of the pictures.

Pasta Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Flour (and more to roll)

1 1/2 cups Semolina Flour

1/2 teaspoon Salt

4 Large Eggs

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Water (this was just the right amount, but you may need to add a tiny bit more.)

To mix the dough you can use the counter or a bowl. I chose a big bowl. I mixed the two flours with the salt and then added four eggs. I mixed it all together with my hands until the egg was combined with the dry stuff and then added 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil and 2 Tablespoons Water and mixed it until it looked like this:
Divide the dough into four sections and cover with a wet smooth towel for 20 minutes. You can make the filling then and put it in the fridge until you need it.

After 20 minutes, roll out one section of pasta dough with your rolling pin (or a pasta roller if you are fancy.) Use a little flour so it doesn't stick to the pin. (I think this picture has a little too much...)

And then roll, baby, roll! Flip the dough over and go both directions until it is thin enough. I like thick pasta (and my wrists were starting to hurt a little. And yes, you can see my poor wintery hands in these pictures. I'm keeping it real.)
I stopped when the pasta was about this thin. Can you tell how thin it is? It's thicker than tissue paper and thinner than cardboard. I hope that helps.

You could slice this pasta up to make regular pasta or continue on to make ravioli.
This is where I used the ravioli press. I made my pasta twice as large as the press so I could flip it over when they are filled. You just lay the pasta over it, use the plastic egg carton type thing that came with it that I didn't get a picture of and then the little indents are ready for filling.Here they are all full of the filling. The filling I used was from this site.

Filling ingredients:

1 cup Ricotta Cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (I used the real shredded stuff this time and it was great.)

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/4 teaspoon Pepper

1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning (I added that in.)

Optional: Spinach, shredded carrots, meat, etc.

Here is the pasta all filled up. (If you aren't using the fancy ravioli maker, just spread them out and seal them with a little brush of water around the edges and then cut them apart.)

And then you flip the extra dough over to cover it. I didn't make it quite big enough on the corners here, but I borrowed some extra that was hanging over the top and rolled it into this when it was still on my big cutting board. (Do you see the scraggly edge on the bottom left?)
Then with this ravioli maker, just use your rolling pin to seal the edges and cut the excess. I did have to use my fingers here to divide the dough a little. I think my rolling pin might be getting worn out or warped. I did use the extra dough on the edges to make another ball and put it under the towel with the other balls.
Then carefully peel the edge of the ravioli out of the metal tray and place to the side. They aren't super delicate, but be careful.
I put all 56 raviolis on my cutting boards (still raw) and covered them with a wet towel (just like the dough) until I was ready to cook them. (I needed to wait just a little while until Andy was home from work and with the snow and ice I wasn't sure exactly when that would be.)
When it was time, I put them into boiling water 14 at a time for 4-5 minutes. They sink to the bottom first like this.
And when they are all at the top, scoop them out with a slotted spoon onto plates.
We enjoyed ours with some meaty spaghetti sauce. (Andy's mom made sloppy joe's a few Sundays ago and had extra of the sloppy, so she gave it to me and I mixed it with four little cans of tomato sauce and froze it in two gallon ziplocks.)
Abby ate her ravioli like this:

I now wonder why and how I ever bought frozen raviolis filled with the stuff it says on the side of the bag for $2-3. These are so easy to make (although a little time-consuming) and worth it! You should have seen and heard how impressed my kids (and husband) were with this dinner!

Fried Ravioli

This recipe came from this blog.
We gave my husband a deep fat fryer for Christmas, so we are trying more than just tater tots now. We do love our tater tots on a weekend evening.

Ingredients:
1 package Cheese Ravioli (WalMart brand has a bag for less than $3)
Marinara Sauce
2 cups Bread Crumbs (I used the Italian Seasoned kind so I didn't have to use the basil and oregano or salt and pepper.)
2 Eggs
1 Tablespoon Dried Basil
1 Tablespoon Dried Oregano
Pinch of Salt and Pepper
Oil for frying

Instructions:
Mix all dry ingredients in a shallow dish (works well with a fork or you can shake them up in a baggie and then put them in a shallow dish, like a pie pan). In another dish beat the eggs with a teaspoon of water. Take the ravioli and put them in the egg, then bread crumbs. Fry them at 375 degrees for about 3 minutes per batch. Put them on a baking sheet in a 250 degree oven until they are all done. Serve with your favorite marinara sauce (heated up) for dipping.

Result: Everyone enjoyed these. Elizabeth even broke her strike with eating spaghetti sauce and said that she liked it to dip in. Next time Andy wants to try making them with meat raviolis.
The best part about using the deep fat fryer to make dinner, is that Andy cleans it up.

Pizza Spaghetti

This recipe was from the site Organize and Decorate Everything. The author of that blog is a mother of eight, so the recipe HAS to be good. She said this recipe is their favorite.
Here it is.

Ingredients:

4 ounce package Sliced Pepperoni

1/3 cup Margarine, melted

12 ounces Thin Spaghetti (cooked) I used Penne because I ran out of spaghetti an didn't put it on the list.

4 ounces Grated Swiss Cheese

16 ounces Grated Mozzarella Cheese

2 cans Tomato Sauce- I used Spaghetti Sauce.

1/2 teaspoon Dried Oregano

1/2 teaspoon Dried Basil

Instructions:

Boil pepperoni for a few minutes to remove excess fat.

Pour margarine into a 11×7 baking dish.

Toss cooked spaghetti in margarine. (You could use a small amount of oil instead of the margarine).

Cover spaghetti with one can of tomato sauce. Take it to the edges of the baking dish.

Layer in the order listed:

1/2 of the grated Swiss cheese

1/2 of the pepperoni

1/2 of the mozzarella

Sprinkle with oregano and basil.

Pour on second can of tomato sauce and spread to edges.

Top with the remainder of the Swiss cheese, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese in that order.

Optional add-ins:

mushrooms, sausage, olives, ground hamburger, peppers, onions

Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Result: Everyone enjoyed it a lot! This one will be used again.

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!

Crockpot Pasta Fagioli

This is like the soup from Olive Garden. We ate it on Halloween night before the big trick-or-treating festivities. It is very good. It was posted on the Year of Crockpotting Meals blog on Halloween last year.

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained
1/2 large red onion, chopped, or not
1 cup carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced, or not
2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (and juice), one works too.
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups beef broth
1 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce
2 tsp oregano
1 T Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at end of cooking time

Instructions:
Use a 6 quart or larger crockpot, or cut the recipe in half. This makes a lot.

Brown the meat on the stovetop, and drain well. Let it cool a bit.

Chop up the carrots, onion, and celery. (If you or someone in your house doesn't like all of the vegetables, you can add less or none of onion and celery.) Add it to the empty crockpot.

Drain and rinse the beans, and add them. Add the whole cans of tomatoes, and the pasta sauce. Add the beef broth. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, and Tabasco sauce. Stir in your meat.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the 1/2 cup of dry pasta.

Cover and cook for another hour on low, or until the pasta is tender. It will swell quite a bit.

Serve with a bit of Parmesan cheese if you have it.

Easy Cheesy Lasagna

NaDell’s Easy Cheesy Lasagna

Ingredients:
2 cups Ragu or other Spaghetti Sauce
2 cans (10 ¾ oz.) Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
(may substitute Cream of Celery or Mushroom)
2 ½ cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
¼ cup Milk
1 lb. Ground Beef
10 dry lasagna noodles

Instructions:
The best part about this is that you don’t have to cook the noodles before baking.
Mix Chicken Soup, Mozzarella Cheese, and Milk. Set aside. Cook Beef until browned. Pour off fat. Stir in Spaghetti sauce. Heat thorough. Add spices as you wish. Spoon half the Meat Mixture into a 9x13 pan. Top with 5 dry Lasagna Noodles and Chicken Soup Mixture. Top with the remaining 5 Dry Lasagna Noodles and the remaining meat mixture. Add more cheese, olives, etc. if desired. Bake at 400° F covered for 30 minutes, or until it starts to bubble up a little. Let stand 10 minutes to set up. Eat and enjoy!!!

Cheesy Saucy Manicotti Noodles

Cheesy Saucy Manicotti Noodles - NaDell Ransom
My friend made these for us more than a year ago, but she did it the hard way by boiling the noodles before filling them and didn't put sauce on them.
By spreading sauce on the bottom of the pan and also on top of the noodles, they cook perfectly.
(My picture is extra saucy and they are cut in half to show how they look. )

Vegetable Alfredo Salad Recipe

I decided to add in a recipe I just made up tonight. I've been trying to think of a way to use up some salad noodles. Here's the recipe and what I did.
Vegetable Alfredo Salad
Ingredients:
3 cups Water
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 cups Salad Noodles-little cylinder ones that are 1/4 size of macaroni
2 cups Sliced Baby Carrots
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1/4 teaspoon Lemon or Lime Juice
2 cups Cut up Cucumbers (2 small cucumbers)
1 small can Sliced Olives
4 small Cut up Tomatoes
1 Packet Alfredo Sauce-prepare as directed on packet
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese, a little more for sprinkling on top

Instructions:
In large saucepan, boil water with salt. Add noodles when boiling. While boiling, prepare vegetables for salad. Place each in small bowls. When noodles are tender, add carrots and boil for three more minutes. Drain noodles and carrots and put into a large mixing bowl. Toss with vegetable oil and lemon or lime juice. Prepare Alfredo sauce in small saucepan. Pour over noodles and carrots. Stir. Add in cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese. Stir. Sprinkle more Parmesan cheese on top and refrigerate. It tastes really good warm too.